Blog
Telling Our Story, Living Our Faith
During the years when I was growing up, we had a number of cars in our family. Big cars, little cars, new cars, old cars — they came and went, according to the fortunes of my dad’s business and my mother’s teaching salary. We were a suburban family in the Sixties, which meant there was often one common denominator amongst all those vehicles that ever occupied our driveway: the station wagon.
The Synod’s Servant Leadership Institute (SLI) was officially launched and announced to the Synod community last month. To our delight, people were immediately excited and interested to learn more about the program.
You’ve had several questions: who is the program targeting; what is servant leadership; what are the goals of the program; how does one apply; and why do we need this program, to name a few. All very good questions.
The third installment of Come to the Table is scheduled for November 8-9, 2019 at the Stony Point Center in Stony Point, NY. The planning team is hard at work designing the experience focused on worship, joint learning – with a mission fair, and two 1½-hour-long workshop sessions on three tracks – and fellowship. The theme around which our Synod community will gather is For Such a Time as This: Change, Crisis, & Opportunity.
When we entered the opening gathering for the May Mission & Ministries Commission meeting, we were told to bring our chairs into the inner part of the room. There we sat in a semi-circle. It created a discomfort around the room because it was not what we were used to doing. Everyone waited for the activity to begin…and you could feel the palpable tension as we waited for this activity to be over so we could return to our normal seats. Yet, it never happened. As I squelched my complaints about why this did not create a productive meeting space in which I could take notes for my reporting, I began to shift my perspective. I began to fully engage the process at hand. This was no longer an activity to be endured, but I could see the value in it.
Synod scholarships of $100 are available for each youth participant and chaperone attending the 2019 Presbyterian Youth Triennium.
If you or someone you know would like a Synod scholarship, contact your presbytery and let them know that you wish to attend Triennium.
Presbyteries must present their list identifying youth participants and chaperones to the Synod Stated Clerk by the deadline of May 14, 2019. The Synod will send a check to the presbytery for all people who are attending. We hope that many will take advantage of the opportunity to attend Triennium.
While the New Jersey Missional Structures (NJMS) working group is convened and facilitated by the Synod of the Northeast, the group’s members were appointed through the moderators of each of the seven NJ presbyteries. This is an incredible group of talented, creative, and visionary people, and we are so grateful for their work to imagine a new approach to presbytery life!
At the January 2019 Mission & Ministries Commission meeting, the Mission Working Group (MWG) reviewed several grant applications. At the working group’s recommendation, the Commission approved one Ecumenical Support grant and four Innovation & Emerging Gospel Community Grants. Our partners are doing some incredible work!
One of the values highlighted in the New Way Forward is that of community. The membership of our Synod thrives on opportunities to come together to support one another through shared learning, shared worship, and shared visioning.
To support the goal of increasing opportunities to come together, the Synod hosts a wide variety of gatherings each year and supports an even broader set of gatherings within each of our 22 presbyteries. As a result, there is always something exciting happening in the Synod of the Northeast. So, to assist the various planning teams around the Synod, the Administrative Working Group has adopted a standardized calendar for the Synod’s largest gatherings.
The 2019 January 25-26 Synod Mission & Ministries Commission meeting began the next two-year term for presbytery representatives. As we said farewell to some representatives at the November 2018 meeting, we welcomed at this meeting people elected for the first time to represent their presbyteries. You can see that the new members bring a wealth of experience, gifts, and talents to the Commission that will enhance the Synod’s work over the next two years.
The 20th White Privilege Conference (WPC) will be March 20-23 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Registration is open. Presbyterians have a 15% discount available if you select the non-profit staff rate at the beginning and use PRES2019 code at the end of registration.
