May 12, 2009 Presbytery Meeting
The May 12, 2009 stated meeting of Blackhawk Presbytery was held at First Presbyterian Church, Belvidere. Rev. Robert Kopp, pastor at First Presbyterian, preached during the worship service. Rev. Bart Roush, associate pastor at Fox Valley Presbyterian Church, Geneva, presented the learning opportunity—“Understanding What It Means to be Missional.” General presbyter Rev. John Rickard introduced MissionInsite, a new demographic tool available to all congregations. During the business plenary, the Business Affairs Committee reported on the status of income to the per capita and mission budgets and the Mission Strategies & Resources Board reported that the Emmaus Road New Church Development has closed. The presbytery approved the following
• An administrative commission with the following members to respond to the request of First Presbyterian Church, Aurora, to be dismissed to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church: Rev. Carl Gray (moderator)-Fox Valley Presbyterian Church, Geneva, Rev. Terry Hennesy-Oswego Presbyterian Church, Rev. Chuck Legvold-Westminster Presbyterian Church, Aurora, Rev. Gary Huffman-honorably retired, Elgin, Fred Parker-Wheatland Presbyterian Church, Plainfield, Beth Elbersen-First Presbyterian Church, Woodstock, and Lois Ramon-First Presbyterian Church, Belvidere.
• Commissioning of Crystal Abbott as commissioned lay pastor to First Presbyterian Church, Manteno and Sandra Graber as commissioned lay pastor to Waterman Presbyterian Church.
• Reduction of the general presbyter’s 2009 salary in the mission portion of the budget by 3 ½ percent, at his request
• A resolution from the Board of Trustees regarding closure of the Minonk Presbyterian Church in Minonk.
Papers and minutes from the meeting are available
here.
First Presbyterian Church, Aurora Requests Dismissal from PC(USA)
On Sunday, April 5, the congregation of First Presbyterian Church of Aurora held a congregational meeting to vote on whether to seek dismissal from the Presbytery of Blackhawk and the PC(USA) to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. There were 334 votes cast with a result of 317 in favor of seeking dismissal and 17 against the motion. First Aurora reports a membership of 847.
Speaking on behalf of Blackhawk Presbytery prior to the vote were Carl Gray, pastor at Fox Valley Presbyterian Church in Geneva, John Rickard, general presbyter of Blackhawk Presbytery and Karen Herbst-Kim, associate pastor at Westminster Presbyterian Church in DeKalb and Moderator of Blackhawk Presbytery.
An ad hoc committee of Blackhawk Presbytery has been formed to work with First Presbyterian Church. The committee includes clergy Carl Gray (Geneva Fox Valley, Terry Hennesy (Oswego, Gary Huffman (retired-Elgin), and Chuck Legvold (Aurora Westminster) and elders: Beth Elbersen (Woodstock), Fred Parker (Plainfield Wheatland), Jim Brown (Morris). Please keep these folk and the members of 1st Aurora in your prayers. An administrative commission has been elected to work with First Aurora to bring a recommendation for action to a later presbytery meeting.
Please keep our brothers and sisters in Christ in your prayers.
Online Church Directory
Information about churches in Blackhawk Presbytery is now available on the website. Click
Congregations on the menu to the left for a listing that is alphabetical by city, then by church.
Let us know of changes or updates you'd like to see.
Introducing MissionInsite
MissionInsite is a powerful new demographic and contextual analysis tool that is available to all of our congregations. Discovering your church’s ministry options just got easier. MissionInsite provides instant access to community information for your church via the MI System. You’ll get desk-top, web based demographic data for a variety of geographic levels. In partnership with the Synod of Lincoln Trails, we have a contract with MissionInsite that provides all of our churches with free access to this information.
To use MissionInsite, you need to register by
downloading the information sheet and following the instructions. We’ll be planning training sessions later in the year to help you “mine” MissionInsite to explore your ministry area and discover new mission opportunities. Meanwhile, sign up and get familiar with this great resource!. MissionInsite is available to member congregations of Blackhawk Presbytery through your contributions to shared mission. Check out MissionInsite
here.
Presbyterian Women in Blackhawk Presbytery --2009 Directory Available
The
2009 Directory and Annual Report of the Presbyterian Women in the Presbytery of Blackhawk is available
here. The Directory gives information about PWP leadership and PW groups in congregations.
The Parish Paper
Blackhawk Presbytery has subscribed to
The Parish Paper, a monthly newsletter of ideas and insights for active congregations co-edited by Herb Miller, Lyle Schaller, and Cynthia Woolever. Blackhawk Presbytery’s purchase of photocopy rights for
The Parish Paper includes:
- Permission to provide copies to our staff and the congregations within our constituency in any of the following ways: E-mail, Postal, newspaper, newsletter, meetings, training events, and our website.
- Permission for each congregation within our constituency to (a) photocopy or electronically distribute for local use as many copies as it needs, (b) post them on its website, and (c) quote sentences and paragraphs.
Congregations do NOT have permission
(a) to delete the copyright notice on page 2;
(b) to re-write, paraphrase, or change the wording of sentences and paragraphs; or
(c) to give ANY THIRD PARTY—other than your staff and constituents—permission to photocopy or reprint (in any quantity, no matter how small, whether for free distribution or for sale).
Issues are available
here. We hope you find this newsletter informative and useful. Let us know. Your contributions to the presbytery per capita/administrative budget make this service possible.
Created on 03/27/2009 10:46 PM by patw
Updated on 05/21/2009 11:43 AM by patw
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