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Presbytery Meetings
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The next Presbytery Meeting is Saturday, January 14, 2012 from 9AM-3PM at Arlington Hills Presbyterian Church in St. Paul, MN. Materials for the meeting will be available in early January at our Presbytery Packets page.
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Go Mobile!
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The website for the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area is now optimized to work on iPhone and Android mobile devices. You can get to our mobile site in two ways: one your smartphone, simply go to the www.presbyterytwincites.org web address and you will go straight to the mobile formatted site or simply scan the qr code to your above and you go immediately to the site.
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Parish Paper
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The November and December 2011 editions The Parish Paper, a monthly resource for local churches to which the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area has subscribed on behalf of all PTCA churches, are now online. We encourage you to share The Parish Paper with your session , committees, or teams within your congregation. To download the latest issues as well as archived papers, please click here.
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InPrint Newsmagazine
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InPrint is the newsmagazine detailing the mission and ministry of the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area. To download the November 2011 issue, please click here.
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We continue to pray for Teaching Elder Denise Dunbar-Perkins and her husband Herb Perkins. Herb is recovering from surgery for an Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm.
We pray for Teaching Elder Ron Wilson, pastor of the Associated Church in Owatonna who is recovering from knee replacement surgery.
We pray for Honorably Retired Teaching Elder Jim Brasel and the congregation of Presbyterian Church of the Way in Shoreview, MN. Jim will become the Temporary Pastor at PCOTW in mid-December.
Please remember Teaching Elder Paula Sanders who is grieving the loss of her father earlier this week and also Teaching Elder David Stewart (pastor, Dayton Avenue Presbyterian-St. Paul) who had his mother pass this week as well.
Each week we pray for a ministry or ministers in the PTCA. Click on the date below to find who we are praying for this week. Prayer Requests for Week of December 5-11, 2011 If you have a prayer concern you'd like to share with the wider Presbytery, please contact us by email at communications@ptcaweb.org . |
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|  Small changes have added up to big solutions for people with disabilities at Presbyterian Church of the Way. When a leg injury forced Director of Children's Ministry Joanne Shingledecker to use a wheelchair for a week at Synod School, she experienced firsthand the barriers many people face every day. Joanne is a member of the Presbytery Disability Concerns Ministry, but as she directed children's programs seated in her wheelchair, she realized that she had more to learn. Discoveries like not being able to get her wheelchair into a "handicap" restroom surprised and shocked her. Her experience set off changes at Church of the Way. In many important ways, Church of the Way was already welcoming for people who use wheelchairs or walkers. On arriving at church, they could choose from twelve handicap parking spaces. Six are extra wide and are posted "Vans only." There are no steps to the main floor and an elevator serves the lower level. But Joanne knew that disability takes many forms, like her own inability to turn on the restroom faucets because of arthritis. She pondered, "What more do we need to do?" Read more...
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 Valley Community Presbyterian Church has a class for developmentally disabled adults called The Friendship Group. It is a group that offers adult education on Sunday mornings.
I first became familiar with the Friendship Group when I was asked to teach their Sunday Educational program. I had been advocating for children with learning disabilities for many years prior and so putting my skills to work with the Friendship Group seemed a natural fit.
Read more...
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Does your congregation have an idea for a mission or ministry, but can't do it for lack of money?
The 2012 Mission and Witness Grants are now available to help congregations in the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area engage in ministries of justice and care. The deadline for applications is April 1, 2012. Find out more by going the PTCA Mission and Witness website.
Read more...
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Seeker Seminar: The Committee on Preparation for Ministry (CPM) is hosting a one day seminar for individuals exploring a sense of call to Teaching Elder in the Presbyterian Church (USA). The Seekers Seminar will take place December 28 at North Como Presbyterian Church in Roseville, MN. Read more...
What Happened at Boutwell's: An unofficial record of the November Stated Meeting is now available. Read more...
2012 Per Capita: At the November 8, 2012 Stated Meeting of the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area, the 2012 Budget was approved, meaning we can now announce the 2012 Per Capita for PTCA Congregations. The 2012 Per Capita is $31.63. For a breakdown please visit our Per Capita Page.
Coming Soon, Tuesday Prayers: Starting in late January 2012, anyone in the Presbytery interested in devotions are invited a time of reflection prayer at the PTCA office. More details to follow.
Don't Forget to File a Report! It's the end of the year, which means it's time to fill out congregational reports. The following forms are due January 31, 2012: the Necrology Form, Members of Session Form, Presbytery Commissioners Form, Current Clerk of Session Form and Terms of Call Form. All the forms can be filled out online and are available at the Presbytery's Form page.
Attention At-Large and Retired Pastors: It's time to fill out the annual Non-Parish Clergy Annual Report. This year, there are two different forms to fill depending on your status: a form for honorably retired teaching elders and one for those teaching elders who are at-large. You can fill out either form online by clicking here. The deadline to file a report is December 31, 2011.
Save the Date: Amy Blumenshine, a nationally recognized speaker and writer on the concerns of returning military personnel and their families, will be the keynote speaker for a morning workshop at Community Presbyterian Church in Rochester on February 25, 2012. Read more...
Recent Social Media Articles: For the second issue of our occasional series on social media, we include articles on Twitter, Facebook and Young Clergy, and just what the heck is that funny-looking square box we see everywhere (including this email). Read more...
A Safe Church, An Inclusive Church: Is your congregation trying to write a sexual misconduct policy? Check out the policy template designed by our Advocates for Intergrity in Ministry Committee. Also, learn about the Presbytery's Policy on Disabilities as well.
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Presbybytes: Other News and Events
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Don't Miss the following events and news taking place in the Presbytery:
December 8: Chaos to Cohesion: Advent Celtic Evening Prayer in the City, Westminster Presbyterian, Minneapolis
December 9: Christmas Razzle, Lake Nokomis Presbyterian, Minneapolis
December 9: Invocation Singers Holiday Concert, Macalester Plymouth United Church, St. Paul
December 10: InVocation Singers Holiday Concert, First Presbyterian, Hastings
December 10: Tangled in Tinsel, Chain of Lakes Presbyterian, Lino Lakes
December 11: House of Hope Sunday Concert Series, House of Hope Presbyterian, St. Paul
December 11: TubaChristmas, Central Presbyterian, St. Paul
December 11: Christmas Choir Concert, Presbyterian Church of the Way, Shoreview
December 13: Service of Remembrance, Oak Grove Presbyterian, St. Paul
December 14: Advent Quiet Wednesdays, Lake Nokomis Presbyterian, Minneapolis
December 15: Centering Prayer, Edgcumbe Presbyterian, St. Paul
Find out about other events taking place in our presbytery by going to www.presbyterytwincities.org/events.
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