Muskingum Valley Presbytery
MVP Mission Update

June 13, 2013

This week...
Save the Dates!
MVP News & Materials
Trinity United in Zanesville Information
Summer Mission Gathering
Important Update
A New Thing!
Holy Habit: Appreciating the "Best of the Best"
Celebrating First Wooster Presbytery
Installation Service for Jennifer Baer
Presbyterian Mission Yearbook
Prayer Requests/Updates
Join Our Mailing List 

Save the Dates!


Wednesday,
July 10th
10a - 3p

Discover Your Place in Ministry

Have the chance to develop your leadership portrait and learn about yourself through the lens of MBTI, Gallup Strengths, and Change Style Indicator.

MVP Mission Center
109 Stonecreek Rd NW
New Philadelphia

Lunch included:
$10 donation suggested

Please RSVP to Shauna by July 8th for a lunch head count.

  -------------


Wednesday
August 14
4 - 8pm

MVP Check - in 
&
Dinner
(More details to follow)

Check -in location:
MVP Mission Center 
109 Stonecreek Rd NW
New Philadelphia

Followed by dinner at Debbie's

Spouses and children are welcome.
In fact, we encourage spouses with kids to join Lifeguard Donnie poolside at 3:30p for a swim while their pastor spouses/parents check in. 


 
-------------

Tuesday,
September 17th
4-8p
 

Ordinary Time-

Taking

Care of Business

(Budget & Overtures)

 

Stated 

Presbytery Meeting

  

JIM's Place 

 228 W High Ave.

New Philadelphia 

  

Dinner included: $10 donation suggested 

 

 

  -------------   

 

 

Questions?
Comments?
Corrections?

  

800.693.1147
330.339.5515

 

  

MVP 
Office Hours:
Monday thru Thursday
8:00A - 4:30P

MVP News:

   

Shauna will be out of the office the week of June 17th. She will return on Monday, June 24th. If you need immediate assistance, please contact Debbie  and Paula on their cell phones or by email.

 

2013 - 2014
Presbyterian Planning Calendars
are now available for order!
$9.00 each 
Contact Shauna to place your order or
visit the MVP Mission Center to pick yours up today!

2013 Mission Yearbooks
are now on sale
$12.00 each

Per Capita 2013 
GA
 6.87
Synod
 3.25
Presbytery
18.36
Total
28.48
 


Trinity United in Zanesville is having a free Square Dance on Saturday, June 22nd from 6-9
in the Fellowship Hall.
 
Everyone is welcome to join!


SUMMER MISSION
GATHERING

The College Drive Presbyterian Church
 in
New Concord, Ohio
invites PWP & friends to their church on
Saturday, August 24

Schedule will be:
Registration 9:30am
Business, Program & Worship 10:00-12:15
Lunch 12:30 (cost $7.00)

 

Kathy Adams from Mansfield will speak
about "Life as a Mission", the small church & Haiti.
 

 

 Shauna will be out of the office the week of June 17th. She will return on Monday, June 24th.  

 

If you need immediate assistance, please contact Debbie (Deborah@MVPJourney.org) or Paula (Paula@MVPJourney.org) on their cell phones or by email.

 

 

A New Thing!

 

Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.
Isaiah 43:18-19

 

A new thing!  That is what God desires to do in this season.  Are we ready to let go?  Are we prepared to take the journey?  I think so!

 

God's call to us is to seek the Shalom of the communities to which we have been sent for therein we will find our Shalom (see Jeremiah 29:7).  One of the ways we are seeking the Shalom of our communities is through Appreciative Inquiry.

 

Appreciative Inquiry (AI) has been described as a "positive revolution" in which strengths are aligned in such a way as to make weaknesses irrelevant.  AI invites us beyond attempts to "fix the old" into a place where together we might "build the new."  This process is intended for congregations whose hearts are turned out to their communities.  It is a means by which to build partnerships for transformation.  It involves an intentional search for what gives life to a community when it is living out of its strengths; it taps into the reality that every community has untapped resources for life.

 

Across the presbytery parishes are gathering to name the signs of where God is at work.  As David Cooperrider, creator of Appreciative Inquiry, reminds us: Building the new is a fundamentally different task than fixing the old.   At the center of the AI process is the shaping of questions-or affirmative topics-that point us toward life.  AI topics become the community's agenda for learning, knowledge sharing, and action.  They set the stage for the 4-D process of Discovery, Dream, Design, and Destiny. 

 

The process involves a cross section of people throughout the community.  Here the community is challenged to re-frame deficit issues into affirmative topics for inquiry.  The learning is that we grow in the direction of our deepest and most frequent questions. 

 

What is it that you want more of for your community?

 


Deborah Rundlett, general presbyter  

 

 

Holy Habit: Appreciating the "Best of the Best"

 

Over this next week ponder the questions below:  

  1. Describe a peak experience or "high point" in your community.
  2. What things do you most value about yourself and your community?
  3. What do you consider to be the core factor that "gives life" to your community?
  4. What three wishes would you make to heighten the vitality and life of the community?

Then spend some time in prayer with God.  Ask God, how are you being called to respond to these insights?  Is it possible that God is calling your congregation to gather members of the extended community to build the new together as you seek the Shalom of the community?

 

 

 

May 2013

 

Dear Muskingum Valley Presbytery,

 

I wanted to let you know that First Presbyterian Church of Wooster, Ohio was recertified as an Earth Care Congregation by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Environmental Ministries through January 2014.  This honor speaks to the great commitment that this congregation has to caring for God's earth.

 

To become an Earth Care Congregation, First Presbyterian Church affirmed the Earth Care Pledge to integrate environmental practices and thinking into all facets of their church life. It also completed projects and activities in the fields of worship, education, facilities, and outreach.

 

The Earth Care Congregation certification is designed to recognize churches that have made the commitment to take seriously God's charge to "till and keep" the garden.

 

The Earth Care Congregations program was started in 2010 by PC(USA) Environmental Ministries.  The goal of the program is to inspire churches to care for God's earth in a holistic way, through integrating earth care into all of church life.  The Earth Care Congregation certification honors churches that made that commitment, and encourages others to follow their lead.

 

First Presbyterian Church is the first church in the Muskingum Valley Presbytery to become an Earth Care Congregation.  Congratulations, First Presbyterian!

 

For more information on First Presbyterian Church's earth care program contact Keith Brown at kanddbrown@aol.com or 330-264-5118.

 

For more information on the Earth Care Congregations program go to www.pcusa.org/earth-care-congregations.

 

Peace,

 

 

 

Rebecca Barnes

Associate for Environmental Ministries

 

Letter to MVP, First Pres Wooster (PDF) 

 

 

Installation Service for Jennifer Baer

New Harrisburg Presbyterian Church
3006 Waynesburg Road NW
Carrollton, Ohio 44615

Sunday, June 16th
1:30PM
Cookies and punch to follow the service

 
 

What difference does the

Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study make? 


The Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, the denomination's award-winning mission devotional, features stories from around the corner and around the globe. Thousands of Presbyterians use it every day to learn about other ministries, to be encouraged by the witness of others, and to connect with and pray for them as they serve.

 

What makes the Mission Yearbook such an essential part of ministry? It is:

 

A way to be "in the know" about mission:

o   Provides examples of ways Presbyterians are meeting the needs of a hurting world.

o   Provides inspiring field-tested mission ideas  

An aid in spiritual development

o   Provides an inspiring story about the work of the church for each day.

o   Provides daily lectionary listings to facilitate Bible study.

o   Provides an outline for daily prayer to guide devotions.

An effective way to support the mission of the church

o   Provides a list of PC(USA) mission partners to pray for daily

o   Provides a prayer for each day to guide devotions 

A way to connect with the larger church:

o   Connect with mission partners to find out how to replicate their mission

o   Connect with the people you pray for to let them know you prayed for them.

A tool that will save you time as a pastor

o   Provides Sunday lectionary and hymn suggestions

o   Provides sermon illustrations

o   Provides instant devotionals for opening meetings

 

Discover how this wonderful resource can re-energize your members and draw them into the heart of Presbyterian mission and ministry! Order today! Call 800-524-2612 and request ISBN 978-0-98589-641-6, or visit pcusa.org/store/9780985896416.   

 

Flyer for 2014 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook_PDF



 

Prayer Requests/Updates

A young couple needs prayers regarding their marriage.

Please pray for Tim Thomas' mother. She has been in the hospital for the past 5 weeks because of another stroke.


 

   If you or someone you know has a prayer request

please send them
to Shauna at Shauna@MVPJourney.org

 

 


Journeying with Jesus to touch the world...
Empowered by the Spirit to:
Make Disciples, Nurture Our Faith, and Serve the Needs of the Community! 
 

Shauna Engeldinger, Administrative Assistant

  

Muskingum Valley Presbytery

109 Stonecreek Road NW

New Philadelphia, Ohio 44663 

330.339.5515

1.800.693.1147

Fax: 330.339.6225

 

 Visit our website: www.MVPJourney.org

 

  

Regular Office hours

Monday - Thursday

8:00A to 4:30P