Muskingum Valley Presbytery
MVP Mission Update

July 4, 2013
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This week...
Save the Dates!
MVP News & Materials
Job Opportunities
Summer Mission Gathering
July 4th - Independence Day!
A Message to Proclaim
The Journey...
Pray for Oklahoma - Mission Opportunity
Presbyterian Mission Yearbook
Prayer Requests/Updates

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:

 

The MVP Office will be closed on Thursday, July 4th for the observance of Independence Day!
  
There are still plenty of
2013 - 2014
Presbyterian Planning Calendars
available in the MVP Mission Center!
$9.00 each 
Contact Shauna to place your order or
visit the MVP Mission Center to pick yours up today!  
  
If you have placed an order, please pick up your order at the Mission Center.

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
  

Job Opportunity
Director of Music Ministries
at
First Presbyterian Church in Minerva

Part-time,
approx. 15-20 hours
Compensation:
$6,000 - $6,500/year

For more information, please see the

 Please contact Mary Ann Borland by email or 330-823-3554, if you are interested in this opportunity.  



Job Opportunities
Music Director

Westminster Presbyterian Church in Wooster, a progressive community of faith, is looking for an innovative and creative part-time music director who is willing to rethink the role of the choir in a small church. If you would like more information please see the job description and/or contact Pastor Dries Coetzee.  To apply for the position, please send your letter of interest with your resume to Pastor Dries.

 

 

Custodian

Westminster Presbyterian Church in Wooster, a progressive community of faith, is looking for a part-time custodian who is a self-starter and can work independently.  For more information, please see the job description and/or contact Carly Jones in the Church Office.

Applications should include a letter of interest, resume, and 3 references.  Applications will be reviewed immediately with the goal of having a custodian in place by mid to late July.  




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.

 

The MVP Office will be closed on
Thursday, July 4th
for the observance of Independence Day!

 

 

The Calling of the Twelve

 

God has created me to do Him some definite service;

God has committed some work to me which God has not committed to another...

I have a part in a great work; I am a link in a chain,

a bond of connection between persons.

God has not created me for naught.

I shall love as Christ loved, I shall be his work.

John Henry Newman

"Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. He appointed twelve-designating them apostles-that they might be with him and that he might send them out ..." (Mark 3:13-15).

 

From the beginning, Jesus has modeled that together we are the body of Christ and individually members of that body (see I Corinthians 12). Unlike the Rabbis of his day, he did not seat himself in the synagogue and wait for disciples to come and sit with him. Rather, he prayed to God and called those whom God appointed. "Come, follow me." And follow they did.

 

Having called them, he then trained them. First, he showed them how to do the ministries to which they were called-preaching, teaching and healing. Then he sent them out two by two to engage in works of ministry.

 

He also modeled for them (and us) the balance needed between time together and time apart. He knew that they (and we) would struggle to learn that he is the source and that they (and we) must abide in him if they want to do the work to which he calls us (see John 15). The same remains true for us.

 

Like Moses, all too often, we take on burdens God never intended for us to carry alone. Like Moses, we find ourselves burned out and over-extended. It takes our "Jethros" to tell us that "this is not good,"that the work is meant to be shared and delegated among many.

 

The Apostle Paul makes clear that we are to serve out of our gifts. God has created each one of us for a purpose. Part of the joy and challenge is to discern that purpose. It begins with coming to know ourselves in Christ as we claim the reality that each one of us is called through our baptism.

 

Business consultant Peter Drucker once said that most people think they know their gifts and most are wrong. Odd. Yet, I believe, this is because many of us carry the burden of expectations placed on our shoulders by others, often unintentionally. By contrast, Jesus calls us to place "his yoke" on our shoulders that we might learn "the unforced rhythms of grace" (see Matthew 11:28-30, The Message).

 

Gifts... Passions... Needs... all play a role in discerning and living out God's call. As Paul reminds us: "God is our Maker and in our union with Christ, God has created us for a life of good workswhich has already been prepared for us to do" (Ephesians 2:10). The challenge is to discern that for which we have been created. Therein lies our greatest joy as we become the people we were created to be by God. It is then we are set free to serve with energy, intelligence, imagination, and love. It is then that we most fully engage with our world in the name of Jesus. 

 


Deborah Rundlett, general presbyter  
 

Food for the Journey

Exodus 18:13-27, Jethro advises Moses to delegate responsibility

Romans 12:1-8, The body of Christ

Mark 3:13-15, The calling of the twelve

 

Journey Questions

  1. What do these three texts have to teach us about call?
  2. Who is your "Jethro"? Are you currently engaged in a ministry that leaves you feeling over-extended and on the brink of burn-out? What is God seeking to tell you through your "Jethro"?
  3. How has God called you to serve? Do you know your gifts? Would others agree with you?
  4. Do you know "the good works" that God has prepared for you to do?
  5. When have you felt most alive in your service? When have you found yourself set free to serve with energy, intelligence, imagination and love?

Journey Practice: Heeding God's Call

This week take some time apart to ponder God's call to you. Pray through the words of John Bell's hymn "The Summons" allowing them to become for you a means of recommitting yourself to God's call anew.

 

Will you come and follow me If I but call your name?

Will you go where you don't know And never be the same?

Will you let my love be shown, Will you let my name be known,

Will you let my life be grown In you and you in me?

 

Will you leave yourself behind If I but call your name?

Will you care for cruel and kind And never be the same?

Will you risk the hostile stare Should your life attract or scare

Will you let me answer pray'r In you and you in me?

 

Will you let the blinded see If I but call your name?

Will you set the prisoners free And never be the same?

Will you kiss the leper clean, And do such as this unseen,

And admit to what I mean In you and you in me?

 

Will you love the 'you' you hide If I but call your name?

Will you quell the fear inside And never be the same?

Will you use the faith you've found To reshape the world around,

Through my sight and touch and sound In you and you in me?

 

Lord, your summons echoes true When you but call my name.

Let me turn and follow you And never be the same.

In your company I'll go Where your love and footsteps show.

Thus I'll move and live and grow In you and you in me.

- John Bell, The Iona Community

 

Prayer for the Journey

Look at your hands, see and touch the tenderness-God's own for the world.

Look at your feet, see the path and the direction-God's own for the world.

Look at your heart, see the fire and the love-God's own for the world.

Look at the cross, see God's Son and our Savior-God's own for the world.

This is God's world and we will serve God in it.

Wild Goose Worship Group, A Wee Worship Book, 1989

 

 

 

From the Transitional Stated Clerk       July 4, 2013

 

Applications for the 2013 - 2 Cents A Meal Grant from the MVP 2 Cents A Meal Fund will be accepted at the MVP Mission Center through Thursday, August 15, 2013. The application form is available on our website (see Forms-Miscellaneous). Please be sure to fully describe the program(s) for which funding is requested (number of people served, involvement of other faith communities and/or organizations...) with special emphasis on the difference that a 2 Cents A Meal Grant would make (new program start-up, expansion of existing program, leverage of matching funds, etc...).

The application must be signed by the clerk of session and the pastor/moderator of the sponsoring church. 

Incomplete applications or those postmarked or received at the Mission Center after August 15, 2013, will not be considered.   


Awards will be announced at the MVP stated meeting on Tuesday, September 17, 2013, at JIM's Place in New Philadelphia. 

 

These grants are made possible by table offerings at presbytery meetings and gatherings and direct contributions from our congregations and individuals throughout our presbytery, who have discerned a call to respond to the growing number of children and adults in our communities who are hungry because they do not have reliable access to affordable, nutritious food.

   

For more information, contact Paula at 330-339-5515 or by email, Paula@MVPJourney.org 

 

 

 

 

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
 

Please pray for Kathleen Miller, member of Christ Presbyterian Church.  Cancer was discovered after an emergency operation.

She has a very positive attitude about the journey ahead.  Please include the family.

   

Rev Ron Fleming fell breaking his foot and is in rehab in Columbus. he continues to suffer with Parkinson's. He once served as pastor at Second Presbyterian in Cambridge as well as East Liberty and Norwich churches.

 

Please hold Tim, Ellen and the Thomas family in your prayers. Tim's mother passed away on Wednesday, June 19.
    

 

   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