A New Year's Covenant

I give myself completely to you, God.

John Wesley, Covenant Prayer

I give myself completely to you, God.

Assign me a place in your creation.

Let me suffer for you.

Give me work that you would have me do.

Give me many tasks

Or help me stand aside while you call others.

Put me forward or humble me.

Give me riches or let me live in poverty.

I freely give all that I am

And all that I have to you.

And now, Holy God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit,

I heed your call to live in covenant with you,

Through Jesus Christ. Amen.

The Covenant Prayer above comes from John Wesley's new year's Covenant service. Over the years, I have made a practice of praying it as the new year begins to remind myself of the demands of covenant living. God's covenant promise, born of the words "I shall be your God and you shall be my people," does not simply assure us of our Lord's love and care. God's covenant also calls us to respond with a promise of our own to live as covenant people.

If we're honest, the words of Wesley's prayer are not easy ones. They demand that we surrender ourselves... completely in service of our Lord! Our desires, our dreams, our wishes belong to God in order that God's will be done. Few of us desire to suffer, few of us are ready to stand aside when others are called to pick up our tasks, few of us wish to be humbled, few of us are willing to choose poverty over riches. Yet to live in covenant with God calls us to be ready to respond to whatever God asks of us.

Are we ready to give ourselves completely over to God's covenant call? Or will we hold something back?

New Year's Blessings!

Holy Habit: Make a Covenant with God

Take some time this next week to pray and ponder the words of the Covenant Prayer above. Can you pray these words as your own? Or does a part of you pull back? How is God seeking to "covenant" with you in this new year?

Save the Date and RSVP now!

January 10, 2015

Muskingum Valley Presbytery Leadership Training

What causes conflict? Two human beings in the same room (or just you, by yourself, if you are having a particularly bad day)! Conflict is all around us. We each have an attitude about it and a way of managing through it that makes sense to us. When those various ways of handling conflict come together, there is (surprise!) a possibility for further conflict. This workshop will allow us to work together as we examine how we currently deal with conflict with our instinctive or learned reactions to it. We will look at ways to work with people of varying conflict styles, and discover a method for working with groups who find themselves in the midst of conflict.

• When: Saturday, January 10, 2015
• Where: Faith Christian Church, 2012 Pleasant Valley Road NE, New Philadelphia, OH 44663
• Time: 9:00 am - 4:00 pm
• Cost: $35*
• *Cost includes lunch and the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Assessment instrument.

Registrations are due by January 6, 2015

Early Registrations are greatly appreciated! 

Register via email at mvpjourney@gmail.com or by mailing this completed form with payment to: Muskingum Valley Presbytery, 109 Stonecreek Rd NW, New Philadelphia, OH 44663. ATTN: Conflict Training.

It's that time of year again! The Session Annual Statistical Report for the denomination and the Clerk's Annual Questionnaire must be completed online for every church. They do not require congregational action nor do the financial figures need to be audited before submitting. Easy to follow instruction booklets are available for download from the OGA, and include how to enter membership and financial stats on-line.  

Use the link below to access the statistics website. From there, you will be able to find the year-end statistics online reporting system, the 2014 instructions booklet, and the Clerk's Annual Questionnaire:

http://oga.pcusa.org/section/churchwide-ministries/stats/

2014 Year-End Statistics Entry Timeline

Your church received a mailing with your username and password in it in mid-November.  If you have any questions or problems, please feel free to contact me. I am happy to assist you! Please be aware that I am on vacation the week of December 8, and will be happy to help you when I return on Monday, December 15. 

Sincerely,

Candice McMath

Mission Coordinator

P: (330) 339-5515 or (800) 693-1147 | Candice@MVPJourney.org | MPVJourney@gmail.com

Is your congregation or a congregation in your presbytery doing innovative ministry? Union Presbyterian Seminary (UPSem) offers eight Congregational Leadership Awards annually.   Since 1991, 110 churches in 29 states have received these awards. Each of the eight awards carries a $1,000 prize to support the congregation in its ministry. For more information and to apply for one of the UPSem Congregational Leadership Awards, you may download the brochure and application at  http://www.upsem.edu/leadership_institute/congregational_leadership_awards/  

You may also request an application by sending an e-mail to April Swofford at aswofford@upsem.edu, or calling 1-800-229-2990, ext 231.

The application and instructions are only available electronically. The deadline for the 2015 awards is February 15, 2015.  

COMING SOON!   

Bringing Good News: 40 Stories of Congregations and the Ministries that Transformed Them, compiled by Henry Simmons, Ph.D. and Rita Boyer, M.A.C.E.   A book that celebrates innovative ministry programs around the country.   To order, please check online at amazon.com on December 10, 2014.