Presbytery of Ohio Valley
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General News (click here)

 

Cluster News (click here)

 

General news

Greetings,

The Office of Financial Aid wish to share this information with you:

Grants awarded by the Office of Financial Aid for Studies will help small church pastors attend training events that will enable them to serve the church community. Pastors may also apply for funds to assist with the Doctor of Ministry degree. These funds are available for the first three years of study.

For more details about the program criteria visit the website http://www.pcusa.org/financialaid/programs/continuingeducation.htm
or contact Laura Bryan lbryan@ctr.pcusa.org telephone number: 888-728-7228 ext. 5776

The Small Church and Community Ministry Office is offering grants up to $2,500 to support presbytery-wide or regional networking and leadership training opportunities for leaders of smaller membership, urban and/or rural churches. Presbytery support is strongly encouraged. For more information, please contact Phil Tom at ptom@ctr.pcusa.org or Eva Slayton at eslayton@ctr.pcusa.org in the Small Church and Community Ministry Office.

 

 

Around the Synod
Can you spare 24 hours? "OK, I'll Give You 24 Hours" is designed to re-energize pastors with short presentations, worship and Bible study. Running from 4 p.m. Sunday to 4 p.m. Monday, it will be presented four times in four locations around the synod:

  • Stronghold (Oregon, Ill.), April 15-16, 2007
  • Geneva Center (Rochester, Ind.), April 22-23, 2007
  • Miliken University (Decatur, Ill.), April 29-30, 2007
  • Camp PYOCA, (Brownstown, Ind.), May 6-7, 2007

Click here for more information
Click here for a registration form

 

Ltr from Linda Valentine from Presbyterian Center on Virginia Tech Tragedy

    

Lombard Mennonite Peace Center
 

Is offering its seminar on Facilitating Healthy Pastor-Congregation Relations on April 27-28, 2007, in Newport, Kentucky.  

The brochure is attached for you to review the topics to be covered, including:  "The Congregation as a Family System," "Managing Healthy Pastoral Transitions," "Strengthening Healthy Support Systems for Pastors," "Systems for Managing Conflict Constructively," and "Promoting Healthy Church Systems."

Click here for Brochure/Registration form

 

 

 

Mission & Social Justice Bethlehem Trip

GREETINGS:

 

The Mission/Social Justice Committee has approved arranging a second trip to Bethlehem, as part of the partnership of the International Center of Bethlehem and the Presbytery.

 

Online Sign-Up for Trip HERE

 

Brochure and Information for Trip HERE

 

Synod Youthfest

 

Youthfest is a mid-winter retreat for high school juniors/seniors and college freshmen/sophomores. Come join 175 other youth and young adults for this 48-hour retreat. This is a Christian event sponsored by the Synod of Lincoln Trails, Presbyterian Church (USA).

Youthfest 2007 will be Feb. 23-25 in Champaign/Urbana
Come mix and mingle with other high school juniors and seniors and college freshmen and sophomores! Interesting discussions, inspiring music and the popular Open Mic Night will add to the fun.
Click here for more information and a registration form.

 

from PYOCA

Confirmation Retreat - March 9-11, 2007 <http://www.pyoca.org/images/What's%20new/Confirmation%20Retreat%20form.pdf>Part of this event will be to observe the Ohio Valley Presbytery meeting which will be at Pyoca on the 10th!


Quilting Retreat - March 23-25, 2007 <http://www.pyoca.org/images/What's%20new/quilting%202007.pdf>Come make a mystery quilt!  Information sheet will be sent out on or after February 19th.  Come have a ball!  Great for beginning or experienced quilters!  (You must supply your own machine).

 

from the Presbytery Treasurer

Per capita for 2007 is $23.84.

Of the above amount, $14.70 supports the Constitutional mandated structures and committee expenses of the Presbytery, $3.35 supports the the Constitutional mandated structures and committee expenses of the Synod, and $5.79 the Constitutional mandated structures and committee expenses of the General Assembly.

 

 

Church Cluster News

 

West Central Cluster

 

The next scheduled cluster event will be a picnic on Tuesday, June 5, at Gregg Park in Vincennes, with set-up beginning at 4 p.m. I’m not sure what time the meal will actually begin, but you may contact George Ford to find out.

 

Thirty-seven leaders and ministers from 9 WC Cluster churches gathered together at Southside church in Vincennes on Saturday, February 24, for a morning of leadership training for the missional church, presented by our POV Stated Clerk, Christian Boyd.

 

 

 

 

North Central Cluster

Dear Members of the North Central Cluster,

Hello!  As you know, the Presbytery of Ohio Valley is divided into six clusters. Our cluster has met several times now for food, fellowship, and planning.  These are times of connection—as we get to know one another better—but also of discernment—as we gain more insight into the role of the cluster in the life of the presbytery and of each congregation.   Our next meeting will be on Monday evening, June 4th, at 6:00 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church in Martinsville.  All of our previous meetings have been during the day, so we are hoping that with an evening meeting more elders will be able to attend along with the pastors.

 

We are asking each church to send their pastor(s) and an elder or two.  We will enjoy dinner together followed by a brief time of worship.  Then we will spend some time discussing our ministry together as a cluster and possibly making plans for some shared activities/events.  At our last meeting we discussed ideas such as shared officer training, a cluster-wide youth retreat or family retreat, shared mission projects, and more.  We hope to hear more ideas on the 4th!

 

In addition to pastors and elders, we would like to invite all retired clergy in our area to come and participate in our gathering.  You are part of our cluster as well and we look forward to sharing fellowship and worship with you. 

 

First Presbyterian Church is on the corner of Washington St. and Sycamore St. just a block off the square in Martinsville.  Parking is available along the street, in the Family Dollar lot (behind the church at the corner of Sycamore and Morgan), and in the bank lot across from the church.  If you need directions please feel free to call the church office (765-342-3282) or email me at kolson3@earthlink.net. 

Please email me or call the church to let us know how many from your church will be attending.  In order to prepare the right amount of food, we need to know the number by Tuesday, May 29th. 

As I am new to this presbytery, I look forward to meeting many of you whom I haven’t met before.  Several members of our Session are planning to be on hand for the gathering and are looking forward to connecting with other Presbyterians and welcoming members of the cluster to our church. 

Please don’t forget to let us know how many we can expect on the 4th.

In Christ,

 

Kim Olson

Interim Pastor

 

 

 

 

North West Cluster

        The NW Cluster's next meeting is March 7 - 12:3PM at Brazil 1st.  We will be reviewing the
           Leadership/Spiritual Formation workshops and consider what next we would like to do together. 

        The lunch is brown bag.

 

The Food Pantry at Spencer Presbyterian Church is open each week on Tuesday and Thursday from 10:00 a.m. until 12:00 noon. It is located in the cottage directly behind the church at 156 N. Main Street. The Food Pantry now serves more than 100 families, providing them with a selection of basic grocery needs once a month. The number of families served by the food pantry has been doubling each year since it opened its cottage doors in July 2004. For more information, visit our website at http://www.spencerpresbyterian.org/About_Us.html <http://www.spencerpresbyterian.org/About_Us.html> and/or contact Carol Miller at spenpres@sbcglobal.net <mailto:spenpres@sbcglobal.net> .

 

South East

Lexington Presbyterian Church

And

Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) Good News Clubs

 

The Lexington Presbyterian Church, located in Lexington, Indiana, is instrumental in spreading the Gospel to elementary students kindergarten through fifth grade in the county via Good News Clubs.  Using Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) resources, we are able to hold Bible-based lessons, mission stories, and scripture memorization sessions in the schools, immediately after school hours.

 

We usually meet one day a week for 5 to 6 weeks.  The club time usually runs from 3:15 p.m. to 4:45 p.m., with parents picking up the children at the school. 

 

A typical Good News Club session resembles a vacation Bible School.  We meet for opening prayer, announcements, and snacks.  We then break the group into 3 smaller groups and begin a rotation with one-third of the participants going to a Bible lesson, one-third going to a missionary story, and one-third going to a scripture memorization session.  Each session lasts approximately 20 minutes, and then we rotate again.  At the end of the club, we all meet together again before dismissal.  We also sometimes host special guests or parties.

 

In the fall of 2006, we were able to teach the Gospel to approximately 140 children between the Lexington Elementary and Vienna-Finely Elementary schools.  In the spring of 2007, we will assist Scottsburg elementary, as well as coordinate the Lexington and Vienna-Finley club meetings. 

 

In order for a club to be successful, approximately 10 volunteers are needed for a GNC.  (Junior High or older children may be used as team-leaders).  Since our church is very small, we enlist the help of many other local churches who have a passion for reaching children for Christ. 

 

If any church is interested, they may contact me at 812-752-7724 to see when our next session will begin.  They would be more than welcome to attend a GNC meeting, or I would be willing to come and talk with your church about this outreach. 

 

 

South Central

 

 

South West

South West Cluster – Encouraging Congregations

 

What is God doing and Where is God leading?  The Cluster group is beginning to discern this and are settling into two areas which weave together.

 

The first is exploring Spiritual Gifts in every congregation.  A possible model for this would be to establish a team from the cluster to visit every church; presenting a meal, an explanation and a spiritual gifts inventory which would then be accessed and brought together in a data base for the church and the cluster.

 

The second is exploring church planting and church support.  Newburgh, Westminster and Veltri Taylor are already up and running in the area of church planting.  Exploring how God might be using the cluster to meet this passion is open for future discussion.

 

Ellen Rexing will convene the meetings for the next year and provide a starting agenda for the gathering.

 

Dennis Davenport and Martha Friz-Langer will be the communicators.