Rev. Jin S. Kim, the pastor of Church of All Nations Presbyterian in Columbia Heights and also the Moderator of the PTCA for 2009-10 shared his report to the Presbytery at the September 12 Presbytery meeting at First Presbyterian in Shakopee.  The report follows:

• Evaluations from the July 2009 presbytery meeting were very positive. Our elder commissioners gave a 4.3 out of 5.0 overall and our ministers gave a 4.7 out of 5.0. We are making progress, and will continue to find ways to make the presbytery meetings a more rewarding and redemptive experience for all.

• We should consider an omnibus consent agenda that includes the motions of every committee and task force. This will allow us to make space for serious decision making and the work of genuine discernment about our life together.
• The Office of Theology and Worship of the GAMC has launched an “Ecclesiology Project” to think through what it means to be church in the fast changing ecclesial landscape of this new century, a project I am participating in. Part of what I envision is for our presbytery as a whole to take stock of the Reformed tradition after 500 years and to discern together the outlines of what Time Magazine has recently called a “New Calvinism,” as one of the most important emerging ideas of the 21st century, and its implications on our congregational and specialized ministries.
• The ecumenical movement needs more serious attention. I currently serve as one of our denomination’s delegates to the National Council of Churches, which incidentally, will hold its annual General Assembly right here in Minneapolis Nov. 10-12 (I appreciate Richard Buller and Valley Community Church for hosting the NCC dinner for our Presbyterian delegation, which unfortunately conflicts with our next presbytery meeting). At the NCC, we recently celebrated 100 years as a movement in America, and there have been tremendous advances. On the other hand, our ecclesial divisions are just as painfully apparent now as they were a century ago, but the PCUSA remains committed to healing those divisions as our Book of Order states. Yesterday, I was at the Greater Minnesota Association of Evangelicals annual board retreat, and our board is revisiting the idea of bridging the denominational divisions within the evangelical world. If the work of reconciling Presbyterian and Baptist remains, if the Lord’s Supper is still not shared between Catholics, Mainliners and Pentecostals, can we allow the disagreements between conservatives and liberals in our little denomination to truly divide us?
• I serve on the GA Special Committee on the Belhar Confession, and we will have our second meeting Sept. 20-22 in Louisville. I commend “A Study of the Belhar Confession,” a wonderful and incisive workbook produced by our denomination’s Office of Theology and Worship, for study among our congregations and ministers. Belhar was published in 1986 at the height of apartheid in South Africa, and has powerful implications for our radicalized country and church here in America. If adopted, it will be the first non-Western confession in our Book of Confessions.

The following post  is from Matthew Robbins-Ghormley, pastor of Randolph Heights Presbyterian Church in St. Paul.

Matthew Robbins-Ghormley

For the last year or so, I’ve been meeting weekly with three other pastors of smaller Presbyterian churches here in the Cities. We get together to read the Bible together, specifically the texts we’ll be preaching, and to talk together about the common work we’re doing. Often we end up talking about the particular challenges and opportunities in the situation we find ourselves in here at the beginning of the 21^st century, and how different it is to be church in 2009 than it was in 1959.   Out of our conversations together, we’ve planned an event for Saturday, September 19^th designed for our congregations (and for anyone else who would like to join in) on what we think is an intriguing topic. Our topic is the question: Does the church have anything to say to real life? Are we just a nice little group of people who sit in a room together once a week and talk about things that are interesting only to ourselves, or are we a part of something that has something real and compelling to say to the very real questions of our neighbors, co-workers, and friends? If it’s the former, maybe we should just go ahead and close our doors right now. If we really do have something to say, what is it, and what prevents us from saying it? What are the big questions that people are wrestling with today, and how are we being a community that speaks the hope of the Gospel to those questions?

Our guest for the day is Dr. Andy Root, theologian and professor at Luther Seminary in Saint Paul. The day is intended both for church leaders, and for regular folks too. It is a day of theological conversation for everyone. Bring your own questions too.

The Details: Saturday, September 19th, 2009, 9am – 3pm, Lake Nokomis Presbyterian Church, 1620 East 46th Street, Minneapolis MN 55407.  Registration Including Lunch: $20 (Lunch by Pepito’s) Registration is limited. To register, call Jan at 612-721-4463.

Put the date on your calendar now.   Hope to see you there,

Matt Robbins-Ghormley

A flyer is available to promote the event.

The following post is from Rev. Chaz Ruark, the Excutive Presbyter of the PTCA.

Those who were present at our last Presbytery meeting (btw a special thanks to all the good folk at Presbyterian Church of the Master in Coon Rapids for being such gracious hosts) know that we began a year of worship at Presbytery meetings that focuses on the Six Great Ends of the Presbyterian Church. Just to recap for those of you who haven’t memorized them, the Six Great Ends of the Church are:

            -The proclamation of the gospel for the salvation of humankind

            -The shelter, nurture, and spiritual fellowship of the children of God

            -The maintenance of divine worship

            -The preservation of the truth

            -The promotion of social righteousness

            -And the exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the world.    BoO  G-1.0200

            The Great Ends have enjoyed a bit of a resurgence since they were highlighted by the 209^th General Assembly meeting in 1997. They were written and adopted in the early 1900’s as a part of a great optimistic era at the start of a new century. And while they are excellent goals that can be affirmed by any Christian denomination they are uniquely Presbyterian. Still in all the GE’s are too easily forgotten once the Polity Ordination exam is passed.

            When we recently entered a new century, and a new millennium I’m not sure we shared the same sense of optimism that our counterparts of 100 years ago possessed. In fact we live in a time of tumult with cultural shifts and transitions that often leave us with many more questions than answers. Yet the beauty of these carefully crafted words still inspire us and still call us to action even today. Churches around the country have adopted the Great Ends as a focus for their congregation.

            Your Presbytery Council has come to the same conclusion as those many congregations. As we seek to be a faithful presbytery, fulfilling the calling of our Lord Christ to be the church that demonstrates God’s glory, what better starting point than the Great Ends. If you haven’t thought much about the Great Ends lately I encourage you to read the first three chapters of the Book of Order (Yes, READ the Book of Order) to hear the calling that Christ has for our church. As congregations and as a presbytery we have much work and much hope ahead of us, but we have a wonderful blueprint in the Great Ends to help us down this path.