Dear Friends, Colleagues, and Church Leaders,
During this unprecedented time, your presbytery Council and Staff are praying for you.
Because each of us belongs to congregations ourselves, we know how difficult it is to lead from a distance, and yet that is the challenge before us. Even so, let us rise to the work of being the Church, whose Savior gives us hope and strength. As one of our congregations posted on their website recently, “Although we are suspending our physical gatherings, we are not suspending our hope or mission.”
To that end–of supporting our congregations witness during this time—we have set up a page on our presbytery website for COVID-19 UPDATES from our staff and RESOURCES for your church and ministry. On it you will find:
- Expert suggestions and cautions about gathering online
- Resources for all ages from our Consultant for Spiritual Formation, such as “Illustrated Children’s Ministry, “Worship from Home” and “Keeping your Faith Vibrant”
- Messages from the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, PC(USA) leaders, and presbytery leaders
- Health Flyers in Multiple Languages from Chaplain Stanley Kim… to name a few.
Along with these, we are crowdsourcing ideas and resources in real time on our group Facebook page, so if you have resources to share, please post them there. You can also submit your resources directly to us through The Grapevine.
One of our Presbytery’s sayings is, “We are better together.” Let us come together in an unprecedented way for an unprecedented time. And, may our faith in God—and in each other—grow each day as we give witness to our Lord who is worthy of our greatest fealty and unflagging service.
With you on the journey,
Tom Cramer
Presbytery Co-Executive for Vision & Mission