April 2023 Commission Meeting Highlights
The Synod Mission and Ministries Commission held it stated meeting April 28-29 at the First Presbyterian Church of Albany. We began with the final report of the New Jersey Missional Communities Administrative Commission. This report is an assessment of the multi-year process presbytery members engaged in to reorganize the New Jersey from seven presbyteries into four. Much was learned along the way that can be helpful to any presbytery thinking about some type of reorganization with surrounding presbyteries. NJCAC FINAL REPORT - APRIL 2023.pdf The New Jersey Missional Communities Administrative Commission was dissolved with grateful thanks.
The Transitional Leader, Rev. Dr. SanDawna Ashley, reviewed the work of the Discernment Team as listening sessions begin. The team will be in conversation with Mid-Council leaders and pastors, people receiving grant funding, Synod caucus groups, presbytery Moderators, ecumenical mission partners, and the two synod networks. Additionally, we are improving our communication and working on our narrative to become more transparent. The Synod has distributed over $700,000 in grants last year that tells a lot of our story and reveals our core values. We are a Matthew 25 synod and we have redefined the missional goals to reflect these themes.
The Stated Clerk, Rev. Nancy Talbot, reported that the synod is rolling out its new grants system over the course of this year. This is a much easier system which will allow people to save their work as they move through the questions. The next applications, Emerging Gospel Communities, are due in the new grants system on August 20th. There is a video on the website that helps demonstrate how to apply.
Actions Taken by the Commission
Mission Working Group
Innovation Grants
INV-23-01-04 Year 1 Outside/In Words Writing Program Recommend: $14,000
New York City Church of Gethsemane - Project Connect
Project Connect seeks to expand its ministry through a writing program for men and women who are incarcerated, and for those who have returned home. The program, called Outside/InWords, builds on our existing ministry to this community, creating a means for participants to process the trauma associated with incarceration. Our ministry meets spiritual needs through the work of the Church and Project Connect, but we have identified that people who are denied access to basics such as housing and employment, have needs that can be met by accessing creativity through the art
INV-23-02-04 Year 1 Open Door Exchange Recommend: $7,500
Long Island Setauket Presbyterian Church
Open Door Exchange (ODE) was founded in 2015 by Setauket Presbyterian Church as the first furniture bank on Long Island. ODE connects donated furniture to individuals and families in need at no cost. We believe that furniture is necessary to building a safe and comfortable home for all. We accept donated furnishings from our local community and display them in our warehouse. Our guests are offered the dignity of selecting their own furnishings. No one who visits us is ever required to prove their level of need.
INV-23-06-04 Year 1 Westminster Community Hub for Mental Health Support Recommend: $14,000
Southern New England Westminster Presbyterian Church
Westminster Presbyterian Church is creating a safe, secure, supportive space for individuals and organizations by providing a mental health resource hub for the West Hartford community. The role of the Westminster community hub will be to identify gaps that exist in mental health awareness, education, training, and access to services and work to fill those gaps by providing support, education, training, volunteers, and access to resources to strengthen and amplify the work of the many governmental and nonprofit organizations in our community.
INV-23-07-04 Year 1 Common Ground Worship Collective Recommend: $8,000
New York City Common Ground
Common Ground, a new worshipping community launched in 2019, is piloting a project centered on leadership development & equitable community practices. This project can best be summarized as an intersectional, community-driven nonprofit teaching radical belonging through decentralization & anti-supremacy. We accomplish this through programming - which includes small groups, community events, trainings, retreats and other experience-based learning modules that teach diversity, equity, and inclusion rooted in the Jesus Way. With this project, we hope to create a more just and generous world.
INV-23-08-04 Year 1 The SHARE Alliance Recommend: $14,000
Northeast New Jersey First Presbyterian Church of Springfield
The S.H.A.R.E. Alliance – (Sowing Hope And Reaping Equity) is a consortium of congregations and other interested parties in Springfield, NJ, dedicated to addressing food justice in our county. We believe that no one should involuntarily go to sleep hungry or wonder where their next meal would come from. The SHARE Alliance seeks to approach the issue with a three-prong tactic: Create availability of healthier food, via collection and donations. Coordinate their distribution, via a community pantry and kitchen. Promote their right use, via cross-cultural cooking classes.
INV-23-09-04 Year 2 Sustaining Congregations through Female Clergy Retention Recommend: $3,750
Albany Albany Presbytery and Antioch University
This community research project seeks to build pathways of advocacy for pastors, congregations and church governing structures to collectively support female clergy retention within the PC(USA). Through a 2-year needs assessment, this initiative identifies contributing factors to the rise in female clergy attrition during early and mid-career stages. The vision for this project is to promote congregational vitality by supporting long-term vocations for female clergy as they seek to faithfully serve their local congregations.
INV-23-10-04 Year 2 The Lighthouse Counseling Network, Inc. Recommend: $6,750
Eastern Korean The Lighthouse Counseling Network, Inc.
The Lighthouse Counseling Network (LCN) has a mission to provide accessible Christian counseling services to the greater Northern New Jersey region, led by a network of local presbyterian churches and supported by other denomination affiliated churches.
INV-23-11-04 Year 2 Adopt A Prison Recommend: $4,500
Hudson River Interfaith Prison Partnership
Adopt A Prison encourages community support for incarcerated people. We envision a world in which our neighbors in prison receive opportunities for rehabilitation, healing, and spiritual development so they can return successfully to civilian life. When the community participates in this work, the welfare of the incarcerated improves, as well as the welfare of the community itself. Our unique, innovative approach brings together elected officials, prison superintendents, NYS correctional officials, and local non-profits to share information and expertise for the benefit of all.
INV-23-12-04 Year 2 Hybrid Micro Outreach to Help Small Churches Grow Recommend: $2,500
Western New York John Fong Consulting Agency
One of my goals for the first year of my Innovation grant was to identify ways to be more impactful. What I learned was that the hybrid relational outreach program can help any size church grow, but I had to help churches establish hybrid authenticity before I could really help them grow. The next thing I learned was that presbytery partnership made the process more effective because churches felt leadership support and initiative. The vision for my second year Innovation grant is to incorporate establishing hybrid church authenticity, church growth practices and presbytery partnerships.
INV-23-13-04 Year 2 First Presbyterian Church of Chili Food Cupboard Recommend: $2,500
Genesee Valley First Presbyterian Church of Chili
The vision for our Cupboard is built around Matthew 25:35 "I was hungry and you fed me, thirsty and you gave me drink." The First Presbyterian Church of Chili became aware two years ago of families in our geographical area lacking in nutritional needs. We then set about establishing a Food Cupboard in conjunction with Foodlink of Rochester to end hunger by providing emergency food, hope, and a bridge to self-sufficiency. When we opened our doors in June of 2021 we had between 3 and 4 families taking advantage of our services. This past March, we served 87 households and fed 301 people.
INV-23-14-04 Year 2 Community Outreach Center Recommend: $5,000
Utica First Presbyterian Church of Oneida
The second phase of our Community Center Outreach Project will be youth centered. This grant request is to obtain funds to rehabilitate a full gymnasium and purchase athletic equipment for area youth to have a safe place to go where connections are made and love is exhibited. Youth are currently restricted to our game room and lounge. The gym floor is unsafe. Having a gym floor will allow us to reach out to 3 organizations we are already partnering with - Oneida City Police, Madison County Youth Bureau, and Bridges - this targeting specific teens who could truly benefit by this.
INV-23-15-04 Year 2 Bending the Moral Arc Courageous Conversation Recommend: $7,500
Coastlands Nassau and Witherspoon Presbyterian Churches ]
Imagine a fellowship of small group participants transformed through courageous conversations on race and justice. At annual retreats, group leaders would report actions taken that are bending the moral arc toward justice in their paired churches, in their presbytery, in their cities, and within the larger community. Imagine a growing national fellowship of transformed people acting as agents of change in their communities. This is the vision for this work.
INV-23-16-04 Year 1 Digital Ministry Program Recommend: $5,000
Genesee Valley Third Presbyterian Church of Rochester
Our Digital Ministry program will engage the participants and visitors who occasionally—or exclusively—interact with Third Church online and will build community in online spaces. The pandemic forced a shift to virtual or hybrid gatherings and communications. Now there are people who regularly interact with us, but never in person. There are also people who do not interact, only passively watching worship or scrolling social media, that we hope to identify and connect with more fully. This innovative ministry will meet people where they are—even if “where” is not a physical place.
Campus Ministry Grants
CM-23-01-04 Protestant Campus Ministry Recommendation: $2,500
Albany University at Albany
The Protestant Campus Ministry at UAlbany is an ecumenical ministry and supported by local congregations. We have over 20 congregational partners including 3 Presbyterian Congregations who work with us to support the ministry financially, via program support and active board members. Delmar Presbyterian Church, Hamilton Union Presbyterian Church and New Covenant Presbyterian Church. Board members include Rev. Katy Stenta and Rev. Kyle Delhagen.
CM-23-02-04 UKirk TCNJ Campus Ministry Recommendation: $2,500
Coastlands Princeton Presbyterians of the Westminster Foundation
Princeton Presbyterians of the Westminster Foundation is a vibrant PC(USA) campus ministry of sixty students in Princeton who are passionate about God’s call to “do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly.” In Fall 2023, the Westminster Foundation and Ewing Covenant Presbyterian Church will launch a new campus ministry at The College of New Jersey. We will gather students for joyful worship and fellowship, address food insecurity on campus with shared meals, and celebrate God’s radical welcome through intergenerational connections between congregational and student leaders.
Motion: To approve the grants recommended for funding at the levels suggested/Approved.
Motion: To transfer $7,500 from the 2023 Higher Education budget line item to fund an additional request to the Youth and Young Adult Leadership Development Fund/Approved.
Youth Leadership Development Grant
YLD-23-01-04 Year 1 Korean-American College Student Joint Vision Formation Recommend: $7,500
Eastern Korean American Eastern Korean American Presbytery
The Korean American Christian College Student Joint Vision Formation event was designed for Korean students from Korea and the States to grow in spiritual maturity and broaden their Perspective and thereafter create an opportunity for continued fellowship. To fulfill this purpose, participants from both countries will have fellowship and serve in the mission together.
The Mission Working Group asked the commission for clarification about whom they can recommend grant funding. They had an application that was essentially a pass-through for a program in Liberia. The Mission Working Group believes it is intended to recommend applications from churches and programs that propose to operate within the bounds of the Synod of the Northeast.
Motion: The Mission Working Group will consider grant applications for programs and initiatives that will take place within the bounds of the Synod of the Northeast. Requests for a possible partnership outside of the Synod bounds is different and will not come through the Mission Working Group/Approved.
Connectional Ministries Working Group
The Working Group will take a trip to the two Seneca Nation churches in the fall. They will also create a Synod-wide Mission Day in the spring or summer of 2024. The Commission VOTED to establish a designated fund of $30,000 for Indigenous congregational support by designating $15,000 from the Immigration Advocacy Fund, $10,000 from the Equity, Inclusion, and Justice Fund, and $5,000 from the Youth Ministry Leaders Budget for 2023.
Administrative Working Group
The Board voted to approve changes to the Investment Policy and the Investment Review Committee documents. These can be found on the Synod Website as part of the Synod’s Manual of Operations. The board approved the following Commission members for synod committees.
Investment Review Committee - Sue Smith (Administrative), Aaron Frank (Mission), Lisa Baker (Moderator-Elect).
Audit Review Committee - Lisa Gray (Administrative), Robert Heinze (Mission), Andrea Holroyd (Connectional Ministries).
Wurffel-Sills Review Committee - Tanya Adams (Administrative), Mary Riley (Mission), Bisi Shofu (Connectional Ministries).
The Board voted to change the synod's "registered agent" from Robert White to San Dawna Ashley and approved the celebration of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper at the Early Ministry Institute, May 15-21, 2023.
The Commission bid farewell to Bisi Shofu, PW Moderator, who will be rotating off the commission this July when Virginia Champlain becomes the next Moderator.