November 28, 2005

Hispanic NCD

Great news!! In the mail Tuesday the New Church Development Committee received a check from the Synod of the Mid-Atlantic for $10,000. This grant money will be used to do a feasibility study for a Hispanic New Church Development.

Last August, the Presbytery of Baltimore was invited by the Lakeland Presbyterian Church to start a Presbyterian Hispanic NCD in their building. The area around the church is in transition. The church itself is an aging declining congregation. Last summer the session and presbytery spent time looking to the future. An Elder noted that 25% of her elementary school class was Hispanic.

Lakeland’s huge well-cared-for building is a statement to the congregation’s faithful witness over the years. They want the Presbyterian presence to continue.

Just this February 28^th Hector Rodriguez of the General Assembly’s staff for Hispanic Enhancement visited the session and the NCD Committee. It was noted that within 8 blocks of the church was a Hispanic grocery, Latino outlet, and a huge flea market at the corner of Annapolis Road and Patapsco. The flea market attracts hundreds of Hispanics on the weekend.

Rev. Rodriguez was extremely helpful with information about what to look for in understanding this population. “They are very noisy. They are very lively. They prefer the guitar 100 to 1 over the organ. Adults do not speak English. Children are bilingual. They worry about immigration laws. What is the origin of the immigrants? Puerto Rico? Mexico? Dominican Republic? New church takes a long time. If you send this Feasibility Grant Proposal to the General Assembly after the Synod approves it we can help fund it.”

The NCD committee is very interested in reaching out to underserved populations. This feasibility study will run concurrently with the existing Bay NCD Feasibility Study.

Thanks to Lakeland Presbyterian Church for this vision.

Bill Millen

Associate Executive Presbyter

Inside this issue

Hispanic NCD

Take Note/Act Now

§ Katrina Work Trip Training

§ Congo Choir

§ BUILD Action

§ Annual Clerk of Session Meetings

§ Interfaith Panel Discussion

§ Nonviolence Training Retreat

§ David Rusk – affordable housing

§ World Council of Churches

§ CPM/COM training

§ Young Adult Ministry

§ Presbyterian Men

§ Presbyterian Women

§ Board of Pensions

§ Cuba Partnership Fiesta

Prayer Concerns

General Assembly

Synod of the Mid-Atlantic

People

Jim Andrews, Former Stated Clerk of the PCUSA, was killed in a traffic accident on March 7.

Harry Holfelder is recovering from surgery and will return home later this week.

Prayer Concerns

The General Assembly

asks for prayers:

· for the 71 countries around the world where we have 463 mission workers

· for the 217^th General Assembly meeting in Birmingham

· for the 11,097 churches, 173 presbyteries and 16 synods

Synod of the Mid-Atlantic

asks for prayers:

· for ears and hearts to hear God’s call to a renewed zeal for ministry in the region

· for wisdom to make the new mission design a function of God’s will

· for the staff led by Synod executive – stated clerk Roger Harp

Take Note/Act Now

Hurricane Katrina work trips & training:

A training workshop for those who want to organize such workgroups will be held Saturday, March 25^th. Read the details about the workshops on our new flyer or on our website. Please print it as a flyer or bulletin insert to inform your mission teams about this opportunity.

The Congo Choir will be touring Presbyteries throughout the US in 2006 to raise awareness and funds to try to meet many needs of the Congolese people. Would your church be interested in partnering with others in Baltimore to bring them here, likely in July? (More). Response deadline extended to: March 15^th.

BUILD is organizing an "Action" to protest proposed federal legislation that would criminalize acts of mercy provided by churches to undocumented immigrants. This "Action" will occur on Sunday, March 19, at 3 PM at St Patrick's Church, 321 Broadway, Baltimore.

Annual Clerk of Session Meetings for Reading Minutes This year we will follow our pattern of holding four meetings: Western MD on March 18 at Hancock PC, north on April 1 at Perry Hall PC, south on April 22 at Harundale PC, and Baltimore on April 29 at Govans PC.

Peter Nord will be speaking at an interfaith panel discussion, “Israel and the Peace Process: Different Perspectives, Possible Solutions” on Wednesday, March 22 from 12-1:30pm (more).

Registration and information forms for the Baltimore Presbytery Nonviolence Training Retreat on May 5-7, 2006 are available from the calendar on the Presbytery home page.

David Rusk will be the featured speaker during an evening discussion about affordable housing in Baltimore at Grace Methodist Church on April 6^th (more). RSVP. Space limited.

Roger Powers has written a brief summary of the highlights of the World Council of Churches 9th Assembly he attended in Porto Alegre, Brazil (read more).

COM/CPM Training is available on April 1 in Wilmington, DE. Call 302 366-0595 for details.

Mienda Uriarte, GA Mission Associate for Young Adult Ministry will be leading a discussion about young adult ministry and presenting resources Saturday, April 1, 2006 in DE (more).

A number of Presbyterian Men’s events will be held in the coming months throughout the Presbytery of Baltimore (more).

Registration brochures for the Presbyterian Women’s Spring and Summer gatherings are available from the home page of the Presbytery website and here.

On February 25th the Board of Pensions granted a 3.6 percent experience apportionment increase in pension benefits effective July 1, 2006.

Ashland and Light Street Presbyterian Churches are hosting an event to speak about some of the recent insights they’ve had on visiting the Reformed Presbyterian Church in Cuba. Join them on Sunday, March 19, 2006 from 2 to 5 PM at Ashland PC (Read More).

Also on our website

Don’t miss all the new Local Church Announcements at: http://www.baltimorepresbytery.org/announcements.html.

Past Issues of Tidings are available at: http://www.baltimorepresbytery.org/midweekmail.html.

Presbytery Yearly Calendar

Peter Nord, Executive Presbyter

pnord@baltimorepresbytery.org

Bill Millen, Associate Executive

bmillen@baltimorepresbytery.org

Deb Milcarek

Associate of Mission and Justice

dmilcarek@baltimorepresbytery.org

Charles Forbes, Stated Clerk