The May 23rd Stated HYBRID Assembly was held On-line via Zoom and On-Site at First Presbyterian Church of Brighton.
Thank you First Presbyterian Church of Brighton for your hospitality and welcome. Special thanks to Meril, Linda, and Margaret along with Joe and Julia and many others for providing a wonderful meal and hospitality.
The Revised Ominbus was passed.
August Assembly will be in person on August 19, 2023 and the Location is coming soon!
Our tech crew was AMAZING and made the magic happen at Assembly! Thank you to First Presbyterian Church of Brighton crew Bill and Tom along with DenPres Team–Beth, Brontë, Steve, Fernando, Chuck, Dee, Kenny and Bethany for their help behind the scenes!
Worship
In the Spirit of Pentecost, worship was woven throughout our time as we heard the Word (Isaiah 55:8-11, Romans 11:33-36) and sang Amazing Grace in many different tongues including Korean, Kikuku, Spanish, Twi, and Vietnamese, Thank you Pastors Evan Amo, Jemimah Ngatia, Tu Minh Bui, Lemuel Velasco, Louise Westfall, George Wilson, and John Yu, for their leadership among us.
Generative Activity | Dee and gretchen
What we know is we come to presbytery meetings for a variety of reasons, whether it be work, worship, inspiration, or connection. One way we explored connection with one another was through presencing- a way of communicating what was going on with us in the moment. Presencing is a way we placed our voices in the room, where we saw each other and they saw us. The invitation was to notice what we were feeling or thinking, and make a sound that matched what we were noticing in our bodies and spirits. This sound was shared with our neighbors. This was a way that we connected, communicated, and noticed one another.
Lead Presbyter Report | Rev. Dr. Dee Cooper
There is great excitement about the ways in which Denver Presbytery is living into being a Matthew 25 Presbytery in many ways. The Presbyterian Mission Agency (PMA) has released a video and commercial that is in national syndication on PBS, CNN, and other channels about the PCUSA and Matthew 25. The videos can be found here and at the end direct viewers to local Matthew 25 congregations. We shared yard signs for our Matthew 25 congregations, as an additional way they could be recognized.
Agency Review Task Force Report | Rob Habiger
The Servant Leadership Development Committee (SLDC) would love you to consider serving. We invite you to fill out a Passion Discovery Form (PDF) about your gifts. Thank you to the SLDC members who were with us to answer any questions and connect with folks about serving.
Servant Leadership Development Committee (Committee on Representation) | Sarah Pascoe
At the February Assembly we voted in the leaders of the Ministry Relations Committee Core Team, however Rev. gretchen Sausville is no longer able to serve in that capacity as she is our Stated Clerk. The Servant Leadership Development Committee brought forth a motion to elect Joanna Douglass to the Ministry Relations Committee as leader for the Resources and Discovery Team, which was approved.
Finance & Property | Pat Queen
Generative time was with a lens of our Mission, Vision, and Values and Matthew 25. One of the tenants of being Matthew 25 is eradicating systemic poverty.
The motion to sell a parcel of land by the First Presbyterian Church of Brighton, to the Brighton Housing Authority in order to build low income housing, was inspiring.
We watched a NBC Today show segment about how communities of faith are being the body of Christ as they eradicate systemic poverty. We heard from Rev. Dr. Chris Spotts about the discernment process for his congregation to come to this faithful decision. We had expanded discussion time together using the Committee of The Office of General Assembly Equity Minded Decision Prompts.
The Assembly approved the First Presbyterian Church of Brighton’s request to sell 5.822 acres of their property to the Brighton Housing Authority for not less than 90% of the assessment for $1,150,000 payable in 2 installments.
The Finance and Property Committee brought two motions in order to establish a line of credit for cash flow purposes.
The Assembly approved a line of credit be established with PILP (Presbyterian Investment & Loan Program) at a rate of 5.4% (variable) for the amount of $200,000 to cover cash flow issues.
The Assembly approved the required collateral for the line of credit be Denver Presbytery Grant Street Proceeds fund invested with Gill Capital Partners currently valued at $3,165,243.
Generative Time
As a Generative activity we did a word cloud from Aha slides answering “what we love about springtime in Colorado”.
Stated Clerk Report | Rev. gretchen Sausville
The Church Leadership Connection (CLC), the call system for pastors and congregations, has an updated platform that the leadership will begin training on. If you need help, please contact us.
Rev. Richard Aylor, Pastor of Church of the Hills, will be installed on June 3, 2023 at 2pm, all are welcome!
Partnership of Zimbabwe and Denver Presbyteries
The PZDP delegation was commissioned for service to Zimbabwe with liturgy and laying on of hands. Thank you to JoAnn Goss and Julia Henderson for your words and prayers, to our delegation for your service, and to our assembly for raising your voices in song.
Dee Cooper | Lead Presbyter
Kim Graber | Nakai Task Force from St. Paul PC
Rob Habiger | Central Fund from Central PC
Celeste Habiger | Mission Partnership from Central PC
Deanna Heyn | Zimbabwe MP and Orphan Care Center from New Hope PC
Josphat Ombacho | Central Fund and Mission Partnership from Neema
Meeting was adjourned with prayer.