An Invitation from Rev. Steve Poos-Benson
Hello Fellow Pastors and Elders,
I’m excited to share with you a program the Presbytery is participating in called, “Guns to Garden Tools.”
I’ve long believed in responsible gun ownership. I’ve also felt if people didn’t want guns in their house or possession, they should have a save way to dispose of the firearm. But how to do this? Do you go to a gun shop? Sell it on eBay or Craigslist? Do you give it to a friend? It’s a tricky issue for many people. We need a safe way to get unwanted firearms off the street and out of people’s homes. Guns to Garden Tools is the answer!
On Saturday, February 25th from 11:00-1:00 at the parking lot of Columbine United Church in Littleton, we are hosting a way for people to dispose of their guns for cash. The guns are collected and dismantled on sight by having them cut in two by trained volunteers. The parts are later melted down and recreated as garden tools and art.
Your members can TAKE ACTION by:
Volunteering at a Guns to Gardens (G2G) Safe Surrender event on Saturday, February 25th. Learn more and sign up here.
Donating to support congregations hosting a Guns to Gardens Safe Surrender event in their community. Give here or buy a t-shirt to help us fundraise.
Educating folks about the National Guns to Gardens Movement and how to get involved locally. (Contact us to schedule a presentation: gunstogardensmetrodenver@gmail.com)
Dismantling their own guns by bringing them to a Guns to Gardens event. Read more here.
Spreading the word to friends and family about this modern-day “swords to plowshares” ministry (click to download printable flyer) and our upcoming event in February.
Let’s get unwanted guns out of people’s homes and off the streets.
Columbine United Church is located at 6375 S. Platte Canyon Rd in Littleton. We’re halfway between Bowles and Coalmine on Platte Canyon
See you there!
Steve Poos-Benson
What are Equity Primes?
Introduced at General Assembly in 2022 and at the January Assembly, Equity Primes were designed to help committees prioritize PC (USA) values of inclusion and equity in a shared space even as they use digital tools to cast votes and access trainings and other information. Read more→
Here are some resources for you to introduce this to your faith communities and committees.
RESOURCES
Powerpoint Slides
from January Assembly Engagement with Jihyn Oh, Director of Mid Council Ministries, PC(USA) Office of General Assembly.
Race Forward
Toolkit for creating cultures and practices for racial equity.
Group/Committee Equity Prime | Questions Before Discussion/Decisions
Why are we trying to make the decision now?
Do we have enough information to make an equitable/inclusive decision?
Have we heard directly from those who will be most impacted?
Have we thought through the impact to the whole church?
What additional voices/information do we need to make an equitable/inclusive decision?
What information would lead to more equity?
Have we honored what’s on our cards to honor each others’ rights and check our own use of power?
Is this decision being made with energy, intelligence, imagination, and love?
Arvada and Trinity have a new name!
We wanted to let you know that the merging congregations from the former Trinity & Arvada churches have voted to adopt their new name.
A mockup of our sign along Wadsworth
Community of Grace
The complete list of our new name, mission, values and vision can be viewed with the link below. The congregation received this same document prior to our vote this past Sunday for review of all of our efforts to define who we have become as a joined community. The vote was overwhelmingly positive and the pre-vote discussion added insights and addressed how and why we proposed this new name.
https://1drv.ms/w/s!AmVJutxiToOmg0vSBXrzZvpbJT4p?e=k0nvR8
We will begin the process of working through the legal and electronic formation for our new church immediately, as well as working with Olivia to establish our church with the PC(USA). I hope you all find this milestone in our progress as exciting as it was received by our congregation!
Peace,
Michael McLane, Co-Moderator Administrative Commission
October 25th Hybrid Assembly Highlights
Welcome
Thank you to the Presbyterian Women of Shepherd of the Hills for providing a wonderful taco bar for our meal before our meeting and to Rev. Matt Syrdal, Jill, Heather and all the volunteers who helped host the Presbytery for our Assembly.
Rev. Paula Steinbacher opened the October 25, 2022 HYBRID Assembly with prayer. Rev. Matt Syrdal led the Assembly to a call to worship with a Land Acknowledgment.
It is important to introduce the Presbytery of Denver by recognizing those who lived here before the presbytery came to be, those who were the first stewards of the land. The first people who offered the first prayers and sang the first songs. All land has a tribal story, and so we must remember it as the home to many indigenous people. Then and today, these are diverse communities of those who have never left, those forced to relocate, those who walked on a trail of tears to a different land and those who disappeared before we could ever know their names. (adapted from the Synod of Lakes and Prairies)
Committee on Ministry
Richard Aylor is the new Pastor at Church of the Hills (PCUSA) in Evergreen. He comes to Colorado from Wilmington, North Carolina, where he served as an Associate Pastor for Congregational Care and Spiritual Formation at First Presbyterian Church since 2017. Before that, Richard was a hospital chaplain in Wilmington for 2 years, completing consecutive residencies. Originally from Roanoke, Virginia, Richard attended Emory & Henry College not too far from there. It was in college that he felt a call to ministry. Richard received his M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary in 2015 and then moved to Wilmington. READ MORE→
Bill Johnson is serving at the Interim Pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Littleton. After recommitting my life to Jesus in 1974, while a student at Oregon State University, I was actively involved in Campus Crusade For Christ. Feeling called to ministry, I left OSU to attend Bible College in Spokane WA.
I met my wife of 40 years, JoAnn, while traveling around the Pacific Northwest as part of ministry team doing VBS and leading working with youth at Church Camps. Later that year I started my fist paid ministry job… cleaning toilets at Central Baptist Church of Joy in Spokane, Washington. READ MORE→
2023 MINISTER MINIMUM SALARY
At the October 25, 2022 Assembly, Committee on Ministry recommended and the Presbytery approved an increase in the minimum salary for ministers in the Presbytery. The Minister Minimum Compensation figure is revised each year. The recommendations which are being proposed reflect a 5% increase to the Effective Salary (as defined by the Board of Pensions) for pastors. The increase is a high midpoint based on Bureau of Labor Statistics which report that the consumer price index for the Denver region increased by 8.2%. The Social Security increase is predicted as of now at 8.7%. READ MORE→
2023 Assembly Dates
Tuesday, January 24, 2023
Tuesday, March 28, 2023
Tuesday, May 23, 2023
Saturday, August 12, 2023
Tuesday, October 24, 2023
Locations to be determined.
ELECTION OF NEW MODERATOR and VICE MODERATOR FOR 2023
Rev. Dr. John Yu was unanimously approved as the Moderator of Presbytery for 2023. Ruling Elder, Pat Queen, was unanimously approved as the Vice-Moderator of 2023 and will both be installed at the January Assembly.
Committee on Preparation for Ministry
Examination of Ordination
Rev. Dr. Carrie Doehring introduced Joanna Douglass, candidate under care of the Committee for Preparation for Ministry and certified ready to receive a call. Joanna was hired by Genesis Presbyterian Church as their Temporary Supply Pastor.
Carried brought the motion to ordain Joanna Douglass on behalf of the committee. Joanna was examined and approved by the Assembly to be ordained as a Minister of Word and Sacrament. Congratulations, Joanna!
The Message
Dr. Corey Schlosser-Hall, Director of Rebuilding and Vision Implementation for the Presbyterian Mission Agency, brought the message, rooted in Acts 16:6-15.
Corey shared his understanding of vision...the capacity to "taste and see" what God is doing at the intersections between God's people and the world God loves so that others can "taste and see" it, participate in it, pray for it, be transformed by it.
As an example of how we can be a vision of God in people's lives, Corey shared a powerful video from Matthew 25 of a police officer baptized by clergy couple he used to arrest. Watch the video here.
Lead Presbyter Report
Our Lead Presbyter, Rev. Dr. Dee Cooper, spoke to Denver Presbytery’s transition, the major changes that the Presbytery has gone through, and the process of creating new things. The first step in the process of creating begins with believing and being open to new things. Dee remined the Assembly that God is calling us to create and is equipping the Presbytery to move into the next phase of becoming, living into its Mission, Vision, and Values.
The Presbytery is currently in an in between time, a preparing and planning time, not a time to become dormant and sit back and wait, but a time to actively engage. Reminding the Assembly that they are needed to serve with energy and imagination, that their gifts and passions are needed now in this period of brackish waters where we can sometime get disoriented where there are not clearly defined boundaries.
Personnel
The Assembly approved a 2023 COLA (cost of living) adjustments for the Presbytery Staff.
Finance & Property
The Assembly approved the following motions:
Motion: That Council recommend to the Assembly the approval of an additional $300,000 request from Central Presbyterian to be added to their existing PILP loan to complete their renovations.
Motion: That Council recommend to the Assembly the approval of the revised Presbytery Expense Reimbursement and Investment Policy to allow for mortgage assistance loans to churches for pastors.
Motion: That Council recommend to the Assembly the approval of the Presbytery of Denver Mortgage Assistance Investment Policy to allow for presbytery assistance with mortgages.
Racial Ethnic Diversity
Wealth Gap Simulation
Rev. Evan Amo and Tom Bacon, led the Presbytery through a wealth gap simulation put together by Bread for the World is an international organization working to reduce hunger and poverty. In their work, they have had multiple findings relating to the wealth gap that keeps many people-of-color in the U.S. in or near-poverty, in the form of policies and practices that have contributed to a wealth gap over time. The Presbytery was taken through an abridged version of a simulation of the wealth gap developed by Bread for the World. The simulation is now available to congregations or any interested small groups (it has been received favorably by groups of confirmands, youth, and others). Please contact revevanamo@gmail.com of Peoples Presbyterian Church or tom.bacon@yahoo.com at Wellshire Presbyterian Church if you have a group who would like to try the simulation.
Agency Review Task Force
The Assembly approved the extended the terms of all current agencies and members in the Presbytery through February 2023.
The Presbytery was also encouraged to complete a Passion Discovery Form to serve on a committee within the new structure.
Highlands Camp & Retreat Center
Rev. Olivia Hudson Smith gave an update on the status o fthe covenant relationship between Denver and Plains & Peaks Presbyteries. Plains and Peaks Presbytery has put an Administrative Commission in place to assume original jurisdiction over the goverance of the camp, effectively discharging the Highlands Camp Joint Committee.
The Rev. Peggy Marshall, a long standing member of the joint committee, was invited to recognize all who have been part of the ministry of Highlands and all who have had connection to the camp over the many years of Denver Presbytery's joint ministry with the camp.
New Worshiping Communities BIG NEWS!
For more than 10 years, Denver Presbytery has sought to develop new worshiping communities that gather people around God’s word that would not otherwise gather. Our passion around gathering new communities has run parallel to the areas dramatic increase in population.
Our presbytery currently has 10 active New Worshiping Communities (NWCs), 5 of which are immigrant communities and 5 are emergent communities that are exploring with different models of doing church. The immigrant communities include East African, Latinx, Telugu (Indian), Ghanaian, and Vietnamese. Additionally, we will have NWCs that focus on building Christian community through a paddle board shop, a mobile app, and also a new community in a local retirement home.
Thanks to the generosity of Jane Hays, the presbytery received a bequest of more than $1.9 million to be used for new worshiping communities. We have been able to use these funds to support the salaries of the leadership of existing communities, while also developing an initiative to begin 4 new NWCs.
In the Fall of 2021, as part of the new Vision, Mission, Values, the presbytery affirmed the launch of the Denver NWC Incubator. Since then, a national search has been led by the NWC Lead Team to find 4 spiritual entrepreneurs that will begin 4 new communities in our presbytery. Led by the Spirit, two offers were made and accepted for our first 2 NWC Incubator Leaders. We are thrilled to welcome Rev. Bethany Peerbolte and Rev. Evan Amo as NWC Incubator Leaders. They will begin their time as Incubator Leaders in December and January, respectively, and will be nested at Central Presbyterian Church in Denver. You can read more about the two new leaders in their bios below. The search team continues to meet with candidates to discern who God is calling to Denver Presbytery to join Bethany and Evan as NWC Incubator Leaders.
MEET THE INCUBATORS
REV. EVAN AMO
Evan was born and raised in sunny southern California, and after graduating from Princeton Theological Seminary, has served congregations in Charlotte, NC and Locust, NC, and as Associate Campus Pastor of an ecumenical ministry at UNC-Charlotte. Most recently, Evan served as Pastor of Peoples Presbyterian Church.
Evan is married to Lauren Osga, and they love their life of adventure with their new baby girl, Rainey. In his free time Evan is an avid trail-runner and hiker, musician, and songwriter in his project Bruised Reeds (streaming everywhere!).
Evan increasingly finds his spiritual life to be grounded in what he terms goodness: communion with God through enjoying the goodness of creation, as well as nurturing the goodness of creation through seeking justice. In his ministry, he thrives when he gets to be creative, strategic, and compassionate.
Evan is excited to reach younger adults who are disconnected or disenchanted with the Church to form a Christlike community exploring faith through intentional relationships, service and justice, and outdoor recreation.
REV. BETHANY PEERBOLTE
Bethany received her MDiv from Ecumenical Theological Seminary in Detroit where she studied along side colleagues from different denominations and faiths. Those rich conversations with diverse people of faith helped as she lead youth and mission ministries at Everybody’s Church in Birmingham Michigan.
Recently the conversations Bethany facilitates have shifted to digital spaces. The stories that flood her inbox have ignited a call to help people sever shame from their God created identity and reintroduce them to God’s staggering love.
I look forward to exploring digital ministry and discovering ways the Spirit is leading us to reach people in zip codes near and far.
Rev. Bethany
She/her
Being Matthew 25 explores innovative ways Denver-area churches are helping their neighbors into housing
Photo by Breno Assis on Unsplash
It can be as simple as allowing overnight parking in the church parking lot, or as complicated as taking on city hall
by Mike Ferguson | Presbyterian News Service
LOUISVILLE — Churches in the Presbytery of Denver are reaching out to their neighbors without homes in traditional and even system-altering ways, including a successful effort to get the Aurora City Council to alter zoning on a tract of land to permit development of much-needed affordable housing in what’s become the seventh most expensive place in the nation to own or rent a home.
The Rev. Dr. Dee Cooper, Lead Presbyter, Denver Presbytery.
Thursday’s edition of Being Matthew 25, which can be seen here or here, explains how churches helped change the community’s zoning laws requiring more expensive single-family homes, explained in a video that can be seen here. The Rev. Dr. Diane Moffett, president and executive director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency, and DeEtte Decker, acting senior director of the PMA’s communications ministry, co-hosted the hour-long broadcast. Two guests were featured: the Rev. Dr. Dee Cooper, lead presbyter for the Presbytery of Denver, and the Rev. Sheri Fry, the interim pastor at Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church in Northglenn, Colorado.
The presbytery has established a Matthew 25 team. Cooper quoted one of the team members, the Rev. Louise Westfall, pastor of Central Presbyterian Church in Denver, on why people want to be involved in the Matthew 25 invitation: “This is not just a program,” Westfall said. “This is a movement, the church embodying and embracing real and relevant issues and addressing the barriers and the injustices that we face as we live into the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
“We can’t just focus on direct care without looking at why it’s happening,” Cooper said.
“Having a home is essential,” said Moffett, who served churches for more than 30 years before being elected to lead the PMA in 2018. Even systems designed to help people living on the margins, such as states expanding Medicaid eligibility, are often “set up in a way that denies human dignity.”
DeEtte Decker, acting senior director of the PMA’s communications ministry.
Decker said she once served a downtown church that ministered to a large population of people without homes. “We had a feeding center, and we began to build relationships with these folks,” Decker said. “I learned the system was stacked against them.”
In fact, we often “objectify people who don’t have a home” or access to proper nutrition, Moffett said. “They become things, not people.”
“We see them as projects. Even actions of kindness come from objectifying and not seeing the whole child of God,” Cooper said. “I think that comes from a place of fear.” For many of us, the loss of a job or a sudden serious medical issue might place us in a similar situation, Cooper said.
“Instead of dealing with that reality [of being without shelter], we talk about proving and demonstrating why they deserve to have a home,” Cooper said.
Fry talked about Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church’s months-long effort to convince its neighbors that opening its parking lot at night for people to stay safely in their vehicles was a good idea. Guests are vetted by the church and by government officials.
The Rev. Sheri Fry, the interim pastor at Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church in Northglenn, Colorado.
The church held four sessions to listen to their neighbors’ concerns. Fry said much of the opposition “came out of fear and not knowing anyone experiencing homelessness.” At first, neighbors suspected the people in the parking lot were drug dealers or were being bussed in from Denver. “We heard a lot of NIMBY [Not In My Back Yard],” Fry said. “At the last listening session, I invited the loudest voices to come join us. We created a program with regular check-ins, and [the neighbors] began to come on board, but it took 9 or 10 months.”
A few months ago, church members invited a woman named Mary to transition from living in her car to living in a room at the church. “We have learned a lot from Mary,” Fry said. “She invites people and provides hospitality to people. … We have learned a lot about her life and she has learned a lot about us. It makes a difference to not be so scared of people who don’t have a home, to open our hearts and minds to folks having to live differently.”
“It’s a slow process, but it’s working,” Fry said. “It’s changing our neighborhood and our church, and it’s changing Mary as well.”
The Rev. Dr. Diane Moffett is president and executive director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency. (Photo by Rich Copley).
According to Moffett, making that kind of systemic change “isn’t a sprint. It’s a marathon. It’s part of taking up the cross, the suffering of love so folks can see something different.”
Thursday’s broadcast also included a video featuring Molly Dowling Brown, director of mission and faith formation at Central Presbyterian Church and the moderator of the presbytery’s Matthew 25 team, who touched on some of the programs that Denver-area churches have undertaken to help bring about systemic change.
Asked by Decker what advice Fry might have for addressing systemic change, one word came forward: perseverance.
“You have to not be scared. When somebody says no, you just have to keep on pushing,” Fry said. “The initial reaction from our neighbors scared the session a little. People threatened to sue us. We just kept listening and tried to offer why we felt so called to do this.”
“My goodness!” Moffett responded near the close of the broadcast. “The work this presbytery is doing — that’s what Matthew 25 is all about.”
“Together,” Moffett said, “we can re-present Jesus’ love and justice in this world.”
__________________
The next edition of Being Matthew 25 is set for 1 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, Oct. 20. The broadcast will explore the 10-year history of 1001 New Worshiping Communities. It’ll be available here.
Recorded Facebook conversation, Being Matthew 25 — September 2022.
Source: Presbyterian Mission Agency, Being Matthew 25 explores innovative ways Denver-area churches are helping their neighbors into housing .