Meet your Relations and Connections Team!

Beth Hewlett, Team Leader of Relations and Connections

Meet Beth Hewlett. Beth is a Commissioned Pastor and Team Lead for the Relations & Connections Sub Team of the Ministry Relations Committee.

Some of you might remember Trienninal visits. The Presbytery is no longer doing these as every 3 years seemed like a long time to connect with our congregations! The R&C Team is a way for us to get and stay connected to our faith communities—to share your joys or connect you to resources when you have a need.

Below are pictures and lists of each faith community’s Relations and Connections Liaison. Please take a look, see who your community is “connected” with so you aren’t surprised when they call, email or maybe show up in worship or ask to have coffee to connect with you.

It is easy to say, “that is nice Beth. My church is doing great. We will call you if the pastor decides to retire or leave for another reason”, but we want to have a relationship with you and your church before you are in crisis mode. We also can do more than walk with you when you are finding new leadership. If you realize that you have been doing the same thing for the last 50 years and want to try something new, we have resources to help you.

If you are planning a big celebration, a garage sale or just want everyone to know the wonderful things that are happening at your faith communities, we can help you share that information.

We know you are all busy. We know that most, if not all of your faith communities are doing great and no one wants to rock the boat with new changes. We still encourage you to get to know your liaison. Be receptive when they call.

John 1:7 reads:

if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another.

The Relations and Connections Team is here to listen, to share in God’s love in times of joy, strife and sorrow. Who knows it might be the start of a beautiful friendship…

August Assembly Highlights

A Place at The Table - for just, unjust, injured-- MERCY

Moderator Pat Queen welcomed folx* to this Assembly. 

Thank you Worship Leaders for a wonderful Assembly Worship! Thank you, Marcia Mount Shoop for your creative and embodied decolonized worship for Denver Presbytery. 

Thank you to Worship Leaders. Marcia Mount Shoop, Richard Aylor, Claudia Aguilar Rubalcava, Tu Bui, Raafat Girgis, Josphat Ombacho, Phyllis Pieffer, Jordan Shive, Paula Steinbacher, Judy Viccellio, Mary Weiburg, Lemuel Velasco. 

Josphat Ombatcho, Marcia Mount Shoop, Richard Aylor, Tu Bui and Claudia Aguilar Rubalcava (video, not pictured), brought us to the table.

Marcia Mount Shoop, serves as the Pastor of Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church in Asheville, NC and is a published author.  Marcia states Healing is the heart of the work that I do. Pastoring, spiritual direction, writing, preaching, teaching, facilitating and consulting, leading retreats, and advocacy shape my vocation both inside and beyond the church and academy. Marcia  preached on Reforming and Transforming from Romans 12:2-21. Marcia led the pastoral leadership in a learning lab about white supremacy the Friday before Assembly as part of our anti-racism work.

CONNECTIONAL

The Assembly was asked, what is the definition of Superior?

Marcia led our Generative time rooted in embodiment and connection. Folx were invited to tap into their bodies and connect with another person in the room and share in mutual invitational conversation, connecting conversation with what they feel within their bodies and mutual invitation. 

Lead Presbyter Report

Dee gave thanks for the work of the presbytery as we further walk as a Matthew 25 Presbytery dismantling structural racism. Dee invited  the body and asked us to consider “who is the presbytery” and the body responded “we are all the presbytery.” We were further asked to think of a time in the last two years of deep appreciation for the presbytery to notice how that felt and take time to appreciate ourselves and each other.  Participants were given felt hearts to remind ourselves we need felt experiences as we journey ahead.

Reports to the Assembly 

Rev. Sheri Fry, Commissioned Pastors Beth Hewlett and Sandy Safford

The Ministry Relations Committee gave a report on the importance of the Relations and Connections team given by Beth Hewlett. Sheri Fry shared about Boundary Training, as well as Pastoral and Board of Pensions Subsidies for our congregations. Sandy Safford shared about the Clergy Renewal Grants for 2025. Information will be coming soon, but making note that submissions are due on September 15, 2024. 

Russ Kane the Moderator of the Visionary Leadership Commission spoke on the necessity of leadership on Presbytery committees, and the need in the new structure for active minister members to serve. 

Rev. Fernando Rodriguez

Fernando Rodríguez gave a report celebrating and explaining our New Worshiping communities and their financial and ministerial sustainability. 

The Stated Clerk’s report reminded folx of the importance of Terms of Call being reported, and outlined the way the Presbytery will share General Assembly information for the next 9 months. 

Commissioners to the General Assembly, Bill Sanders and Jeff Sneddon, brought their reflections to the Presbytery about their experience and work at The General Assembly in Salt Lake City this summer. 

We thank Chuck Sparks for bringing the Treasurer's Report, and Louise Westfall for Presenting the Servant Leadership Development Committee Report with the nomination to elect Chris Wineman (Elder at Central Presbyterian Church) for Vice-Moderator in 2025.

Celebrations

Chris Wineman

Congratulations to Chris Wineman, our Vice-Moderator elect for 2025!
Congratulations St. Paul on the permission to sell a parcel of your property. 

Thank you, Jean Demmler and Loye Troxler, for serving as alternate Synod Commissions at the Synod Assembly in September. 

Church of the Hills


Acknowledgements

Thank you to Rev. Richard Aylor and Church of the Hills for your space, hospitality, and making room for all of us. Many thanks to the staff, many volunteers, and the folx at Church of the Hills for hosting the Assembly. 

*folx is inclusive language for including everyone and is used throughout

We Are All One in Mission 

On Sunday July 28, Genesis, Green Mountain, Shepherd of the Hills and Wheat Ridge Presbyterian Churches came together in mission.  As our denomination moves forward and our congregation sizes become smaller, it becomes ever more important for us to work together to be more effective disciples for Christ.

Our four churches combined their efforts to collect school supplies and backpacks for their various neighborhood schools.  Our pastors and elders rotated between the churches so we could get to know each other better and we all shared the same liturgy for blessings the school supplies and all those who will be returning to school in the upcoming week.  We finished the morning with a combined pot-luck at Shepherd of the Hills where we sat at tables purposefully mixed so we sat with people from each church and had conversations about our different mission projects and hopes for the future. 

We hope this will be a first step in creating bridges between our congregations and finding synergy where we can work more effectively in partnership, rather than smaller singular entities.  

Rev. Whit Dempsey, Wheat Ridge Presbyterian Church
Rev. Joanna Douglass, Genesis Presbyterian Church
Rev. Justin Spurlock, Grace Presbyterian Church
Rev. Matt Syrdal, Shepherd of the Hills Presbyterian Church
Rev. Gretchen Hope Wilson, Green Mountain Presbyterian Church

Presbyterian Women Gatherings

PW DENVER BIBLE STUDY SEMINAR

Presbyterian Women in the Presbytery of Denver will hold their annual Bible Study Seminar on Saturday, August 3, 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. with the place to be announced. The Rev. Bill Sanders, retired pastor and pulpit supply, will lead us in an introduction to the 2024-2025 HORIZONS Bible Study: Let Justice Roll Down: God’s Call to Care for Neighbors and All Creation by Patricia K. Tull. Suggestions for Leaders are by Rebecca Barnes The author describes her call for creation justice in this way: “When I first learned of the climate crisis, I wondered how a biblical scholar with few practical skills could help and found my purpose in learning about ecology and teaching people of faith what I could. Such is not everyone’s skillset or desire, but each of us has something to do with all our hearts.”

PRESBYTERIAN WOMEN CHURCHWIDE GATHERING OF PRESBYTERIAN WOMEN
ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, AUGUST 8-11, 2024

Presbyterian Women’s 2024 Churchwide Gathering will be held in St. Louis, Missouri, August 8–11, 2024. Save these dates, share these dates and plan to join Presbyterian Women from around the country on these dates! The 2024 PW Gathering will be an exciting, faith-filled time to renew our connections within and across PW groups from across the country. Join us to be invigorated, equipped for your PW life, welcomed into community by hundreds of other PWs, and empowered to “Do everything in love.” Go to www.prebyterianwomen.org/gathering.

PRESBYTERIAN WOMEN Honorary Life Membership

The Honorary Life Membership (HLM) program was established early last century in the Presbyterian Church to honor faithful service to the women’s organization and to the church.Recipients become a part of a large group of women (and a few men) who have been recognized in this way.More than a thousand are awarded each year,many on Celebrate the Gifts of Women Sunday. The Honorary Life Membership is represented by a silver or gold membership pin that is presented along with a personalized certificate.The Honorary Life Membership pin symbolizes values held dear by Presbyterian Women.