THURSDAY MAILING
April 4, 2024
In
April Birthday Greetings
Pastoral Concerns/ Announcements
From the Desk of
David Baer, Stated Clerk
Tara Spuhler McCabe, Dir. Congregational Dev. & Mission
Three-Part Series – What to do with your CAT! (Congregational Assessment Tool)
April – May – June – Zoom
A New Kind of Christianity
A Conversation with Brian McLaren Sponsored by McClendon Scholars Program, NYA
April 10 – Webinar
Special Service
Featuring the Rev. Jimmie Hawkins Director of Public Witness, PCUSA
April 14 – Northeastern Presbyterian Church
Dialogue for Peaceful Change Training
April 15-19 – Lewinsville Presbyterian Church
National Capital Presbytery Leadership Training
“Leading with Energy, Intelligence, Imagination, and Love
April 27 – NYA Presbyterian Church deadline to register – April 17
Hymn Festival
May 17&18 – Bush Hill Presbyterian Church
April Birthday Greetings
Fay Acker Heemoon Lee Kathleen Mulvihill, HR
Jean Coyle, HR Shawn MacDonald
Elizabeth Walker, HR
Chris Deacon Kori McMurtry John Wimberly, HR
Katherine Francis Bob Melone Taekhan Yoon
Barbara Heck Amy Molina-Moore
Jerry Hopkins, HR Carol Morrison
From the staff of National Capital Presbytery
john, david, dina, heather, lajuan, tara and tempest
CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF REV. DR. EDWARD P. HARDING,
JR. - It is with our deepest sorrow that the congregation of Prince George's Community Church, along with the Harding Family, inform you of the transition of our pastor, friend, husband and father, the Reverend Dr. Edward P. Harding, Jr. on March 24, 2024.
Celebration: Friday, April 5, at 11:00am, First Baptist Church of Glenarden, 3600 Brightseat Road, Landover, MD 20785.
Announcements:
A word from your Nominating Committee - It’s nominating season for all committees! You can use the form to self-nominate and indicate interest in serving in other roles in the presbytery. Questions? Reach out to Patrick Hunnicutt, Nominating Committee Chair, at p.hunnicutt@wpc-alex.org.
Looking for the NCP Directory? It can be accessed through ACS’ ChurchLife App – a free mobile app where you can look up fellow members’ contact information and see where they serve in NCP! If the app isn’t for you, view via a website. Contact Dina dbickel@thepresbytery.org to get set up.
Henry Brinton, pastor of Fairfax Presbyterian, has written another Mill Street Mystery, titled War Bug. It explores the question: What hope do we have for the healing of our communities, shattered by a global pandemic and a toxic political environment? War Bug opens a window on the riverfront town of Occoquan, Virginia, and offers glimpses of social upheaval through chapters that alternate between the nineteenth and twenty-first centuries. In 1862, Quaker resident Ann Bagley fears that her sons will abandon their pacifism and join the newly established Confederate army. Troops march through the town and shots are fired, enflaming secessionists and Unionists alike. Many pledge their support to the South and send their sons to fight, while others favor the North and take stands as abolitionists. In 2022, Harley Camden, the pastor of struggling Riverside Methodist Church, fears that civil war will return to Occoquan. Facing cultural and political polarization, he tries to care for his congregation and keep the peace, even as he lends a hand in the archaeological dig of a Quaker house with a mysterious grave. But when people begin to die in acts of brutal violence, he encounters an evil that is deeper than history and more deadly than partisan strife. Book is available online, including amazon: https://www.amazon.com/War-Bug-Henry-G-Brinton/dp/B0CX3H78KY/ref=sr_1_1 Henry is happy to offer free book talks to churches throughout the presbytery.
Michael Parker, an NCP member, and mission coworker in Egypt, has just published Through Middle Eastern Eyes: A Life of Kenneth E. Bailey. A Presbyterian missionary for forty years in the Middle East (1955-1995), Bailey served in Egypt, Lebanon, Israel-Palestine, and Cyprus. He was also a distinguished New Testament scholar, who taught us all the need to view the parables and life of Jesus through the lens of Middle Eastern culture. His ground-breaking interpretations can be found in ten books, including such popular titles as The Cross & the Prodigal (1973/2005), Jesus through Middle Eastern Eyes (2008), and The Good Shepherd (2014). A lucid and fast-paced narrative, the biography provides the context in which Bailey’s insights were formed and developed through the course of a long and often fraught career. Parker’s book is based on extensive research in the Bailey Papers at the Yale Divinity School library and is now available at Amazon.com. Here’s the link: Through Middle Eastern Eyes: A Life of Kenneth E. Bailey: Parker, Michael: 9798385207794: Amazon.com: Books. Also, check out Parker’s website, which includes several short videos on Bailey’s life and importance as a scholar: MichaelParker.info.
In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.
- 2 Corinthians 5:19
Dear Friends,
I always appreciate it when someone gets right to the point! When I begin reading a book or listening to a talk, I love it when someone starts with a summary of what they’re hoping to communicate, and the signposts to look for along the way. In that spirit, let me say that I hope you’ll consider coming to the NCP Leadership Training on Saturday, April 27, and join me for my workshop on Presbyterian polity. I’m excited to share with you an approach to our polity that puts God’s mission at the center God is up to something, and the way we organize and make decisions as a church is meant to involve us in what God is doing in our world.
The Book of Order gets right to the point. The first words—literally the first! that the Book of Order speaks to us are found in the Founda�ons sec�on: “The good news of the Gospel is that the triune God Father, Son, and Holy Spirit creates, redeems, sustains, rules, and transforms all living things and all people” (F-1.01). The church’s marching orders begin with good news! The verbs describing God’s ac�vity are purposefully cast in the present tense to assure us that God is present and ac�ve in the world as it presently is. With this assurance put to us first, we can now hear our calling as a church: “In Christ, the Church par�cipates in God’s mission for the transforma�on of crea�on and humanity...” (F-1.01). This is a helpful signpost for those of us who seek to lead growing, vital churches, reminding us that God has called us to join in God’s mission in this moment with all its promise and peril, and invi�ng us to embrace this calling with crea�vity and excitement.
If you want to hear more about how the Book of Order shows this commitment to God’s mission in the way we structure or organiza�onal life as a church, please join us on April 27!
Grace and Peace,
David
April 4, 2024
Greetings People,
There is a relational and connectional tradition in National Capital Presbytery, much thanks to Black Presbyterians United. The annual Leadership Training Event. This event was able to pivot like all the others and moved to being online in 2021 when folks were seeking deep connection. Since then, Committee Leaders and NCP staff continue to coordinate with BPU to provide this highly relational and connectional event that is back to being IN-Person!!!!!!!
Along with ENERGIZING worship and IMMAGINATIVE plenary YOU have a chance to strengthen your leadership with INTELLIGENCE and LOVE through our workshops. I want to highlight two in particular: Ordained Spiritual Leadership and Engaging with your CAT.
In our ordination questions into leadership within our congregations, we are called to lead with ENERGY, INTELLIGENCE, IMMAGINATION, and LOVE. This is our daily living as well as our daily leading! How we can cultivate practices of spirituality within our meetings as well as when we are outside in our daily living will be the focus of this workshop. You will leave the workshop with practices and skills to utilize in your meetings and beyond.
Many of our congregations have participated in the CAT in the recent three years. Join some CAT interpreters and leaders from congregations who have leaned into some practices and discernment from their CATs. What can be your next steps? This will be a group share and think opportunity as we stretch our congregational muscles with IMMAGINATION!
I look forward to being with you on April 27th at New York Avenue Presbyterian Church!
With Energy and Love,
Rev. Tara Spuhler McCabe
The CAT Team interpreters are hosting a Three- Part Series on what to do with your CAT!
Monday nights from 7pm – 8pm via ZOOM platform
Registration is now open for all sessions!
Topics
April 8th Hospitality Plan!
Data is reflecting our faithful congregations are mid to lower in their energy and satisfaction around hospitality and welcome. This is also one of the quickest fixes. WE will guide how to make and update a HOSPITALITY PLAN!
Every church deserves to have one.
May 13th Vitality Paralysis
Maybe we have too many options and not enough energy? This session will focus on how to wade through the data with MissionInsite as it relates to Missional and Religious Preferences
June 10th Spiritual Vitality!
Data is reflecting our faithful congregations are mid to lower in their energy and satisfaction around hospitality and welcome. This is also one of the quickest fixes. WE will guide how to make and update a HOSPITALITY PLAN! Every church deserves to have one.
Select all 3 or just 1 (you have options)!
Use this link to register: NCP Events | National Capital Presbytery (thepresbytery.org)
