In July of this year, the First Presbyterian Church of Penn Yan hosted an interesting fundraiser.  The event, held in their parking lot, involved lots of local youth.  You won’t want to miss seeing this one.

For more about this exciting event, check out the following video on YouTube, Community Painting in Penn Yan.

The Memorial Presbyterian Church of Bellona is celebrating its 200th Anniversary!  They have invited everyone to join them on November 7th and 8th, 2009.

For more information and a schedule of events, view their invitation.

A new blog by Executive Presbyter, the Rev. Joelle Davis, can now by found on the Presbytery’s website.

Check the website often for updates on what is happening in the presbytery. Post your comments on the blog so others can see your reflections!

This is another tool to use as we seek to build relationships and transform our congregations. Click here to visit For the Journey.

In a recent article in The Presbyterian Outlook (Vol. 191 No. 5, October 19, 2009), the Rev. Clark Cowden, executive presbyter of The Presbytery of San Diego, voiced a fundamental obstacle to transformation of any kind. Namely, as he rightly points out, “we already have the church we want.” The church, like any other organization, has designed itself to achieve its current results. Therefore, if we really wanted things to be different, we would actually have to do different things. Things that make you go, “Hmmmm….”

We are a presbytery being transformed. We are not, in fact, happy with the results we have been getting out of our old models of operating. We are not happy with fewer members, dying churches, elders without a sense of being spiritual leaders of their congregations, or ministers of word and sacrament acting as Lone Rangers. So, we transform. We do things differently. And people don’t like it.

It’s human nature. We like things to be the same, especially in the church. We want the church to be a place we can count on, where things will last from one generation to the next, and where we find some measure of solace and peace in the turmoil of a society changing faster than we can handle. We like church to be the place we always have known. And certainly, we imagine, other people should come and appreciate that, too.

This presbytery transformation has been hard. It has been confusing. It has taken a lot of energy. We have felt lost and frustrated. We have grumbled in the desert and built some golden calves and been humbled. We have also felt grace and joy, hope and delight. We have celebrated and been surprised, played and laughed. We have sensed the movement of the Spirit and followed where God has led us. And we are not done. We continue on this journey, knowing that transformation is the journey and not a destination.

We now invite our congregations and members and friends and tribe members to wonder and wander together into the next part of this journey. You already have the church you want. What if you could have the church you need or the church you long for or the church you hope and dream for? We have some clues about how to do that. It is not a program, or a workshop, or even a quick fix. It takes energy and passion and grace and faithfulness. After all, we are changing how we do things in order to achieve different results. We will be rolling out some new opportunities for those who decide to take that leap. We hope you will find this gives you hope, and some bread for the journey.