51 Presbyters gathered, some for the entire two days and some a portion of the days, at the beautiful ‘new’ Devon United Church for the 149th Meeting of Yellowhead Presbytery.

PRESBYTERY  PRATTLE – April 23-24, 2010

Devon United Church

 

            51 Presbyters gathered, some for the entire two days and some a portion of the days, at the beautiful ‘new’ Devon United Church for the 149^th Meeting of Yellowhead Presbytery.

            Fellowship, song, worship and delicious meals were shared at various times throughout these days. These were a great support to the business items that were dealt with. New Presbytery reps, guests and session presenter Dan Hotchkiss were welcomed.

            Division meetings discussed the business items of Presbytery. Ten Pastoral Charge record books were given their ‘exam’, and the October Presbytery meeting will see the cycle begin again with Pastoral Charges ‘A to F’ requested to bring their books in. As is practised at our Conference meetings, a second order paper with motions was presented for consideration at the middle of the meeting.

            We heard from our Northern Regional Resource Person Pat Bourque that Kananaskis Stewardship Event was great again. Presbytery formal participation was in the Form of Rev. Britt Jesson (workshop leader) and Karen Gusek( M & S displays/courtesies).

            Festivities to mark the 85^th Anniversary of the birth of the United Church of Canada will be held on June 10^th  from 12 noon to 9 pm at Sir Winston Churchill Square, Edmonton. Everyone is welcome!

            The Conference mailout has noted the Celebration of Ministry Service in High River, AB on Sun. May 16 10:30 am. Recognized will be retirees from the ministry and newcomers to the ministry. Everyone welcome as well.

            Christian Development reported that the U.C.W. Event in Nisku in Oct. 2010 is in full preparation. The excellent ‘Faith in Action’ display at the Provincial Archives, Edmonton will end on May 8 and is well worth the visit. The twinning project with other United Churches, for the Church’s 85^th Anniversary should be in each Pastoral Charge and it should be interesting to hear reports of connections made.

             Both fully accredited camps are getting set for their coming sessions. Work weekends are organized and would appreciate any help anyone in the congregations could offer.

     Camp Mack- Sat. May 8 @ 9 am

      Surprise Lake Camp – Sat. May 15 @ 9:30 am

            Over the last year or so, Yellowhead Presbytery has been exploring a new view of Presbytery Governance Structure to make our time together more effective. Consultant Dan Hotchkiss assisted us with this process. We are aiming to leave the day to day ‘operations’ to specific committees that would allow Presbytery to have a larger focus on higher visions of our mission to allow for more time of shared education/training opportunities. These opportunities could then be shared again with each rep’s Pastoral Charge.

            Our Governance Philosophy Statement was discussed and approved in principle this past February and the Global Delegation Policy was proposed at this meeting. With further discussion and clarifications, both of these policies were passed into effect for the 2 year ‘Test Period’ beginning     July 1, 2010. During that time, these documents will be remolded into the best that we determine. Lots of discussion is anticipated. Such an exciting time for our Presbytery!

  Respectfully submitted – Natalka Dreichel, Rec.Secretary