“In the Hopper”
Pastor Kimberly is introducing the phrase ‘In the Hopper’ to highlight the projects or programs that are in progress and being worked on by the English Commission, Committees and Pastor Kimberly herself. Please keep in mind that by its very nature, ‘in the hopper’ means that things are essentially ‘under construction’ and all the details are still being worked out. Feel free to ask questions if you are curious, but please do not expect all the nuances to be finalized since the planning is still in process.
Worship Discussion
We finally have a date for this activity. Sunday afternoon, January 22. We will begin with lunch after worship and end by 4:00 p.m. Our facilitator for this discussion will be Rev. Kamal Hassan from Sojourner Truth Presbyterian Church. We are also still in the producing a video for this event after videotaping various people.
Confirmation Class
Pastor Kimberly will teach a confirmation class for High School students and any interested young adults (which can be a separate class if need be) in 2017. If you or your loved one are interested in taking the class, please contact Pastor Kimberly. When we know who is in the class we will discuss the best schedule to work with everyone’s calendar.
Youth Ministry Task Force
Pastor Kimberly has put together a Youth Ministry Task Force that will assess the needs of our youth ministry program and also put together a proposal for exploring the possible hire of a youth ministry staff position. The first meeting for this task force will be November 20th.
Mutual Ministry Team
We are putting together a Mutual Ministry Team. It’s purpose will be to act as a sounding board between the congregation and Pastor Kimberly, understanding we are all on the same team and in Mutual Ministry together. The English Commission and Pastor Kimberly are prayerfully discerning who God is lifting up who may be called in this capacity. When we have a team assembled, Rev. Kibbie Ruth (founder of Kyros Ministries) will lead a training for the team.
Envisioning Team for Central Subway Opening
As Pastor Kimberly mentioned in her sermon on October 23, our church will have an amazing opportunity open up to us in 2019 when construction is finished for the Central Subway. In conjunction with representatives from all three worshipping communities, Pastor Kimberly is putting together an Envisioning Team that will begin brainstorming ways for the church to respond to this opportunity. It will include planning for a mural or banner that will be visible on the north wall of our church once construction is finished. All plans will be approved by our church before acted upon, but the team will start envisioning ideas and making plans for us to be ready for this opportunity. If you have ideas for names of people who would be well suited for this team, please contact Pastor Kimberly or another member of the English Commission.
Vision Planning/ Dreaming
Pastor Kimberly has been in conversation with pastors of local churches in San Francisco to discuss ways they are responding to the unique needs of being an urban church in San Francisco. She has interviewed one particular individual who helped lead 7th Avenue Presbyterian Church through its vision process which helped it restructure. The English Commission felt it was important to have our discussions about worship first before we discuss other opportunities for vision planning. These conversations will remain in process and the congregation will be informed when there are more updates to share.
Expectations of our Pastoral Position
The English Commission will undergo a process with Pastor Kimberly in the next few months of seeking to narrow down and prioritize the expectations of the pastor. It has become apparent that the expectations of the congregation are quite diverse, and we need to first highlight the top priorities before we can adequately do any kind of fair evaluation. This will include looking at the Mission Study as well as reviewing notes from our envisioning sessions with Rev Jeff Hutcheson (Our Presbytery Executive where we created our vision statement for English worshipping community) and feedback from our Worship Discussion in January and our Mutual Ministry Team.
CCU Handbook
A handbook for the timetable, deadlines and responsibilities for our CCU program is currently being assembled in conversation with former CCU coordinators, coaches and participants. It is our goal to hire the 2017 CCU coordinator in February of 2017. If you know of someone who is interested in the position, please contact Pastor Kimberly. If you have ideas to add to the notebook, please contact Diane Go.
Planning for May Church Retreat
A new name is being considered for our annual church retreat at Westminster Woods, and a team of people have already met to brainstorm theme and activities for 2017. One idea under consideration is having several stations that represent a different topic or activity where people can chose what they want to be part of based on their interests. If you have ideas or want to be part of this team, please contact Diane Go.
Cranes of Hope
Do you like to fold Origami cranes? This Advent season we will be folding Origami cranes and bringing them to worship each Sunday as symbols of hope. We will kick off the project during teatime on the first Sunday of Advent, November 27th. If you already know how to fold origami cranes, we could use your help as we would like to have a person at each table who knows how to fold and can help teach others at the table. If interested, please contact Linda Lee or Diane Go.
Fair Trade Giving Fair
Mission and Evangelism is again sponsoring our annual Alternative Giving Fair on Sunday, December 4 to help provide sustainable choices for Christmas Shopping. Back by popular demand, we will again be selling Guatemalan gifs from the Luz Luna Fair Trade store in Half Moon Bay. If you would like to take a field trip and be part of the team that goes to the store in November to decide which items we will sell at the fair, please contact Pastor Kimberly or Susie Wong. (Date to be determined, but possibly Nov 19 or 20).
Christmas Gifts for SRO Children
Will also be collected on December 4th. Tags will be distributed Nov 13 & 20th.
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