Hunger Hurts - Sharing Helps

Offering of Letters

Bread for the World invites churches to write letters to Congress this Spring. This year's focus is "Reforming US Food Aid", asking Congress to make changes that would allow food aid to benefit 17 million more people each year, at no additional cost to taxpayers.

The U.S. is a leader in providing life-saving assistance overseas in the form of food aid in times of disaster.

During 2014 we can help reform the federal government's food-aid programs so that funds are used more effectively.

Please ask members of your congregation to write letters to urge Congress to make these changes.  Choose a Sundayor Best Time for writing!

Set up tables, have writing paper and envelopes available, following worship, after Sunday School, during a fellowship meal -or at a time of you best choosing!  (people can even take paper home and write).  Suggestion: group the letters together and mail them to the local office for security reasons; OR mail them all to BREAD and they will hand deliver them

Send for a packet of information/kit: www.bread.org/store or call 800-822-7323 ext 1072 or email publications@bread.org.

Vote for Wellspring's Video

Help Wellspring win a video contest! The Presbyterian Church's 1001 New Worshiping Community is running a video contest from May 1 through May 14. The first place winner will receive $10,000. Online voting will help determine the winners! Thank you for your support.

Cast your vote for Wellspring's video online here.

Spiritual Exercises in Everyday Life

The Spiritual Exercises in Everyday Life is a nine month retreat format of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, with retreat communities meeting in Seattle and Tacoma, beginning in September and running through May. It is a powerful, life-changing program of prayer and reflection that can be done by busy people of varied backgrounds and Christian traditions in the midst of their daily lives. Participants commit themselves to praying one hour a day, meeting twice monthly with a Spiritual Director, and to attending monthly Saturday retreat days. Learn more at www.seelpugetsound.org or call 206-721-3518. 

SeaPres Churches Join Oso Relief Effort

Twenty-five Seattle-area churches, including BelPres and Redmond PC, are raising thousands of dollars for Oso relief. 

The group Churches For Oso has pledged money from their own churches' budgets plus donations from congregation members to Oso victims. The group has launched a fundraising website and produced a video that’s spreading online. 

Read more online.

Hacking for Jesus: Code for the Kingdom

Seattle event featured on GeekWire. Hacking for Jesus: Top projects from ‘Code for the Kingdom,’ a faith-based hackathon for spiritual geeks.

Niche hackathons are hot right now. Some solve legal issues and address challenges facing non-profits, while others aim to increase civic engagement and even help pets.

There’s a movement among some programmers to consider how their work should, perhaps, be dedicated to higher causes.

And now there’s another spin on the hackathon, and it happened over the weekend at Seattle’s Impact Hub in Pioneer Square.

Code for the Kingdom brought together developers from local software companies, big and small, eager to meld their spiritual beliefs and their day-job programming skills. The goal, as stated by the group, was to tackle global issues ”with a Christian perspective,” although non-Christians were also welcome. The “kingdom” in the title refers to the idea that all areas of work and life can be integrated into one’s religious beliefs.  READ MORE...

Oso Relief with PDA & NW Coast Presbytery

Following their assessment of the Oso mudslide and the initial response, Rev. David Alger and Morella Larsen of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) met with 25 Presbyterians at Mountain View PC in Marysville, WA on March 29th. This disaster, when all is said and done, may be the most costly natural disaster in the last century in Washington State in terms of human life. 

Please be in prayer for all those engaged in the search for missing people, for the families and friends of those who have died, for the recovery efforts of everyone involved. And become prepared to help respond long after the cameras move on to the next story and this community tries to put a life back together.  

If you want to be directly involved in coordinating the relief effort both now and over the long-term please email Corey Schlosser-Hall (Northwest Coast Presbytery Executive). They are forming a team that will coordinate ecumenically, with churches closest to Oso, and with other volunteer organizations actively involved in Oso relief efforts. 

What's NOT needed right now?
- There are plenty of people searching through the area. 
- There are plenty of chaplains functioning with the rescue        workers right now. 
- There is plenty of food, water and shelter provided to those    displaced. 
- There are plenty of blankets, sweaters, clothing.

Learn more online.

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Assist Northwest Coast Presbytery (North Puget Sound & Alaska) with the relief effort:

Send checks with "Oso Relief" in the memo line written to:

NPS Presbytery

1010 E. Casino Road

Everett, WA  98203

Mass Youth Choir - General Assembly Opening Worship

Youth from your congregations are invited to participate in a Mass Youth Choir for Opening Worship at General Assembly on Saturday, June 14 at 11 AM at First Presbyterian Church, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Youth will meet for dinner and their first rehearsal at the church on June 12. Churches in Ann Arbor will open their buildings for youth and chaperones (for a minimal fee). There is no fee for participating in the mass choir itself. Dr. Jerry Blackstone, director of choral activities at University of Michigan, will conduct. 50 spaces are currently available for singers (rising 8th grade & up).

Contact: Tom Granum, Director of Music Ministries, First Presbyterian Church, Ann Arbor.

Rev. Debbie Blane Visits Seattle

Rev. Debbie Blane, Mission Co-Worker in South Sudan

Rev. Debbie Blane, Mission co-worker in South Sudan (serving at Nile Theological College) will be returning to Seattle from May 20-June 12 and is seeking housing for part of that time. Please contact her directly via email if you can help. Learn more online about her ministry.

Debbie was ordained in the Seattle Presbytery at Woodland Park Presbyterian Church in 2002.

Finding Faith Today Project

Boston University School of Theology is conducting a national research project on how people come to faith as adults in the U.S. The project will include those who have become adherents of all major religious traditions in the U.S. 

The survey is offered to adults in your congregation (aged 18 and over) who have made a new declaration of faith within the last three years (since about Jan. 1, 2011), even if that happens to be a "return" to faith from an earlier commitment in their lives. All responses are anonymous and confidential. Learn more online.

Sound View's New Director

Matt and Allison Klump.

Seattle Presbytery is pleased to celebrate the announcement of Sound View's new director, Matt Klump. You probably recognize Matt from his familiar presence at our Presbytery gatherings. Congratulations! Read more.

Run For Water, Run For Life

Join Team World Vision. Run a race. Change the lives of children in Africa and your team members. As you train for a race and ask others to make donations on your behalf, you help communities in need by enabling World Vision to provide access to things like clean water. You don't have to be a runner! Read more about Team World Vision. 

Next Seattle race date: June 21, 2014.

Best time for team recruitment: now through mid-March.

1/2 marathon base training starts: Feb. 17 (extra training for people just getting started).

1/2 marathon official training starts: March 21. 

Contact: Lyndsey Deane.

Short powerful links: 

Water is Life

The Journey

Water for 68,000

The Impact

Church World Service School Kits Needed

CWS has recently received a request from a partner agency for 52,500 CWS School Kits to travel to Cameroon, Syria, and Romania to provide supplies that enable children to be successful in school. Although there are kits in the CWS warehouses, there are not enough to fill this request, let alone any other requests that might we might receive. 

CWS School Kits give basic tools for learning to children in impoverished schools, refugee camps and other difficult settings, including children whose families had lost everything to floods, tornados and other disasters.

For more information about assembling kits, go to www.cwsglobal.org/kits and click on “CWS School Kits.”  Financial support is also needed – please consider taking an offering or making a gift to help support the CWS Kits Program.

Church Statistical Reports & Pastor Salary Forms Due Now

The deadline for SeaPres churches to enter 2013 stats into the online system is Thursday, February 20th (midnight), even if your session has not yet approved the report. If your session meets after the Feb. 20th deadline, enter the stats by the deadline and take the paper copy to the session for approval. If there are changes, send them to Stated Clerk Kathy Lueckert and she will make them in the system.

Click here for online statistical reporting site. Contact Kathy Lueckert for PIN, userID or password. Tip: use FireFox or Chrome to eliminate problems with Internet Explorer display settings. 

Click here for Korean statistical reporting instructions.

Click here for 2013 Necrology form.

Click here for 2014 Pastor salary form.

Clergy Renewal Programs

The Lilly Endowment Clergy Renewal Programs  at Christian Theological Seminary is accepting proposals for grants to fund “clergy renewal leaves” for congregations and their pastors.

Under the program ― underwritten by the Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment ― congregations may apply for grants of up to $50,000 to underwrite a renewal program for their pastor and for the pastor’s family, with up to $15,000 of those funds available to the congregation to help cover costs for ministerial supply while the pastor is away.

There is no cost to the congregations or the pastors to apply; the grants represent the Endowment’s continued investment in renewing the health and vitality of American Christian congregations.

For more information, go to the Lilly Endowment Clergy Renewal Program website.

OGA Statement on Minister Housing Case

The Office of the General Assembly (“OGA”) has been receiving inquiries and questions regarding the November 21, 2013 decision of a federal district court (Western District of Wisconsin) judge in Madison, Wisconsin which held that a portion of Section 107 of the Internal Revenue Code is unconstitutional.  Section 107 is the provision dealing with tax-favored housing benefits for “ministers of the gospel.”  Specifically, the court held that Section 107(2), which permits ministers to receive tax-free cash “housing allowance,” is unconstitutional because it violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.  Section 107(1), which allows ministers to reside tax-free in a church-provided manse, was not affected by the court’s decision.

In the case, Freedom From Religion Foundation, et al. v. Lew, et al., the United States government was the party which defended the constitutionality of Section 107, a federal law enacted by Congress many decades ago.  As the losing party, the government must now decide whether it wants to appeal this decision to the next level of the federal court system, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago.  Based on available information, an appeal is likely.  Read more.

Congregational Leadership Awards

Since 1991, Union Presbyterian Seminary has awarded Congregational Leadership Awards for innovative ministry to 101 PC (USA) congregations. Each award carries a $1000 prize to support the congregation in its ministry. For information and how to apply, download the brochure and application online or contact April Swofford at 1-800-229-2990 ext. 231. Deadline is February 15, 2014.

After Learning to Read, 'Nothing Can Stop Us'

From Church World Service

I enrolled in the CWS Karima Adult Learners' Centre in 2010, after persistent encouragement from my mother, now deceased, who also learned there.  

Once I was able to read and write and was operating a successful retail shop, thanks to CWS, I was elected group secretary. This position was very challenging because most women in the group still needed guidance on small scale business management. With continuous training from CWS we were able to manage our small businesses and earn some profits. We are more united than before. As a secretary, I help to keep the group records and to set up monthly meetings.

From January of this year, because of the perennial water shortage in our village, we got on a campaign called "each one a tank." This involves purchasing a 5,000-litre capacity water tank for each of the group’s 22 households. To make it easier for everyone, we planned to buy three water tanks at a time. We were able to raise enough money to achieve this dream in just a couple of months.

Unlike before, when we didn't have money of our own, we are now captains of our lives. Because we have safe clean water year round, the health of our children has improved and we also are able to sustain our chicken project. For us, the projects demonstrate our level of literacy. We now can read and count. We can communicate with the mobile phone and, most of all, we can keep our business records.

At Karima Learners’ Centre we feel empowered as we aspire to grow together. The initial business grant from CWS has gotten larger, giving us more independence. Every one of us has a growing business that is helping to feed our families. Every month, we come together to review our individual progress as we build up our savings. We have discussed the need to invest our money in a financial institution so that we can qualify for bigger loans in the future. We have big dreams and nothing can stop us now.

Storyteller:  Milcah Njeri, Kenya

Seattle Presbytery Grant Helps "UNITE" Youth

Teamwork by Seattle-area churches is helping youth and leaders connect every Christmas. Lake City PC, Rainier Beach PC, Northminster PC, Seattle Community Church, & Snohomish First PC (North Puget Sound Presbytery) worked together to create "UNITE", a joint youth retreat open to local churches who want to bring youth leaders and students. 

"We started this retreat so we could unite youth from all around the Seattle area in the name of Christ and let them know they are not alone in their walk," said HT Lee (Seattle Community Church). "The awesome thing is that youth who went to the same schools but didn't know each other, ended up connecting at these retreats. The Spirit is flowing through these youth and allowing them to grow into the people God intended them to be." 

Months of prayer, planning and pre-rally fellowship gatherings led up to the big event. Each church participated in each step of the process. The retreat happened December 26-29, 2013 at Tall Timber Ranch, a picturesque and fun winter get-away in Leavenworth, WA.  Pastor Lina Thompson (Lake Burien PC) spoke to 70+ youth.  Churches also brought youth group leaders, teachers, parents, and other volunteers for a memorable time of bonding and fellowship. The retreat was funded in part by a Seattle Presbytery grant. If you're interested in joining next year's group, please contact HT Lee.

Kanye West, Evangelist of the 21st Century

By Erin Rodenbiker, intern at Rainier Beach and candidate under care of UPC.

Currently circling the country is one of the world’s most loved/hated figures: Jesus. No, wait: Yeezus. But I saw it with my own eyes: the new Yeezus tour features Kanye West’s very own personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Move over Bono, Christians have a new spokesperson.

Kanye’s depiction of Jesus may seem, at first, like farce or mockery—a caricature with the aims of postmodern indulgence or a racialized political statement. But, while iconoclasm and activism may be present, they do not dominate. Instead, the performance is a theological rap opera where religion and entertainment are weaved together in the imagination of the believer—and yet, completely conflicted—Kanye West, who inhabits the role of performance artist and, dare I say, evangelist. Yeezus is a Christian of the 21st Century.

Continue reading at Patrol Magazine.

Now Seeking YAAD Nominees for GA221

Seattle Presbytery’s Young Adult Advisory Delegate (YAAD)
221st General Assembly

The 221st General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) will meet June 14 – 21, 2014, in Detroit, Michigan.  Each presbytery is invited to send one person as a Young Adult Advisory Delegate (YAAD) at General Assembly expense.  The YAAD will be seated with the presbytery’s teaching elder and ruling elder commissioners on the floor of the Assembly.  The YAAD has the right to speak, and to vote in an advisory capacity on the floor of the Assembly.  YAADs are full voting members of the General Assembly Committee to which he/she is assigned.

Being a YAAD is a great way to connect with other young Presbyterians from across the country, and to learn about the full scope of the ministry and mission of the PC(USA).  YAADs have an extensive program planned just for them, in addition to regular Assembly business.

The Youth Advisory Delegate must be 17 – 23 years old the day the General Assembly convenes (6/14) and an active member for at least a year in a congregation within Seattle Presbytery.  Having some experience in the Presbyterian Church beyond the local congregation is a real plus for a YAAD.  The candidate should have sufficient personal maturity to be able to function independently and responsibly for nine days with other youth and adults, and to participate faithfully in the many meetings and activities associated with the General Assembly meeting.

A YAAD nominee must be endorsed by the Session of their congregation.

Nomination deadline is January 6, 2014.

Download the nomination & application form here and return it to:

YAAD Selection Committee/Janet DeWater, Newport Presbyterian Church, 4010 120th Ave SE, Bellevue, WA 98006

Nominations / applications due January 6th, 2013.