Greenfield Avenue Presbyterian Church

Our group will be meeting again starting Saturday, July 17th and meeting 

again on the third Saturday of each month. We would love one and all to come and join the fun.

We meet in the Jack Reichart Hall in the basement of the church.

1. Expectations - Session Approved

   1. Masks: Currently, MASKS ARE OPTIONAL FOR THOSE WHO ARE VACCINATED; ALL OTHERS ARE REQUIRED TO WEAR MASKS. 

   2. Physical Distance: We expect 6’ distance from anyone who is not in your household.

   3. Bulletins: We will have bulletins in worship. 

   4. Offering: Will be collected as you enter and leave the sanctuary in a “Church Box”

2. Other Worship Opportunities: 

   1. Online: LiveStream and recorded on YouTube. Please send Rev. Jones an email (revjones96@gmail.com) and share how the LiveStream or YouTube production worked or call 608-205-7428.

Printed Resources: Printed bulletin, sermon notes, and Friday Notes will be mailed to those who want to continue to receive them.

Join Us for Lemonade and Iced Tea after the August 15th Service in the backyard of the church.

July 25th Bulletin

July 25th Worship Service

• Pastor Emeritus 

The session consulted with the Commission of Transitional Ministry and Rev. Dr. Kevin Tarvid: concerning the wisdom of this relationship for the peace of the church. After consultation, Session voted unanimously to bring a motion to the congregation at a regularly called congregational meeting to elect the former pastor, Rev. Dr. Tarvid as pastor emeritus without honorarium, but with no pastoral authority or duty. This action shall be subject to the approval of the presbytery. If the congregation concurs we will have a special worship service with Pastor Kevin and officially bestow the title with a celebration to follow.

• Mission and Vision Statements

Thank you to all those who completed the Mission Study a couple of months ago. Since then, our Evangelism/Events Committee compiled the data and shared it with Session. We are now forming a small group to develop a Mission and a Vision Statement. 

The Mission Statement describes who we are as a congregation. We believe this statement reflects the core of our congregation. This will be important for the candidates seeking to become your next pastor to know you. This may be their first impression and help them get to know you.

The Vision Statement provides a sense of where we believe God is calling us in the future. Who do we want to become as a community of faith? This will help candidates to assess whether they have the gifts to help you become this new community. They will decide if they want to share this journey of faith as you move forward. 

Once these are written and shared with Session, we will bring them to everyone in the congregation to test them. Do you think the Mission Statement reflects who we are, a realistic description of GAPC? Do you agree that God is calling us in the Vision Statement? We will work on wordsmithing and refining the statements. Then we will elect a Pastor Nominating Committee to complete the Ministry Information Form (MIF) and they will start seeking your next called and installed pastor.

Bruce

Commission on Transitional Ministry (CTM) for the Presbytery of Milwaukee

On July 27th, I will be meeting the CTM to provide a report on how the transitional time is going. If you have any thoughts you’d like CTM to know please contact an elder or myself so we can provide valuable information to CTM as they guide all congregations in transition.

Don’t worry, this is a normal process and I don’t feel like I’m being summoned to the principal's office. It’s been a challenging year and we’ve not done some of the normal interim tasks (Mission/Vision Statements, election of Pastor Nominating Committee [PNC], and reviewing our history). I’m confident as we continue to meet in person, we will accomplish many things to prepare you for your next called and installed pastor. 

If you’d like to help with writing the Mission/Vision Statements from our Mission Study Report or serve on the Nominating Committee to select the PNC, please contact your friendly neighborhood elder or myself.  These are important tasks and every member can help in this transitional process.

Bruce

 Spinning Yarns                            

Our group will be meeting again starting Saturday, July 17th at 9:00 am, and meeting again on the third Saturday of each month. We would love one and all to come and join the fun.

Summer Worship

As we prepare for the return of weekly, in-person worship, I want to remind you that whether we are gathered in-person or online, we are invited to maintain divine Worship. In the Letter to the Hebrews 10:24-25, “And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” 

In some sense, it’s an odd time to be returning to in-person worship. Summertime is often when we grieve the dearly departed. The departed to the lake, departed to vacation, departed to picnics, and sundry other distractions. Now, we have the concern of who will come back to the sanctuary. I know I’ve enjoyed worship in my pajamas and eating breakfast. I hope you will not neglect worship but embrace worship, whether online or in-person as the GAPC Body of Christ gathers for worship.

Grace and Peace,  Bruce

Return to Worship June 6th, 2021

Interim Ministry

Jeri-Lynne Bouterse, a transitional pastor in Ohio wrote an article for The Presbyterian Outlook - “The in-between time: Interim ministry as sacred space” in 2019. 

Leading Change

Some of the most important work in interim ministry, though, is introducing change — even at the exact time when many congregants may feel that too much change has already happened. “I think the most important thing a transitional pastor does is to get the congregation to the understanding that things are changing. And to help them see into a future that is different from their recent past. Sometimes this is made extremely difficult because the pastor is beloved or is still physically in the area. It is even more important for the transitional pastor to help the congregation understand the ‘end of an era,’ whether positive or negative,” said Brenda Barnes, the interim pastor of NuValley Presbyterian Church in Rural Valley, Pennsylvania.

The interim must lead the congregation through “change at a rate they can absorb,” as a former congregant often reminded me. Effecting change is not easy! My colleague Brian Harroff describes this well. He formerly served as a transitional pastor before accepting a call as pastor of Royster Presbyterian Church in Norfolk, Virginia.

“You can’t do the job without ruffling feathers,” he said. “But if you make them hate you, they stop working with you.” Some of these changes are going to be “heavy lifting.” It seems the heaviest lifting addresses problems in staffing that church leadership has been afraid to touch. Pastors following interims report that this task is too often left undone. Interims admit that staffing issues are predictable during transitions and they are also the most difficult, but the most necessary, to resolve.

Skilled interim ministers fill the in-between time not with a space holder, but an intentional space filler. After I share these insights with sessions, instead of asking why they need an interim pastor they ask, “How long will all this take?” I simply hold back a sigh and say: “I don’t know. God’s timing is God’s timing.”

Kristen Tan returns to provide our music ministry this week.

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing  #119    MENDELSSOHN 

Brought together in the mid-19th century, the text and tune of this familiar carol began in quite different forms. The text had ten stanzas and began, “Hark, how all the welkin rings.” The tune was created for a festival celebrating Gutenberg’s introduction of movable type.

How Great Thou Art      #625    HOW GREAT THOU ART                                                                                 This tuneful retelling of the salvation story began in Swedish and was translated into German and then into Russian before reaching its English form Despite such linguistic and musical revisions, it continues to be a meaningful source of comfort to many people.

Rev. Jones’ Schedule 

• Sunday, July 25 - Peace and Justice Committee after worship

• Monday,  July 26 and Wednesday, July  28 - Will be in town.

• Tuesday, July 27  & Thursday, July 28 - Work from home

• Friday, July 30th - Sabbath

Time Away

A note to remind everyone of the importance for renewal and refreshment. I can tell you numerous stories of pastor’s who aborted their vacation to care for the congregation. My internship supervisor learned the lesson the hard way. Pastor Steve went home to Green Bay for his father’s funeral, when he received a call from a member of the congregation that her husband had died. And this was in the days before everyone had cell phones. 

She insisted that Steve return home to prepare for her husband’s funeral. He waited a day to attend his father’s funeral and returned to the church to meet the needs of the congregant. This event happened at least ten years before he told me the story. He still resented not having the time to grieve his father’s death. It took years before he was able to talk about his grief and anger with this woman. They eventually talked with her and they reconciled. 

He then regularly went on vacation without phones, attended a silent retreat without any way to receive communication to avoid the temptation to cut his time away short. I can tell you other stories of members who did not respect the boundaries of their pastor. But besides resentment, it is important for pastors to get recharged so they can continue to serve God’s flock. Many pastors burn out when they don’t get time away without responsibilities for pastoral care. 

Even Jesus needed time away to get refreshed and renewed. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus takes time away to pray, to spend time with our Heavenly Father, and time without responsibility for the ministry of salvation. Here are a few...

• After the multiplication of loaves—Mark 6:46: Jesus he went up on the mountain to pray.

• Immediately before choosing his twelve apostles—Luke 6:12: 

• Immediately before the Transfiguration—Luke 9:28: 

• Before teaching the Lord’s Prayer—Luke 11:1: He was praying in a certain place.

• In the Garden of Gethsemane—Matthew 26:36-45; Mark 14:32-41; Luke 22:39-46.

When I take time for vacation or study leave, I make sure colleagues will be available for pastoral emergencies in my absence. When they take time to get refreshed and renewed, I take calls for them. In 25 years of ministry, I’ve guarded my time away, so when I return, I am renewed and ready. I have delayed leaving by a few hours or a day to visit the hospital or officiate at a funeral, but not if I have plane tickets. I will be informed of needs and will probably call and pray if the need arises. I do care, although the best care is allowing God to refresh my soul so I can serve again. 

Bruce

God Needs You

I found this image on the internet. I did find a couple of different verses with this image which reminds me of Uncle Sam Needs You! Ephesians 4:16 NIV

“From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” 

God invites us as a faith community to support the Body of Christ with our gifts and talents. At GAPC, God is looking for Christians (you) to serve. 

1. We are still searching for 2 people to serve on the Nominating Committee. This short term commitment includes 3 meetings and a few phone calls. The Nominating Committee will present a slate of officers to serve as Elders and Deacons. This Committee will meet 3 more times this year to present a slate of members ready to serve on the Pastor Nominating Committee (PNC) to find our new GAPC pastor. 

2. The next step in our Mission Study will be to take the results of our survey and craft Mission and Vision Statements. If you would like to help with this Contact Rev. Jones who will coordinate the process. revjones96@gmail.com or 608-205-7428.

3. Continue to find ways to serve our Lord through the events and activities of GAPC.

God gives us talents to share supporting the growth and building up of the family of God. God wants you to do your part. Christianity is not a spectator sport, God wants you to be active in living your faith through service to others. 

Grace and Peace,  

Bruce

Update on Relay for Life

It was a great success raising $1233!!! Thank you to all that walked or donated towards curing cancer.

Click on the link below to open the PDF to show the list of retailers that participate in our scrip program at GAPC.

https://shop.shopwithscrip.com › Shop › Product

We accept scrip orders the second Sunday of each month.  There are order forms on a table at the back of the sanctuary along with a printed list of retailers.  Simply fill out an order form along with your check made out to "GAPC" and place them in the box on the same table. If you wish to mail in your order with your check, it must be received no later than the Saturday before the second Sunday of each month.

Scrip cards will be availabe for distribution to participants the third Sunday each month.  If you wish to have your scrip mailed to your home, please indicate that information on the order form.