October 2020
Session News - New Pastoral Relationship
Your Session is entering a new relationship with Pastor Jane. The Presbytery has created a Covenant Pastor category for non-called/installed pastors remaining with a congregation for an extended period. This conversation began in January and February when Session proposed tabling the Pastoral Nominating Committee process and reconfiguring Jane’s contract with Session.
The Commission on Ministry informed Session about a new Covenant Pastor option and Session received and signed it this month. A Covenant Pastor is a relationship that continues for the foreseeable future between the pastor of the congregation when Session does not have an on-going search for a new pastoral relationship. The option to form a PNC remains with Session. They may call a search into action at any time; this new relationship with Jane does not eliminate the process it just provides consistent leadership for a much longer period.
As this is not a called position the relationship with Pastor Jane continues as a contract between Session, Presbytery, and Jane; rather than as a relationship between the congregation and Jane.
Your Session looks forward to this new relationship and the growth and development of God’s ministry through all of you.
SCOL - Safe Center for Online Learning UPDATE
SCOL (Safe Center for Online Learning) has completed its first month and it has been a success! We have been learning while doing, but that has gone well. We have a nice, cooperative group of students - there is excitement in the air! We are having fun and still getting their online work done.
At first, staffing was a challenge. To help us get started, 3 church members with a background in education, volunteered and were much needed and appreciated. Also to get us through those first couple weeks, Faith and Pastor Jane jumped in and overloaded their schedules. We are happy to report that we now have 2 full time and 1 part time employees. We could still use one more staff person. If you know of anyone with an interest or background in teaching/working with children, please have them contact Faith.
We are serving students - kindergarten through 6th grade - each with a different classroom schedule. Things change daily so our staff is kept busy guiding the school work and providing other fun activities for the rest of each student's day. As the kids become more familiar with their online responsibilities, the staff will be able to further develop STEM and STEAM activities.
Through these changing times, SCOL is one way that our congregation is able to reach out and use our resources to meet the needs of our community. You can help by praying for this ministry and by helping to get the word out to your neighbors and friends that we have this program available. Check in with Faith if you want more specific details about this exciting new endeavor.
Zoom classes
Library
Crafts
Outsideplay
Bat Removal
Session received a request from the Christian Formation committee to remove the large bat colony from the church. The bats have been a problem for many years and the problem has recently increased. Session unanimously concurred and has signed a contract for bat removal, sealing all openings, vents and gutters where bats have entered through our roof. The process has begun with the expectations the bat will be removed in October after the younger bats have left the nests. The team will be cleaning the ceilings and replacing the ceiling tiles in the CF rooms and office hallway. Bats are protected under Pennsylvania law and will not be harmed during this process.
We are grateful for our Boy Scout Troop 877 who constructed bat houses this weekend during their overnight camp trip. They installed the bat houses on the telephone poles on the top of our hills. This should give the bats a good place to nest while they continue to do the good bat work of keeping our insects to a minimum.
2021 “No Commitment Card” Stewardship Campaign
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused more change to our social norms in the last six months than most, if not all of us, have experienced in our lifetimes: quarantining, social distancing, on-line schooling, curb side pick-up, working from home, zoom meetings, scaled back youth and professional sports, online shopping, live streaming to name a few. However, some things have remained steadfast including God’s love and the grace of Jesus Christ as well as the faithfulness of the Presbyterian Church of Plum Creek (PCPC) family.
One only needs to visit our website to see how our ministries have adapted and continued to thrive throughout these unprecedented times with online worship services, Bible studies, adult and youth Sunday school, and donor giving options. As restrictions on in-person gatherings began to ease, we developed a hybrid in-person and online option for Sunday worship services. And not even COVID-19 was going to stop a Plum Creek tradition-the annual Spring Rummage Sale became a Summer Rummage Fest!
Throughout, you have remained steadfast in the generous giving of your talents and financial treasures. In direct response to the pandemic, we held a Mother’s Day food drive for the Plum Food Pantry, created a Benevolence Fund for members of the PCPC family and established a safe center for online learning (SCOL) as a mission outreach to our community. Financially, as of August 31, membership giving is approximately $14,000 favorable to budgeted giving-a true testament to the faithfulness and commitment of our church family to the mission of PCPC.
The Session and Finance & Stewardship Committee have approved a preliminary 2021 budget holding income and expense levels comparable to 2020 actuals. While we have made tremendous strides toward funding our operating expenses through membership giving, we are not yet able to fully self-fund our mission giving, and building and grounds maintenance requirements such as bat removal from Christian Formation wing, roof replacement, parking lot maintenance, etc.
As a congregation, we are entering a time of discerning what we will contribute monetarily in the coming year. It is out of a profound sense of gratitude for God’s many gifts that we make the choice to return some of what we have. The practice of exercising financial stewardship is a spiritual discipline and the decision of what amount to return is a very personal one. While we have been blessed as a congregation through August in our ability to surpass our income budget, none of us know the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic may have on us in the year ahead. Hence, “No Commitment Card.” Our ask is that at a minimum you maintain your 2020 giving levels throughout 2021. However, not knowing how the pandemic might impact any of our personal financial situations in 2021, Session and the Finance & Stewardship Committee do not want any of our church family to feel commitment guilt in the event that fulfilling a written pledge might become a burden. It is for this reason we will not request a written pledge commitment for 2021.
Additional information on the 2021 budget will be distributed in late October. In the meantime, should you have questions, please reach out to a member of the Finance & Stewardship Committee (Dot Easter, Bonnie Jackson, Cheryl Lynn, Dave Nesbit, Brandon Peifer, Ed Smith, Patrick Spenik)
In the name of Jesus our Lord,
Finance & Stewardship Committee