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101st Stated Meeting of the One Presbytery...Three Regional Meetings! Each Missional Region is hosting their portion of the 101st Stated Meeting.
New Missional Region Websites Online New websites for each Missional Region are now online. In July 2022, Presbytery of the Mid-Atlantic is slated to multiply into three distinct presbyteries. At that point, the PMA will cease to exist. This website will be retired in the fall of 2022 and the new websites below will be the sources of information. We pray for God's direction and blessings as we multiply! Coastal Mid-Atlantic: pcmaofepc.org Central Carolinas: carolinasepc.org New River: nrpofepc.org Not sure of your Missional Region? Find your church here— Special Giving Request Brothers and Sisters in Christ, We are anticipating a successful multiplication of the Presbytery of the Mid-Atlantic (PMA) into three new presbyteries as a result of the Lord’s blessings on our Presbytery. The Executive Council of the PMA, as well as transitional leadership teams for each of the new presbyteries, have been hard at work for over a year now. Our goal has been to build on the successes and strengths of the PMA while addressing the unique mission and ministry needs of each new presbytery. Each new presbytery has their unique vision for supporting and furthering the growth of disciple-making and church-planting churches in their region. The Lord’s consistent blessings upon PMA have provided for us in that we are going into this time of multiplication with some cash reserves. We are forever grateful for your faithful giving. We have been very conservative in our budgeting, but, as we go into the next eight months or so, we will be putting a strain on those reserves. There are some costs that are unique to this process of multiplication. There are some overlapping costs, for example, the salaries of the PMA staff and the salaries of the new staff of the presbyteries as they come on board and ramp up their ministries. There are also one-time-only costs such as legal fees for set-up and incorporation and technological costs for media capabilities including new websites. In light of these needs, we are asking each Session to prayerfully consider how they might assist their new presbytery. A one-time gift in 2022 of 25% over their normal presbytery per-member giving would assist us in paying for the transition to the new presbyteries and provide critical seed money to fully engage in making disciples and planting new churches. The receipt of this gift before the end of the 2021 year or early in 2022 would certainly lighten the load on the transitional leadership teams so that they can focus on supporting you and expanding the kingdom. Please make checks out to Presbytery of the Mid-Atlantic and designate in the memo line “Transitional Gift to ________ (designate the new Presbytery—Central Carolinas, Coastal Mid-Atlantic, New River). Checks should be mailed to Presbytery of the Mid-Atlantic, 2514 Plantation Center Drive, Matthews, NC 28105. All checks written for a particular region will be placed in the proper account for your regional presbytery. With prayers for God’s richest blessings on you and your congregation, TE Kevin Cauley RE Don Kirkey RE Scott McGregor TE Ed Pettus Join a Missional Region Facebook GroupMichelle Munger (see other things Michelle does on our Resources page) has created new Facebook groups for each of the Missional Regions. These groups allow those who are members of that group to post directly for real time interaction with one another. Please welcome and invite your region brothers and sisters. The groups are growing and in need of an administrator for each group. If you can help with that, please contact Michelle Munger. We can change the names of groups once we are settled on each region's name. Here are the links: Thank you Michelle! B90+ For The Church At our 98th Stated Meeting of presbytery in April 2021, Teaching Elder Bill Campbell of Scripture Awakening shared a video overview about their B90+ For The Church resource. Pastor, Would you love to see your church: Grow as a community, Deepen spiritually, & Reach neighbors with the Gospel? Scripture Awakening exists to help you do just that. And we make this possible without costing your church a penny. Members who get involved pay a nominal fee to have our new program, Bible in 90 Days Plus (B90+), delivered to their inbox. Bible in 90 Days Plus is like a daily multimedia coach that comes alongside those who sign up to assist them as they read through the entire Bible in 90 Days. Participants who want to join the reading program but don’t have time to read every page, can choose the overview mode, which takes only 12 minutes a day, and which provides a rich and full overview of the entire Bible. We also encourage you to consider using the regular, hardcover version of Bible in 90 Days, with accompanying videos and guides. Ideally, offer both options to your church members; they work beautifully together. By planning ahead, you can form small groups around your church’s reading of the Bible, and invite the unchurched to join in. In addition, the pastor has the option of preaching through the Bible as people read, building unity around key Biblical themes and applications. To learn more about B90+ and how to sign up, please go here. And be sure to read our best practices PDF. A three-minute video is available, providing you an overview of Scripture Awakening. Please email our church consultant with questions and to send us a key contact in your church. Finally, consider joining our upcoming B90+ training webinar; it will be full of time-tested insights and will offer you opportunity for live questions and answers. We’re here to serve you, as you seek to bring the power of God’s Word into the lives of your people and into your community. Please let us know if you have any questions. Bill Campbell Missional Region Resource Events Our Church Development Committee offered three Missional Region Resource Events to equip our communities on the evenings of February 22-24, 2021. These events provided an encouraging look at how congregations can forge ahead during and after the ongoing pandemic. Current practices, next practices, ways to encourage leaders, and hope for a bright future were shared each evening. February 22, 2021—Mountain Missional Region If you have any trouble, please feel free to contact webmaster@pmaofepc.org. Support For The Brunsons At our Presbytery meeting in September 2020, Andrew & Norine Brunson shared their vision for ministry moving forward, as well as their needs for rebooting their ministry. We also became aware that the Brunsons were are completely starting their household over again. We encourage you to give if you can. And continue to be in prayer for the Brunsons and their ministry. For more information on their new ministry, please go to WaveStarters.org. Get to know the Brunsons by viewing this video. William's Place William’s Place is a ministry begun by members of Christ Community Church, Montreat, NC and was highlighted at a previous presbytery meeting. Please read more about how this wonderful ministry is meeting an important need as they serve those suffering with addiction issues. More information is available at https://www.williamsplace.org.  CasaVista
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June 12, 2020 |
Resources for Reopening Churches
Available on EPC Website
An article at EPC Connection provide resources for reopening churches as COVID-19 restrictions are relaxed.
With many jurisdictions around the country loosening shelter-in-place restrictions, the EPC Office of the General Assembly has curated a variety of resources on how and when churches can begin to open their doors for public worship and other ministries. The materials offer guidelines and suggestions for churches seeking to safely welcome worshippers back into their facilities. Sources include EPC partner ministries and other reputable organizations.
“It is very likely that our pre-lockdown church experience will not be what we experience going forward,” said Jeff Jeremiah, Stated Clerk. “I hope our churches and leaders benefit from the guidelines and suggestions as they look to safely welcome worshippers back into their facilities.”
Included are checklists, guidance, and other helps from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), ChurchLeaders.com, the Family Research Council, The Gospel Coalition, the National Association of Evangelicals, Smart Church Solutions, Vanderbloemen Search Group, and others.
The resources are available at www.epc.org/reopeningchurches.
Giving
Now Available Online
(Not intended for per-member asking from churches.)
send an email to
webmaster@pmaofepc.org.)
