Nearly 140 leaders including representation from presbyteries, pastors, clerks of session and the Presbyterian Mission Agency are meeting at Montview Presbyterian Church in Denver this week to pray, plan and worship together during the West Coast Vital Congregations gathering.
One of the first Presbytery of San Jose meetings the Rev. Sammie Evans attended as the new pastor at Stone Church of Willow Glen was to hear a presentation from the Rev. Dr. Kathryn Threadgill on Presbyterian Mission Agency’s Vital Congregations Initiative, which is designed to help churches live more faithfully as disciples of Jesus Christ.
By the time Newark (N.J.) Presbytery was invited to participate in a two-year Vital Congregations Initiative pilot program, it had already been placed under an administrative commission in the Synod of the Northeast.
When Phyllis Sanders saw an article in South Carolina’s newspaper, The State, titled Losing Faith, she considered it a godsend.
Within a week, she hosted her first workshop as Trinity Presbytery’s new Vital Congregations coordinator. The article about the decline of churches gave her what she needed to help congregations better understand why the presbytery is participating in a two-year Vital Congregations Revitalization Initiative pilot program. Sponsored by the Presbyterian Mission Agency, the initiative is designed to help churches live more fully into faithful discipleship to Jesus Christ.
