Synod of Lakes and Prairies

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1 Synod of Lakes and Prairies 2115 Cliff Drive Eagan, MN May 10, 2017 Spring Meeting - Synod of Lakes and Prairies - Mount Olivet Conference and Retreat Center - Farmington, Minnesota - April 30 and May 1-2, The Synod Meeting Summary is an unofhicial report of synod actions published shortly after each meeting of the Synod of Lakes of Prairies. Comments regarding the publication or requests for copies should be addressed to dsweep@ lakesand prairies.org. Synod installs 3 during spring meeting Greg Braatz, a ruling elder from Winnebago Presbytery, and April Davis Campbell, a teaching elder from the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area, were installed as moderator and vice moderator respectively when the Synod of Lakes and Prairies met this spring. The synod also installed Jim Koon, a corporate and non-prohit leader with a record of operational performance and community partnerships, as treasurer. Braatz, a 30-plus-year member of Memorial Presbyterian Church in Appleton, Wis., serves on Winnebago Presbytery s permanent judicial commission. Braatz retired last year after spending 29 years with Kimberly-Clark Corp. in various marketing and sales-support roles. He currently serves part time with Memorial Presbyterian as a commissioned ruling elder. Davis Campbell is pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Hastings, Minn., where she has served since She holds a doctorate in Christian spirituality from Columbia Theological Seminary and a Master of Divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary. Koon, a Presbyterian ruling elder, serves on numerous local boards in the Twin Cities, including Westminster Counseling Center, and he chairs the Oak Grove Presbyterian Endowment. He is business administrator for Lake Harriet United Methodist Church in Minneapolis, and is founder and director of SafeNights Service Corp. of the Twin Cities, a program that provides programs to displaced students. Greg Braatz April Davis Campbell Jim Koon Find synod info online You can Hind the Synod of Lakes and Prairies online at lakesandprairies. org and you can also Hind the synod on Facebook. If you use Twitter, please 1

2 Racial-Ethnic Ministry Committee issues scholarships, provides grants The Synod of Lakes and Prairies, through its Committee on Racial- Ethnic Ministry, issued $9,430 in student scholarships last fall. Scholarships supported nine students, representing three seminaries and Hive colleges and universities. Eligible scholarship recipients must be racial ethnic students whose permanent residence is within the bounds of the synod, active members in a congregation of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), enrolled at least half-time and in good academic standing, making progress toward a degree, and able to demonstrate Hinancial need. In addition, the committee issued $200 grants to each of 10 tribal colleges: Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College of Cloquet, Minn.; Fort Peck Community College of Poplar, Mont.; Cankdeska Cikana Community College of Fort Totten, N.D.; Nebraska Indian Community College of Macy, Neb.; Oglala Lakota College of Kyle, S.D.; Sinte Gleska University of Mission, S.D.; Sisseton-Wahpeton Community College of Sisseton, S.D., Turtle Mountain Community College of Belcourt, N.D.; White Earth Tribal and Community College of Mahnomen, Minn.; and Lac Courte Oreilles Community College of Hayward, Wis. Harvey addresses white privilege, reparations in synod presentations Jennifer Harvey Donations to Standing Rock outlined; synod completes policy review When Synod Executive Elona Street-Stewart presented her report to synod commissioners May 1 during the synod s annual meeting, she outlined the distribution of funds donated to support efforts to halt construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline near Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota, and the completion of the synod s effort to review and develop a new Administrative Policy Manual. Jennifer Harvey, professor of religion at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, led synod commissioners and staff through presentations that addressed white privilege, racism and reparations when she spoke three times at the synod meeting last week. We cannot have paradise in a world full of theme parks if at Hirst we do not lament, Harvey said. And the lament is a call to recognize white privilege. Harvey, the author of Dear White Christians: For Those Still Longing for Reconciliation, is urging the church to move beyond efforts of reconciliation See Harvey addresses reparations paradigm, Page 3 Speaking of the effort at Standing Rock, she said almost $25,000 has been donated, and distributed to support building supplies, fuel, food, medical care, legal services, sustainable energy projects, indigenous youth programs, Elona Street-Stewart environmental justice materials, courses at Sitting Bull College in wind power and buffalo herd management, sacred site tours, native-led stewardship organizations, and interfaith advocacy. Street-Stewart, who initiated the review of synod policies shortly after she became the executive, offered a thank you to everyone who completed the various homework and committee assignments to deliver the proposed document. The next day synod commissioners approved the revised Administrative Policy Manual, which includes policies related to the day-to-day ministry and mission of the synod. 2

3 Harvey addresses reparations paradigm (Continued from Page 2) to a paradigm of reparations. She spoke of a less-well-known Rosa Parks, not the strong but timid black woman who held her seat in a whites-only section on a bus, but an outspoken Rosa Parks, who said in 1964, I m in favor of any move to show that we are dissatishied. Parks was frustrated at the slow pace of equal rights. It had been white resistance to racial equality, Parks said, that caused black militancy to grow. In systems that deny rights to blacks both overtly and covertly social justice is not always attainable by less than radical means. To emphasize, she pointed to the story of Zacchaeus found in Luke. Zacchaeus, the tax collector who climbed a tree to see Jesus, and then came down from the tree, telling Jesus that he had given half of his possessions to the poor, and that he would return four times as much as he may have cheated from anyone. Jesus was a guest in the home of Zacchaeus that night. If we can follow that, Harvey said, we might go home with Jesus. She acknowledged that reparations, through the term alone, can be a hard selling point, but there are ways to advocate for the oppressed. She called on the group to identify what our neighbors are advocating for and to join in the effort as partners. An ordained minister of American Baptist Churches, Harvey was asked how to address social justice issues from the pulpit without becoming political. She responded, If we aren t preaching about those issues then I don t know what we re talking about. The gospel is a gospel of justice. She asked the group to seek networks to support the work of social justice. This is long-haul work, she said, as she urged the group to build networks across the boundaries of churches and congregations. She presented her model of a reparations paradigm, a model that calls for recognition of the context of all race relations. All racial ethnic groups in the model be they white, black, American Indian, Asian American and other communities come to the conversation of race with different perspectives of the historical context. Within the context of U.S. history, each racial ethnic group holds a different perspective on slavery, colonization, immigration and exploitation. Today s social structures rehlect disparity in health, education, housing, biases, stereotypes and assumptions. The perspectives of racial ethnic groups within the social context play an important role in discussions of social justice. Before the meeting, synod staff and commissioners had been asked to read Waking up White and Finding Myself in the Story of Race, a book by Debby Irving, a racial justice educator who has noted that her book addresses her long-held beliefs about colorblindness, being a good person, and wanting to help people of color [but ultimately reveals] how each of these wellintentioned mindsets actually perpetuated my ill-conceived ideas about race. SDOP grants total $45,000 The Self Development of People Committee of the Synod of Lakes and Prairies awarded $45,000 in grants to two Moorhead, Minn., projects. One grant, totaling $25,000, goes to the Kurdish Community of America to support its voter registration project. The project focuses on training the Kurdish community in voter rights, advocating and participating in public service to improve citizenship abilities. The ultimate goals are increased civic engagement, voter participation and seeking public ofhice. A second grant, this one for $20,000, will support tenant training among low-income refugees, working with them to understand tenant rights, business plans and microenterprise. Participants will also gain Hinancial skills to manage personal resources, to understand unexpected property costs and regulations, and to improve credit scores. 3

4 Synod raises per capita by a dime The Synod of Lakes and Prairies approved a 10-cent increase in its 2018 per capita apportionment. The increase will raise the synod s share of per capita to $5.40. The per capita apportionment is derived by balancing the membership in Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) congregations across the synod with the funds needed to carry out the essential ecclesiastical work of the synod. Declining membership across the synod contributed to the need to increase per capita. The 2018 per capita amount sought from each presbytery will be apportioned based on the total membership as of Dec. 31, Finance Committee notes grants, loans Synod commissioners noted for the record the work of its Finance Committee regarding interest rates and terms of synod loans. The committee lowered the interest rate from 5.25 percent to 4.5 percent on a synod loan to Plymouth (Minn.) Presbyterian Church, lowered the interest rate from 4.5 percent to 3.8 percent on a synod loan to Church of All Nations of Columbia Heights, Minn., and extended the maturity date from November 2017 to November 2018 on a synod loan to Memorial Presbyterian Church of Appleton, Wis. Kes stresses benefits of being a donor, positive experience with LifeSource When Mary Kes husband Ron died two years ago, he was able to donate bone, connective tissue, skin and eyes through LifeSource of Minneapolis, a nonprohit organization dedicated to saving lives through organ, eye and tissue donation. Mary, administrator for personnel and program of Synod of Lakes and Prairies, told the story of Ron s death and organ donation when the synod met this month at Mt. Olivet Conference and Retreat Center near Farmington, Minn. Her husband s donation will serve up to 60 people, Mary said. Whether it will be for actual patients or for research, he will still be living on. Knowing that helps me get through the days. What a feeling of peace it is to know that he did not die in vain. Ron was 66 years old. Goodnight, dear, I love you, These were the last words he spoke to me as we went to bed at night the day after Easter in Mary Kes 2015, Mary said. Ron died peacefully in his sleep that night. They had been married for only six and a half years. It was a second marriage for both of us. We were very happy and had many plans for a long future together. After the requisite phones calls and visits the morning after Ron s death, LifeSource contacted Mary, asking permission to make use of Ron s body for organ donation. It was not a hard decision for me to make. I didn t have to think hard about saying yes, but I was concerned [because] he was a cancer survivor and had been a Vietnam vet exposed to Agent Orange, Mary said. But the people at LifeSource said enough time had elapsed and it would be ok. LifeSource handled the details transportation to a twin cities hospital for tissue recovery and to the mortuary. The tissue recovery process did not alter the way Ron looked, and we would still be able to have an open casket at his wake and funeral, Mary said. Mary stressed the ease of registering to be an organ donor checking the box to register as a donor when renewing a driver s license or applying for a state identihication card, or applying online at Prospective donors can also include their wishes in an advanced care directive or living will. Now after all this time, the initial shock has worn off, life has continued, very different from the way I knew it, but it has continued, Mary said. He was one of a kind. He was truly my best friend and soulmate. I miss him very much. 4

5 ERC approves ministry, mission grants The synod s Ecclesiastical Relations Committee awarded two $15,000 grants, one smaller grant and acknowledged several other grants when it met during the synod s annual meeting. The committee, which is working with a budget of $50,000 for ecumenical and institutional awards, and $70,000 for ministry in higher education, granted $15,000 to Camp Rimrock and Pioneer Camp, both camps of the Presbytery of South Dakota, to initiate efforts in fund raising. The committee also granted $15,000 to Houses of Hospitality in the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area to expand its efforts in housing for students engaged in public service. The grant to the camps was issued through the ecumenical and institutional budget, while the grant to Houses of Hospitality was issued through the ministry in higher education budget line. The committee also approved a $1,500 grant to campus ministry at the University of Dubuque to support a mission trip to the Dominican Republic to help with construction of a community center and offer assistance at a local hospital. The committee noted for its record grants of $2,999 to Jim Gunn, chaplain at the University of Dubuque, to support Faith Week programs at the institution; $2,000 to Lakeshore Center on Okoboji and Clearwater Forest to conduct a joint training program for staff at both facilities; and $1,500 to First Presbyterian Church of Cedar Falls, Iowa, to support participants in its campus ministry program on a trip to New York City. Synod 2018 budget lists more than $260,000 to support presbyteries The Synod of Lakes and Prairies committed more than $245,000 in its 2018 budget for Comprehensive Presbytery Support, and slated an additional $19,690 to support the mission and ministry of Dakota Presbytery. The budget for Comprehensive Presbytery Support is split evenly among 15 of the presbyteries that make up the synod. Each is budgeted at $16,402. The synod s support budget for Dakota Presbytery is different because it has been declining 15 percent annually based on an action by the synod in For 2017 budget for Dakota Presbytery support is $23,165. The synod s Program Coordination Committee, which annually develops the synod s budget, indicated its best-effort target for Comprehensive Presbytery Support for the next four calendar years. Following the 2018 dollar amounts noted above, the committee is projecting $14,762 for 2019, $13,285 for 2020, and $11,957 for Support estimates for Dakota Presbytery during the same time are $16,737 for 2019, $14,226 for 2020, and $12,092 for