Missouri Union Presbytery

Church and Society Mission Team — MUP
Seventh Meeting: March 9, 2008
First Presbyterian Church, Columbia, MO

MEMBERS PRESENT: Team Moderator: Debby Howland, Jefferson City-First,
Team Coordinator: Ray Schneider, Jefferson City – First
Ruth Thompson, Columbia – First
Brian Long, Jefferson City – First
David Meerse, Interim General Presbyter – Missouri Union Presbytery

Moderator Howland called the meeting to order and opened with a prayer asking for, wisdom and guidance. She thanked Ruth for continuing to host the group at First Presbyterian in Columbia.

Meeting Summary Review:
After extensive discussion, the minutes for the January 27, 2008 meeting were approved. The review of the minutes included a discussion of the C&S Team meetings with Trinity Presbyterian on February 19, 2008 and First Presbyterian in Fulton on November 20, 2007. Both meetings went very well and the churches were asked to become sponsors of the C&S Mission Team. We have not heard from either regarding their endorsement.

Update on Activities:
Moderator Howland led a discussion of activities conducted since the last meeting. Debby has had additional contact with the Moderator of Heartland Presbytery in Kansas City and we have two possible dates in April for the Church and Society Team to meet with them.

Ray has not been able to extend the contact with Giddings-Lovejoy in St. Louis, but will follow-up soon.

David Meerse provided the names of John & Carole Robb, co-moderators, 620-230-0467 and Kathy Newbern-Williams as possible contacts in the John Calvin Presbytery in Springfield.

Ray reviewed the six additional responses to the survey of issues received since our January Team meeting. There are now a total of 17 responses, representing the opinions of possibly 200 people. Health Care still is the top with Fiscal Issues and Mental Health Issues tied for second most important, followed by homelessness and foster care. Ray indicated that the state government issues in mental health are not legislative but primarily related to the Governors Mental Health Transformation Work Group, which is looking at ways to privatize mental health services in Missouri. It was agreed that for this legislative session, the two priorities would remain Health Care and Fiscal issues.
The idea of asking Presbyterians active with the C&S Team to track any of the issues they were interested in beyond the top two was discussed. Moderator Howland suggested that Ray send out an e-mail to those who have expressed interest in the Team and invite any one interested in tracking a specific issue to contact Ray.

New Issues:
Pastoral Letters:
Debby Howland indicated we need to update the Pastoral letters and the Moderator letter on the web site. Debby will request that Pam Sebastian in Marhsall/Slater and Dick Ramsey in Columbia submit a letter for the website. Ray will invite Jennifer Turick in Fulton and Nancy Carle at Broadway Presbyterian in Sedalia to do the same.

Communications:
David Meerse suggested that to increase communication and visibility with congregations in the Presbytery, the C&S Team could offer to do a Minute for Mission at churches or offer pulpit supply during the summer. David also suggested sending Team information to churches for a bulletin insert. Ruth volunteered to take C&S Team information to the May 31st MUP meeting in Trenton and several Team members hope to have time on the Presbytery meeting agenda for more than a 5 minute presentation at the August 28th meeting at Covenant Point. There was discussion about developing informative displays for the display board, e.g. a bullet point outline of several of the issues, attached to the display board, and have hand-outs for all future meetings. Ray volunteered to create the displays prior to the May 31st MUP meeting in Trenton.

David Meerse indicated MUP is working on several issues with the MUP website. He agreed to look into the possibility of adding cross links between the C&S and MUP sites.

Brian Long indicated we need to update the S-CHIP issue brief on the website and Ray volunteered to do develop an update.

Ray Schneider indicated there is a new Fiscal Issue Brief recently added to the web site called TABOR which is a spending limit. After reviewing the TABOR spending limit brief, the grouped agreed to post it on the website. Also, other smaller issues within the bigger Fiscal Issues Brief will be added as separate items without changing the bigger Fiscal Issues Brief that has already been posted.

Ruth Thompson stated that she is the lone active member of the MUP Peacemaking Mission Team and is looking for guidance on how to proceed to create a quorum so they can take action on a financial issue before the group. The purpose of the Peacemaking Mission Team is to promote peacemaking programs of the Presbyterian Church (USA) as “Peacemaking is the calling of the believer”. The Peacemaking Mission Team encourages churches in our Presbytery to make a commitment to peacemaking and to participate in the annual Peacemaking Offering. They also assist local churches in having peacemaking programs for their congregations by providing up to date materials. Debby will request that First Presbyterian in Jefferson City endorse the Peacemaking Mission Team and Ruth will follow-up with Trinity in Columbia and Pam Sebastian in Slater/Marshall.

TO DO:
*Ray will draft a meeting summary and distribute to the Team.
*Ray will contact moderators John and Carole Robb at John Calvin Presbytery and continue contact with Giddings-Lovejoy.
*Ray will contact FPC Fulton & Broadway PC about possible pastoral letters.
*Debby will contact Pam at Slater/Marshall, Dick Ramsey at FPC Columbia and Rudy Beard at FPC Jefferson City for pastoral letters.
*Ray will call Rim Massey at TrinityPC in Columbia to see if the Session voted to endorse the C&S Mission Team.
*Ray will update the S-CHIP article.
*Brian will add WHATS YOUR OPINION? to the TABOR article and other Issue Briefs on the website.
*Ray will prepare the display board for MUP and other meetings presentations and deliver to Ruth prior to the May meeting in Trenton.
*Debby will talk with Rudy at FPC Jefferson City about the Peacemaking Mission Team endorsement.
*Ruth will follow-up with Rim at Trinity and Pam at Slater/Marshall about the Peacemaking Mission Team.

Respectfully submitted,
Ray Schneider