Welcome to John Calvin Presbytery.

Insignia
PCUSA CROSS
In 2019 John Calvin Presbytery consists of 2780 members of the body of Christ serving 6 counties in Southeast Kansas and 27 counties in Southwest Missouri through 46 congregations. We extend from Iola and Parsons, Kansas, to Rolla and West Plains, Missouri.Our site has been designed to meet the needs of the members and staff in our congregations. We now have a virtual office and are available to be in communities around the presbytery on a regular basis. If you would like to meet with us on one of those days, just give us a call and we will arrange a meeting. All new information about JCP is on the Contact Page.

However, if you are looking for a new church, upcoming events, and more information about us, this site is designed for you in mind, as well to help you locate a church that meets your needs.

We invite you to explore this site often, and return to see new and exciting things happening throughout the JCP.

Workshop: Stewardship During the COVID-19 Season

Online Workshop
Tuesday, April 7 from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Lisa Tait Longo, Presbyterian Foundation, will share information, ideas and answer your questions about stewardship and finances during this COVID-19 season. No one knows all the answers in this rapidly changing situation. Yet we start with conversations and questions in order to seek a path forward.
events.constantcontact.com

PCUSA Advisory Opinion
Communion ​in an Emergency/Pandemic

Welcome and peace to all of you working and living through the COVID-19 crisis.
​We understand the difficulties facing individuals, leaders, and congregations right now and hope to provide you with resources to help ease that burden. We've worked with our publisher friends to gather these resources. Please feel free to share this email with all who will find use from it. If it's easier to share through social media, a link to this email will be posted on our Facebook and Twitter pages.

Resources for Congregational Study
Our newly created intergenerational curriculum based on lessons from Mister Roger's Neighborhood provides a wealth of activities and spiritual formation. You can have families carry out the activities at home and share pictures and experiences to a Facebook group, or use with the entire congregation through Zoom or another video conferencing app.
Our friends at The Thoughtful Christian are offering their new Lenten downloadable study packs for both adult and youth groups for free during this time. While we are halfway through Lent, you can begin the studies from the first session and have multiple online study meetings each week, or you can use it each week past the season of Lent. We've combined all of the sessions into one PDF for easy sharing. Each study includes six sessions. Adult Study: "Jesus Sees Women: An Adult Lenten Study"  The purpose of this six-session Lenten study pack for adults is to examine the Gospel stories about Jesus’ interactions with women in order to shed light on how we are called to be disciples of Jesus in our own time. 
Download Participant Handouts  |  Download Leader's Guides Youth Study: "Sabbath Keeping for Busy Teens: A Youth Lenten Study" The purpose of this six-week Lenten study pack for youth is to offer the opportunity to reflect on the frenetic consumer culture that demands their time, energy, and loyalties and consider how Sabbath can be a tool to resist the “culture of now.” Based on Walter Brueggemann’s book Sabbath as Resistance. 
Download Participant Handouts  |  Download Leader's Guides

Resources for Families with Children
Each week we'll be providing in our emails and on our 
Facebook page a free story with corresponding activities and a pack of five coloring pages from the children's curriculum, Growing in Grace and Gratitude. Click the links above for this week's offering. Our friends at Flyaway Books have a full list of free and downloadable activities like an origami butterfly, a paper airplane, parable-themed coloring pages, and more. Also, if you have some of their children's books, there are discussion guides as well.

​HELPFUL LINKS
Tips for virtual meetings from NEXT Church 
Detailed information from the PC(USA) about online worship, including information about sacramental celebrations. 
​Additional information from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) 
A very comprehensive site with information about doing church (worship, ministry, study, etc) online from a solely online church. There are a number of resources here! 
Online giving information from the Presbyterian Foundation. Groups are partnering to provide online recovery meetings with in-person meetings such as AA being cancelled.
Previously recorded webinars about technology and the church from Practical Resources for Churches. 
Online worship opportunities from More Light Presbyterians 
PC(USA) Store Customer Service changes .
Hymnal and Book of Common Worship Rights and Licensing Information .
Information about distributing curriculum to church members for purchasers of Growing in Grace and Gratitude, Feasting on the Word Curriculum, and The Present Word.

Resources for Adults
Our friends at Westminster John Knox Press have made a number of resources available for free or reduced cost. You can download chapter five from Walter Brueggemann's new book Materiality as Resistance. This chapter is about how the materiality of place informs our faith. As our concept of place changes during this crisis, this is an appropriate chapter to study individually or as a church community. The following three ebooks are available for free through Amazon Kindle: Living into Lent by Don McKim can be used as a devotional or group study. Please share this link with your church members and utilize the book for devotion and group study. You may read aloud from the book on live-streaming platforms. We ask that you read small sections at a time and not have your videos permanently online. Facebook groups are a great way to organize book studies. Leaders can ask questions and post videos and all can participate. Mindfulness and Christian Spirituality by Tim Stead can help provide readers with mindfulness practices during this time. Overcoming Stress by Tim Cantopher, MD, offers information on both acute treatments and longer term management in avoiding stress and its ill effects. An ebook sale is also happening right now from our ebook provider friends through Friday, March 27. You can also find all of these books in printed form on PC(USA) Store. Last year Westminster John Knox Press also started a Facebook group about reading the Bible in a year using the resource, The Year of the Bible. You don't need to have the book to participate in the group and readings and group discussion questions are posted in the group. The ebook version is currently on sale in the sale listed above if you want access to the book.

From the Reverend Diane Cooke, Pastor,
​First Presbyterian Church, Mountain View and Willow Springs Presbyterian Church.
Silence phones, tvs etc. Gather a Bible, paper, and pen. A candle, if you wish. Take a minute to settle down. Light the candle, pray for the Holy Spirit to bless your time of worship. Read Psalm 27:1-2 and Psalm 86:1-13. Reflect on the qualities of God...his power, his love. Read Philippians 4:4-14. Consider Paul's situation and the ways his words encourage us. Take time for prayer. If you wish, make a list of the people and situations you believe need prayer. Pray aloud for these. Pray the Lord's Prayer aloud.  Remember the many times you have prayed aloud with the church family. Realize that, although not together physically, you are joined in spirit as you pray. Sing the Gloria or Doxology or a favorite hymn. Set aside your offering to the church. Remember the One Great Hour of Sharing Offering is coming up at Easter. Putting your offering in the mail is an act of worship. 
                                                                                    Close with 2 Cor. 13.13 as a benediction.

                                                   A Special Series from Horizons Stewardship

Resilient Leadership Update #2: 
If you have established live streaming capabilities, I have a favor to ask of you. Consider adopting a church that hasn’t or simply doesn’t have the capacity to do so.   Last week, I had the opportunity to lead a webinar hosted by Ken Sloane, the Director of Stewardship for the United Methodist Church. More than 1,000 church leaders registered and the majority did not have plans to worship during social distancing because they did not have online streaming capabilities.  If God has blessed your church with this resource, I strongly encourage those of you who have online worship to  consider inviting a nearby congregation who does not to begin to worship   Here are a few points to consider:  Invite the pastor of the guest church(es) to participate with you during the worship service and to have a moment to speak directly to their congregation.     During your offering talk, ask viewers from other churches to give to their own churches who need them today more than ever.  If you have online giving, add the guest church as a donation option so that their members can use your electronic giving platform to give to their church during this season.  Offer to provide technical assistance to help the guest church establish the means to connect and mobilize their ability to use social media, recurring electronic giving, online worship, online mission mobilization efforts that your church has already established.  Take the long view and creatively consider how your church and the guest church can collaborate after social distancing to have a greater impact on the community. When you do, you will be helping to steward the potential that God has already placed within your reach.  Together, we are better. 
Blessings,
Joe Park
CEO
P.S. Horizons is working around the clock to support you during the Coronavirus outbreak and social distancing. To stay up to date and have access to the latest resources, sign up for a FREE Giving 365 account. When you do that, you’ll be the first to know when new ideas, strategies, and resources are available to help you lead strong.  Upcoming FREE 
​
FREE WEBINARS.....
Tuesday: March 31, 10 a.m. CDT
How to Deliver Offering Talks Through Livestreaming and Virtual Platforms       Register Now

Wednesday: April 1, 10 a.m. CDT
Electronic Recurring Giving: Needed Now More Than Ever!                                     Register Now

Thursday: April 2, 10 a.m. CDT
Church Internal Financial Controls During Social Distancing                                   Register Now
​
Don’t worry if you can’t attend!   Every person who registers will get a recording of the webinar.  

NEW Resource! Church Internal Financial Controls During Social Distancing Mailed-in donations and staffing restrictions due to Social Distancing are creating financial risks to churches that have not re-evaluated their Internal Financial Controls. Dr. Norma Quinn, Vice President of Horizons and former Treasurer of the Oklahoma Annual Conference, has created a FREE resource full of innovative ideas to help you: Maintain dual control of donations during social distancing Utilize a checklist approach to craft your process adaptations Avoid common pitfalls by offering helpful tips and insights.  It's vital to maintain the integrity of your internal financial controls process all the time—but especially during this season of reduced onsite staffing and new ways churches are receiving donations. To download the free guide, click the button below Download Resource. You will be invited to sign in or sign up for free access to the Giving365 Resource Library. Click on the folder titled Leading Through Coronavirus Outbreak and Social Distancing and choose Maintaining Internal Financial Controls During Social Distancing.     Download Resource

from Horizons...
Get Help Now! We are ready to help you. Schedule a FREE 30-minute consultation.    Contact Us

from Horizons...
NEW! Ministry Insights from Around the Web...
​We want to highlight ideas and information to resource and equip you to minister and meet the needs of your community while your  of Church isn’t gathering for your normal weekend experience.  
​Global Coronavirus Hotspot Map (World Health Organization)  
20 Prayers to Pray During This Pandemic (Christianity Today)  
10 Ideas for Church Financial Leaders Amid the COVID-19 Crisis (Discipleship Ministries)  
[SPANISH] 10 Ideas for Church Financial Leaders Amid the COVID-19 Crisis (Discipleship Ministries)  
[WEBINAR] Virtual Communication: Presenting with Empathy (Duarte)  
Called to Minister in Sacred Moments (Presbyterian Foundation)  
Innovative Ideas for Unprecedented Times (Ministry Architects)  
How to Work From Home With Kids: A Crash Course (Belay Solutions)  
Stewardship in a Pandemic (Presbyterian Foundation)  
Key Communication Strategies for Giving During Crisis (MortarStone)  
Pastoring in Unprecedented Times (Samaritan Counseling Center) 

FROM THE LEADERSHIP OF JCP
​Pastoral Presbyter

FROM THE LEADERSHIP OF JCP
​Presbytery Moderator

Greetings friends in Christ,
     The General Council of John Calvin Presbytery met by Zoom this morning for prayer and discussion of matters that concern all of us during the Coronavirus outbreak. See articles by our presbytery moderator and council moderator for how they’re adjusting ministries in their settings. 
      We will be collecting strategies from our presbytery and beyond for continuing to reach out to those around us. To share your strategies, email them to gwilson@jcpresbytery.com they will be posted on the website. Here are some:
      Zoom:   If your session would like to use the presbytery’s Zoom account for a session meeting by videoconference, I can schedule that for you and send you a link. Our account lets us have one meeting at a time. Alternately, a free Zoom account will let you gather for 40 minutes. (Then everyone has to log back in. I have done several meetings this way. It got the job done. ) The basic paid account is $15/month. There are discounts if you’re willing to pay ahead. 
      Worship by Internet:   Some churches are planning to use Facebook Live for worship. Others will record the sermon, music and liturgy ahead and share it via a blog or other web presence. We may swamp the internet with all of this, so if at first you don’t succeed, try again later. 
      Worship in Cars and Parking Lots:   I read that one church plans to have their Palm Sunday service with everyone in their cars, making a parade with their palms by driving through the church’s neighborhood. Another church is planning to worship on their parking lot when the weather warms up. This may be an option for some. Now might be a good time to check into your ability to have sound equipment outside. 
      Missions:   Many churches are finding ways to continue their benevolent ministries. With schools and senior centers closed, this is much needed. Otherwise, some will go hungry. 
      Giving:    Many individuals and businesses will be adversely affected by the changes we’re being asked to make. Do what you can to throw business their way. Some of those affected will be unable to support the church during this time. Consider asking those who are able to be especially generous during this crisis. I have heard from several churches that have intended to establish online giving for some time, but now will get it done.
      As always, there is much to do. We’re better together. Let’s stay in touch and share support and ideas. 
In Christ,
Malinda Spencer
Pastoral Presbyter 
John Calvin Presbytery 

Dear John Calvin Presbytery Friends,
     These are unprecedented times for our world and for the church. The coronavirus (COVID19) pandemic has upended the way we think about everything from travel to basic social interactions, and the church is not exempt. In times such as these we each have an important role to play as leaders of the faith. We need to speak words of wisdom and discernment, guiding our local communities in paths that will keep them and others safe, while not fanning the flames of unfounded fear, suspicion, or condemnation. Decisions about how your local congregation will respond to this crisis can only be made by the local church; each Pastor and Session must use their own discernment to prayerfully consider how to meet this challenge. However, as Moderator I would offer my guidance.
     As you consider how to respond I would counsel you to ask this question: what message does our decision send to our members and our community? While this is always a valuable tool for discernment it is even more so in these days. If we decide to continue to hold activities out of a loving desire to preserve a sense of normalcy for our congregation, we might inadvertently send the message that their health, and the health of the broader community, is less valuable than our routine. At the same time, if we decide to retreat into total isolation out of a valid desire to protect those at high risk in our congregation, we might unintentionally break the social bonds that are so necessary if we are to weather this storm together.
     I would urge your congregation to look to our public health officials at the CDC and your local health department for guidance on when to suspend activities, especially remembering that many in our congregations are considered at higher risk. I would also urge your congregation to put into place concrete measures to connect with one another in these days of social distancing. From phone calls to video chats there are many ways to build community that do not place our congregations at risk. We will continue to share resources with you over the coming weeks. Most of all, I ask for your prayers. Pray for our presbytery that we may act with wisdom, for those impacted by COVID19 through illness or economic hardship, and for all those who remain on the frontlines of caring for our community. Psalm 139 assures us that there is nowhere we can go where God has not already traveled, so it is still today.
     Thanks be to God,
     Reverend Christopher Miller
     Moderator, John Calvin Presbytery
     Pastor, Trinity PCUSA, Springfield, Missouri

FROM THE LEADERSHIP OF JCP
​General Council Moderator

Dear Friends,
     First, you have to know that Parsons is a small town and First Parsons is a small church. The majority of our members are older. We are welcoming new families who are younger, but it has been a slow climb. The Session of First Parsons is a solid group of Presbyterians. They are also Kansans. From my several year study of Kansans, I have drawn a few generalizations. They are the nicest people you will meet. They are also some of the strongest you will meet as well. They have a certain grit to them that allows them to persevere through any difficulty-snow storm, tornado, drought, flood, whatever you throw at them, they take a deep breath, smile, and bake an apple crisp. They also eat an amazing amount of fried chicken.
     The question of response to the virus threat was quickly shut down a few weeks ago. They decided then that we would increase our cleaning measures, restock the soap, and carry on. As the level of intensity increased, they washed their hands more. They held distance. They quit shaking hands. But they absolutely refused to cancel in person worship.
     Two of my 82-year-old members said it best. They need Jesus now more than ever. They need to be in the sanctuary. They need the Spirit to well up the way it does in a group. We have plenty of room in our sanctuary for the 30-45 souls who attend regularly to spread out. We adapted our offering practice so that only one person touches the plate. We adapted Communion to provide protection. We currently livestream and we offered training to those who want to stay home but are not comfortable with technology.
     Then in a Session meeting we thought would be used to officially adopt a stringent plan of self-monitoring, social distancing, and hand washing, we received notification that all the schools in Kansas were closed. That news changed the direction of our conversation.
     It was decided at that time that we would open our doors at 10:45 this Sunday and hurry everyone out after an abbreviated service. It was also decided that the most probable timeline would have us totally online by next Sunday. The two 82-year-old members would be given permission to be in the sanctuary during the live streaming.
     All of our other activities have been suspended. We have suspended the choir we share with the local Disciples of Christ congregation. We have modified our work with the children of the community. Instead of providing a meeting place and food, we are supplying grab and go bags once a week.
This is our faithful and painful decision.
     Christ has called us to be salt and light to the world. We are meant to be the ones showing what it means to live in the kin-dom of God. We so love each other that we must do the very best we can to be faithful.
     Each congregation must do what it discerns God is calling them to do. This situation is fluid and the intensity of change threatens to overwhelm us. Fortunately, we are the body of Christ and working together we will adapt. We are, after all, those who are reformed and always being reformed by the power of the Holy Spirit. Thanks be to God.
     Blessings to all,
     Reverend Jennifer Dawson
     General Council Moderator
     Pastor, First Presbyterian Church Parsons, Kansas
     214-930-1726

2020 Presbytery Meetings:
Regularly scheduled meetings begin at 9:30 a.m., with registration beginning at 9 a.m.
Thursday, May 21,  2020
First Presbyterian Church
4 East College  ~  Aurora, Missouri 65605
Monday, August 3, 2020
St. Andrew Presbyterian
30 James River Road  ~  Kimberling City, Missouri 65686
Saturday, October 24, 2020
Crocker Presbyterian Church
414 South Commercial  ~  Crocker, Missouri  65452

Mandatory Boundaries Training will be offered at each presbytery day. You are required to read the manual, which can be downloaded below, and then attend a two hour discussion time beginning at 10 a.m. at any of the presbytery days listed below. You have one year from August 15, 2019 to attend.  All persons serving congregations within John Calvin Presbytery are required to have a boundary training event annually. 
​Next Boundaries training ~ TBA
​​Boundaries Training Manual
All churches are invited to host a Presbytery Day which will include Boundaries Training.  
If you are willing to host pleasecontact Malinda to schedule
417-437-6748
Mspencer@jcpresbytery.com

​EQUIPPING THE SAINTS ~  to view the presentation by Dr. Nishioka click on the following link.
​https://youtu.be/stqSyP0pa5M

Minute Review Checklist
​Clerk of Session Handbook

Sample Child Protection Policy

Mission Statement
A joyful, holy community of Christian believers, diverse yet united.
Committed to serving Christ In the church and in the world.
Prepared by God through the Holy Spirit for mission and ministry.
​

John Calvin Presbytery
P.O. Box 787
Shell Knob, MO 65747

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