Congregational Development Committee
Congregational Development concerns itself specifically with empowering and enlivening the ministry of every congregation of the Presbytery. It assists churches to grow as communities of faith through consultation, and advocacy for congregational redevelopment. Provides financial support to congregations. Meets 1st Thursday 6:30pm @ Parkminster.
Natural Church Development
A tool for developing Healthy, Growing Churches
The Natural Church Development community, based in Germany, includes over 40,000 churches in 60 countries around the world committed to being healthy, growing congregations.
The Congregational Development Committee happily supports the Presbyterian churches of Genesee Valley in their efforts to be healthy, growing churches.
In our new Natural Church Development section, you can learn about Natural Church Development, how three congregations in our Presbytery have used Natural Church Development, and how the Congregational Development Committee can help your congregation embark on Natural Church Development.
Urban Presbyterians Together
Urban Presbyterians Together (UPT) is a network of clergy and lay leaders in eleven urban congregations in Rochester. UPT offers mutual support and programs of particular interest to our urban congregations.
Mission
Membership: 12
The Congregational Development Committee concerns itself specifically with empowering and enlivening the ministry of every congregation of the Presbytery. The membership of the Committee shall be equally represented by churches in various localities and of different sizes.
The Committee will assist all churches in the Presbytery in developing and implementing plans by which those congregations will serve as primary instruments of mission in their communities. The Committee shall:
- Assist churches to grow as communities of faith through consultation, and advocacy for congregational transformation. This includes analyzing social, demographic, and congregational trends in order to assess their implications for urban, suburban, town, country, and village churches.
- Encourage congregations to engage in mission studies which renew the life and ministry of those congregations and provide direction for the future.
- Provide financial support to urban, suburban, town, country, and village congregations. Support will be prioritized according to mission and need.
- Engage with congregations and cooperate with other committees and ministry teams of Presbytery in matters of shared responsibility or interest, e.g., clearance interviews for pastors, triennial visits with sessions, community issues, mission projects, etc.
- Encourage and assist congregations in initiating and participating in hands-on mission projects.
- Review annually the use of the Committee’s funds from the Presbytery annual budget for congregational transformation.
- The Committee will assist individual congregations in demonstrating the connectedness and mutual needs of Presbyterians by:
- Encouraging trust between congregations that are detached from one another, either by geography, ethnicity, ideology, or theology, by encouraging every congregation to engage in an intentional partnership with another congregation, a ministry within the Presbytery, or an ecumenical ministry.
- Building ongoing relationships between congregations and the various bodies of Presbytery.
- Initiating support groups based on common interests.
- Assisting congregations in developing faithful giving programs which link spiritual discipline with financial discipleship.
- Working with other committees and ministry teams of Presbytery to plan social events and spiritual development opportunities for laity, elders, deacons, and clergy.
- Developing resources and tools to nurture and support emerging faith communities, and new church developments.
Formerly a division of Congregational Ministries Committee
Separate committee approved 3/28/2009
Documents
The Congregational Development Committee owns and maintains the following documents.