Projects

The 2009 Inter-Presbytery Conference

Written by John Walter Tuesday, 03 June 2008 01:07

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Credit for the idea of an Inter-Presbytery conference goes to Sña Deb Milcarek, Baltimore Presbytery’s Associate for Mission and Justice, and Pastor Mairolet Vega Comas, who continued corresponding after the November 2007 Centennial celebration in Cabaiguán.

The date for the conference (or what the Cubans call, “un encuentro” an encounter”) has now been set to begin on Monday, the 9th of February 2009, and last a week. It will be hosted at the national camp, known there as CANIP, located in Santa Clara, Cuba.

Xiomara Arenas, the Secretaria General  (Executive Presbyter) of El Centro has promised that all of its pastors will attend. That number will be augmented by the members of their presbytery’s Council. All in all, they hope to contribute the efforts of twenty people plus support. Baltimore Presbytery hopes to contribute an equal number, bringing the total conference attendance to some 50 to 60 people, a very compact, intimate, and manageable group.

 

 

The general theme of the conference is Communication: how we communicate as churches and presbyteries.

Within the structure of the week are opportunities for pastors of each side to present Bible studies reflecting on bi-cultural subjects; devotionals that give more thematic flexibility to Biblical material; presentations by each side’s participating churches focusing on their specific identity, demographics, and mission; and perhaps most importantly, near the end of the week each visiting Baltimore Presbytery pastor will spend two days with a Cuban congregation, seeing, listening, experiencing just exactly what life is like for that Christian community. Then, the evening before departure, everyone will regroup at CANIP to share their experiences.

That’s what it will look like, the physicality of it; what’s completely unforeseeable and deliciously unpredictable is the way the Spirit moves people to begin new levels of inquiry, open new vistas, and enjoin for deeper mutual understanding: Learn.