Important Email Scam Alert

Friends, please beware of emails from someone claiming to be Scott Lumsden with links to files and requesting a response or assistance. Scott’s email account has been hacked. Please delete any questionable emails and call our office if you have questions: 425-270-7142.

This is a scam and does not come from the presbytery office. A reminder that we will never contact you by email or text to solicit anything - money, items, or favors.

We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate those who brought it to our attention.

More online: FTC scam alerts.

SeaPres Podcast: SeaPres Conversations w/Eliana & Scott - January 2024

New episode: SeaPres Podcast January 2024 update with Co-Executive Presbyters Eliana Maxim & Scott Lumsden.

2024 Colombia Partnership Trip

Please keep our Colombia partnership trip members and partners in prayer as they travel to the Presbytery of the North Coast, Colombia. We are celebrating the 10th year of our partnership. Dates: January 30 - February 6, 2024.

2024 team members: Austin Rehbein, Grace Wang, Lottie MacAulay Friedman, Gerri Tyler, Nancy Devine, Crystal Hairston, Haley Ballast, Lindsay Murphy, Aleco Maxim, Keri Ellison, Chrissy Davies, Jordan Davies, Eliana Maxim, Tali Hairston, Maggie Breen, Paul Kim. Joining in Colombia: Dick & Loretta Pain.

Learn more in the most recent SeaPres Podcast episode.

We’ll post trip photos and updates on Seattle Presbytery’s Facebook page.

SeaPres Podcast: SeaPres Conversations w/Eliana & Scott - August 2023

New episode: SeaPres Podcast August 2023 update with Co-Executive Presbyters Eliana Maxim & Scott Lumsden.

GA 226 Young Adult Advisory Delegate (YAAD) Nominations

Seattle Presbytery is accepting nominations from sessions for a Young Adult Advisory Delegate for the 226th General Assembly (June 25-July 4, 2024).

Young Adult Advisory Delegates (YAAD) requirements:

1. Must be between the ages of 18 and 23 as of June the year of GA.

2. An active adult and/or confirmed member of a congregation.

3. Endorsed by the session.

Download YAAD nomination form.
Submit completed application to nom<AT>seattlepresbytery.org.

Download a GA 226 fact sheet.

Save the date: SeaPres Holy Conversations

Murder at the Mission: A Frontier Killing, Its Legacy of Lies, and the Taking of the American West, by Blaine Harden

A Holy Conversation

with

Blaine Harden

-Seattle author

and

Rev. Irvin Porter

-Nez Perce, Pastor of Church of the Indian Fellowship, Tacoma, and

Associate for Native American Intercultural Congregational Support PC(USA)

October 24, 7-9pm Mercer Island Presbyterian Church

 

What are the myths we tell ourselves, the lies we perpetuate as Presbyterians in the Pacific Northwest?

In 1836 Presbyterian missionary doctor Marcus Whitman and his wife Narcissa were sent west; eleven years later they were murdered at the mission.   In the years following, a story manufactured by Rev. Henry Spalding, an embittered Presbyterian missionary and colleague of the Whitmans, launched the role of Whitman as a Christian role model and martyred frontier hero who saved the Oregon Territory for the United States. 

By 1899 scholars exposed Spalding’s story as a deliberate fraud.

And yet to this day the “Whitman lie” is perpetuated by the larger public, including Presbyterians.

Blaine Harden explains: “The Whitman lie is a timeless reminder that in America a good story has an insidious way of trumping a true one, especially if that story confirms our virtue, congratulates our pluck, and enshrines our status as God’s chosen people.”

Join Seattle Presbytery as we engage a crucial conversation about demythologizing, grapple with the real story of Native American history, and search for a healing and equitable path forward.

“The truth will set you free.”

Seattle Presbytery will purchase and ship several copies of the book (Murder at the Mission by Blaine Harden) to our churches in the coming weeks. We also encourage churches to purchase additional copies and e-copies as needed on their own.

August SeaPres Update from Eliana Maxim

Dear friends, 

On these long sunny days of summer, filled with activities, trips, and events, it’s easy to forget that it takes a mighty big village to lead the presbytery. Although staff may have the visibility, there are dozens of faithful teaching and ruling elders from all our churches serving in a variety of ways to get the work done of being the PC(U.S.A) expression in our region. I know I speak for my staff colleagues as well as myself, when I say that we are eternally grateful for all those who give of their time and talents to serve on the various leadership bodies, including the Executive Board, the Commission on Ministry, the Commission on Preparation for Ministry, and many others.   

Our foundational documents, including the questions we respond to at ordination of either ruling elders or ministers of word and sacrament, call us to service to the broader church and its different councils. I hope you will consider how you might feel called to submit your name to serve the presbytery. Election on the final slate of nominees will take place at the October 17 presbytery meeting. For more information, please contact the presbytery’s nominating committee. 

At that time, we will also be electing commissioners (teaching and ruling elders) and Youth Advisory Delegates to represent Seattle Presbytery at the 226th General Assembly in Salt Lake City on June 25 – July 4, 2024. For more information, please check our website. 

Finally, I will be going on sabbatical September 1 through the end of the year. I am incredibly grateful to the presbytery’s personnel committee for their support and encouragement and to my wonderful colleagues – Scott, EJ, Paul, Tali, Maggie, Glen, and DeAmber – who assure me I will have a job to come back to.  My sabbatical will include quite a bit of travel, including some bucket list places such as Patmos Island and the Western Sahara. And of course, lots of playtime with the grandkids. 

I look forward to being with you all soon! 

In grace and peace, 

Rev. Eliana Maxim
Co-Executive Presbyter

2024 Presbytery Vice-Moderator Candidates

The Presbytery Nominating Committee is seeking qualified candidates to serve as Vice Moderator of the Seattle Presbytery in 2024.

The Vice-moderator is elected for a one-year term with the understanding that ordinarily this person will become the nominee for Moderator the following year.

The Vice Moderator will be elected for a one year term at the first meeting of the year and shall take office immediately.

The Vice Moderator will preside (in a manner consistent with the Book of Order and Robert’s Rules of Order) in the absence, or at the request, of the Moderator. The Vice Moderator will fulfill other duties of the Moderator in the Moderator's absence. These duties may include Moderating meetings, and Ordination or Installation Commissions as the needs arise.

The Vice Moderator will also attend Presbytery Executive Board meetings.

Qualifications:

Ruling Elder member of a church in Seattle Presbytery or Minister member of Seattle Presbytery.

All qualified individuals are encouraged to apply.

An understanding of Presbyterian Polity.

Demonstrated leadership.

Basic understanding of Robert’s Rules of Order and the principles of Presbyterian polity. (Presbytery will provide access to an annual moderators conference.)

Application:

Send nominations, or offer yourself for service, by emailing NOM@seapres.org.

Please include Name, Status as a Ruling elder or Minister and membership, contact information including mailing address, email address, and phone number.

Those nominated, or who offer themselves for service, will receive (by email) a questionnaire from the Nominating Committee.  

SeaPres Update from Eliana Maxim

Dear friends, 

I recently spent time with our grandkids (almost 2 and 4 year olds) where there was non-stop storytelling, tea parties, horsey rides, and cuddling when it suddenly hit me: they will have zero memory of these moments. All the trips to the park and kitchen experiments, the bouncy house extravaganzas and naps in the backyard hammock will never be recollected by my grandchildren, the hours upon hours that my husband and I have lovingly poured into their lives will be one big blank slate. 

But is it though? 

Or are these forgettable moments building blocks to a much bigger framework of care, trust, and love that is being constructed around these little ones by not just this pair of doting grandparents, but the entire community standing alongside their parents in raising them up? 

In some ways, life in the presbytery can be like this. We bounce from one zoom meeting to another, an ordination here, an installation there, a retirement, a dissolution and so on and so on. Some are tremendously memorable, for good or not, others, not so much. And yet each instance is another thread weaving the fabric of who we are and who we are hoping to be. 

I am grateful for each of you and each of the instances where our lives converge for that is where we are church, we are a community of faith. It is how we impact and influence one another in our quest for mutual transformation.  Thanks be to God! 

News You Can Use 

• The updated Book of Order with the newly adopted changes to our polity is out and ready for your reading pleasure. You can download it here. 

• The presbytery’s nominating committee will be presenting a nominating slate for incoming officers, including General Assembly commissioners and youth advisory delegates to the October meeting for election. More information on GA & application forms. If you would like to be considered for any open presbytery position, please check this link for more information and contact nom@seattlepresbytery.org.  

• At its most recent meeting, the presbytery’s executive board voted to host future presbytery meetings in person. Meetings are scheduled for the third Tuesday of the following months: October, January, April, and July. Locations will vary and are yet to be determined. 

• Be sure to check out two important upcoming invitations open to all in the life of the presbytery: 

• Sept. 14 Colombia Partnership Lunch: come learn not only about this presbytery partnership but also about the latest collaborative project for educational scholarships. 

• Save the date: October 24 Conversation on the Marcus Whitman myth: journalist and writer Blaine Harden and Rev. Irvin Porter, pastor and PCUSA’s associate for Native American congregational support will be in an open conversation facilitated by Rev. Heidi Husted Armstrong on the true story behind Presbyterian physician and missionary Marcus Whitman. Time & location details will be announced when confirmed. 

And as always, we look forward to being in communication with you all as together we seek the will of God to be the Presbytery of Seattle. 

In grace and peace, 

Rev. Eliana Maxim
Co-Executive Presbyter

An Invitation from the Colombia Partnership Task Force

All sorts of experiences can break open our isolated selves and introduce us to a world and a life greater than we had ever anticipated. Some of these experiences might be major events: the birth of a grandchild; the realization that someone we love loves us in return; spending time amidst a culture very different from our own. Some of these experiences can occur through much more subtle means: reading a written work that reaches our heart and spirit; hearing a speaker share a specific piece of wisdom; a conversation that goes deep. For me, one of the most profound experiences to break open my own isolation has been a trip to Colombia with a team of us from the Seattle Presbytery. I won’t waste time on a lot of specifics. Suffice it to say that everything I understand about God, about following Christ, about loving others, about being a pastor and a person, has been broken open, enriched, and enlivened.

The reason I don’t want to waste time on my own story is that I want to talk about yours – your story, and your congregation’s story. For all sorts of reasons, most of the folks in our churches will never be able to make a trip to Colombia. Yet there are ways in which those of us here in the Seattle Presbytery can experience life-enriching relationships with sisters and brothers in Colombia without ever boarding a plane. One of the most exciting opportunities that has arisen from our time in partnership with the Presbytery of the Coast is now taking tangible form. The Presbytery of the Coast runs a fantastic school in the city of Barranquilla that serves students from even significant distances away. Not everyone who would do well at the school can afford the tuition and other associated costs (uniform, books, meals), especially those who have to travel to attend (added costs). In consultation with one another, the Colegio Americano (the school, started by the Presbyterian Church in 1889), the Presbytery of the Coast, and the Seattle Presbytery have come up with a foundational model for connecting several parties in close relationship across the two map points. Ten students at the school in Colombia will each be connected with a Colombian family in the city of Barranquilla and one or more families and/or individuals in the Seattle Presbytery. The student will be a full-time student at the school; the family in Barranquilla will be a local, family-away-from-home for the student; and, the folks in Seattle will be a community of accompaniment and support throughout the student’s years at the Universidad.

The goal in all of this is not only getting the child through school. That would be worthy enough in its own right. But the goal here goes deeper than that. The goal is to establish relationships across cultures that will enrich the lives of everyone involved. As a result of the connection between the two presbyteries across a decade, we have seen many such relationships develop. And we would love to see such relationships develop all over the Seattle Presbytery. Since the day a covenant of relationship was established between the two presbyteries, the hope has been that every congregation would benefit in some tangible way. This is a great opportunity to build on that hope. If you are at all interested in being a part of one of these new communities, or would like to find out more about this - or any other aspect of our partnership with the Colombian church, plan on joining us for lunch on September 14, 11:00 am, Queen Anne Presbyterian Church. From my own experience, I’m pretty sure your life will be changed for good.

Rev. Doug Early (TE, Queen Anne)
Colombia Partnership Task Force

Pastoral update from Co-Executive Presbyters

June 2023 pastoral letter from Seattle Presbytery Co-Executive Presbyters.

PC(USA) Book of Order 2023-2025

Book of Order 2023–2025

While they are not yet ready to be shipped, you can now begin to order the new Book of Order from the PC(USA) Store. A single copy is $10.00, with price breaks for buying in bulk. And in the meantime, here’s a downloadable PDF.

Other resources:

• Unofficial list of amendments that require action by mid councils

• Laurie’s outline on risk-reduction requirements, including BOO references and links to other resources for developing policies for one’s own context

• Sample harassment definition

• U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Harassment

• Various policies, legal resources, and other information from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), A Corporation

• Employment Guidance for Sessions and Session Personnel Committees

• Guidance for PC(USA) Mid Councils on Personnel Processes and Policies

• Samantha Davis’s presentation on antiracism policies

• PC(USA) antiracism resources

• A Corp antiracism statement

• Antiracism resources from the United Church of Christ

• GA226 (2024): What Commissioners and Advisory Delegates Can Expect at the 226th General Assembly (2024).

• CLC user guides

Update from Kitsap Immigrant Assistance Center

Last Thursday, 64 members of KIAC’s community gathered in Olympia to advocate for two pieces of legislation that would positively impact the lives of immigrants – HB1095/SB5109 and a health equity budget proviso. As you may recall, HB1095/SB5109 would create an unemployment system for undocumented workers who currently pay into unemployment but are ineligible for benefits. The proposed health equity budget proviso would provide health insurance to all immigrants, regardless of status. At present, immigrants without permanent immigration status cannot access health insurance in our state.

Read more.

Mutuality and co-learning are guiding principles in collaboration between Seattle and Colombian presbyteries

‘This is truly a unique and exciting way to be church together’

by Scott O’Neill | Presbyterian News Service

Several partner churches in Barranquilla, Colombia, partner with local community children’s programs to run after-school tutoring programs. (Contributed photo)

LOUISVILLE — A simple question asked nearly a decade ago by a Seattle-area pastor interested in learning more about the Presbyterian Church in Colombia has blossomed into a partnership that reflects a mutual passion for theological and academic inquiry, worship, faith and the desire to simply “be” together.

The special connection is between Seattle Presbytery and the el Presbitero de la Costa (Presbytery of the Coast) in northern Colombia. It’s been developed and nurtured over the past eight years through social media, Zoom calls and face-to-face visits. Earlier this year, a delegation from Seattle reconnected with their Colombian siblings after a hiatus in 2021 by visiting the city of Barranquilla, a seaport capital of more than one million people and the home for most of the 12 churches that comprise the Colombian Presbytery of the Coast.

The Rev. Eliana Maxim, co-executive presbyter in Seattle Presbytery, stated that when the two groups began to explore what a partnership might look like back in 2015-16, it was important that the presbyteries enter any relationship as equals.

“We agreed on certain guiding principles for our ‘hermandad’ or sibling relationship. And at the center of them was a posture of mutuality,” said Maxim. “Our presbyteries entered into this relationship as equals, committed to nurturing relationships above all else, and allowing them to then determine how we would live out our commitment to one another.”

Now eight years in, Maxim, who was born in Barranquilla, feels like the fruits of their labors are starting to materialize.

“My primary goal from the very beginning was for us to decolonize traditional mission partnerships and create something completely different: equitable, mutual and deeply relational,” Maxim said. “We are beginning to see the fruits of our commitment, and this is truly a unique and exciting way to be church together.”

Read more.

SeaPres Podcast: SeaPres Conversations w/Eliana & Scott

New episode: SeaPres Podcast February 2023 update with Co-Executive Presbyters Eliana Maxim & Scott Lumsden.

January 20 SeaPres Update from Scott Lumsden

Dear Friends, 

John the Baptist looms large early in the gospels as one who prepares the way for Jesus. In the gospel of John, John the Baptist calls out Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world to anyone who would hear; and then the next day points him out again to his disciples, two of whom leave John to follow Jesus (Jn 1:29, 37).

We all need people in our lives to help us find our way. Whether we are contemplating a new direction in life, are at a pivotal moment in our careers, or are just in need of a little guidance; we are blessed when faithful point out the deeper realities of things that we can only see in part. 

One of the deeper realities about "post" covid church life appears to be that our finances (though they sustained us through in the crisis of covid), are now a bit less reliable. In the past few months, I've talked with many pastors who are relaying serious budget challenges for 2023. Add to that a budget deficit from 2022, and there you have it, the financial pinch we all knew would arrive eventually. 

The Executive Board has been mindful of these challenges for some time and has recently created a $5,000 Economic Relief Grant for churches experiencing a budget deficit in 2022 or who are projecting a budget shortfall in 2023. (Please contact EJ for more information). It has also approved a three (3) month waiver of per capita for the third year in a row and has kept per capita at $40 for the 14th year in a row (with inflation it would be $55). 

The Executive Board and staff are always looking for ways to assist our churches in their mission, so if there are other ways we can be supportive please reach out. 

Peace, 

Rev. Scott Lumsden
Co-Executive Presbyter

Crescendo concert recording available

From Northminster PC:

You’re invited to view a recording of a concert Northminster hosted last Saturday with the Presbytery. It was put on by Crescendo, which is an international group of musicians of faith. This concert featured music and readings with the theme of communion and used the music of 19th century Spanish composer, Hilarión Eslava. He was a priest who wrote a lot of worship pieces that were hugely popular in churches in his day and some are still performed on Holy Days in Spain. He is the ancestor of one of our elders, Antonio Rufin. Eslava’s work included producing three popular operas, but these works brought the condemnation of the church, so he was forbidden from writing further pieces and his music largely disappeared until Antonio uncovered it while doing family research during a trip to Spain. In the years since, he and his wife Becky have been working to bring his music into the 21st century and make if available for musicians and choirs. This concert is the first time his worship pieces have been performed in the United States.

We recorded the concert and it is now available on NPC’s YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/Y_YJ-a6qqU0

December 19 Update from Co-Executive Presbyters

“All things came into being through Him, and without Him not one thing came into being.  What has come into being in Him was life, and the life was the light of all people.” 

John 1: 3-5 

Dear friends, 

As we draw another year to a close and gather with loved ones to celebrate and remember the birth of our Lord, we are grateful for each of you: for our congregations and worshiping communities who remain committed to the Gospel and its many expressions wherever your church may be planted; for our ordained teaching and ruling elders whose faithfulness to following God’s call has pushed and pulled them into new and different ways of being church; to all those community partners who see us as siblings and collaborators in serving all of God’s people. 

As has been often said by other wiser folks, the pandemic was the visible change to highlight the quickly changing church landscape; changes that had been coming for years if not decades.  And we are all adapting as best as we can, drawing on the creativity, imagination, energy, and love of all the faithful. This is hard work. But this is also sacred work.  

We’ll enter 2023 with 17 churches committed to learning, unlearning, and relearning through the ongoing Thriving Congregations Initiative. We welcome Rev. J.P. Kang as the new presbytery moderator and Crystal Hairston (RE Lake Burien PC) as COM chair. A team of 15 clergy and elders from 7 of our churches will travel in mid-January on the presbytery Colombia partnership trip. Three of our churches expect to call their next installed pastors in the first half of the year. And meantime, we continue – as presbytery, as congregations – to seek how to further serve our communities among many other things. 

I love the John verse in the first chapter above. The Christ child brought life for all of us. No guarantees that it would not be challenging or at times difficult to comprehend, but rather that it would a light for all people. So we may see more clearly. So we may find our way.  

My Christmas wish for all our churches and members is that we embrace this gift and recognize the opportunity to be light and life. And may we be countercultural in the kindness we extend to one another on this journey.  

Blessings of Christmas joy, hope, peace, and love to you and yours. 

Eliana Maxim & Scott Lumsden

November 4 SeaPres Update from Scott Lumsden

Hello Seattle Presbytery, it's me Scott.

I know it's been a while, but as you probably know by now, I've been on sabbatical for the past three months. What did I do?

Well, for the first three weeks, I hiked the Oregon PCT with my son, Corin -- that is until the fires caught up with us and forced us to call it quits halfway through. I've hiked different northwest sections of the Pacific Crest Trail for about the last 5 years now, and we were hoping to get all of the Oregon PCT done this summer, but fire season caught up with us at Shelter Cove (Odell Lake, OR). So we decided to catch a ride into Bend, OR and then hop a shuttle to Timberline Lodge and hike to the Bridge of the Gods (Columbia River). Our hope is that we'll return next summer to finish the Oregon PCT sections we missed. There is something about the beauty and challenge of being out in remote parts of nature that is deeply renewing to me. I was truly blessed to hike even half this remarkable trail in Oregon.

After the hike, I relaxed a bit around Shoreline, reading and reflecting and doing a few house projects, but then toward the end of the sabbatical, I headed out with some friends for a 3-week road trip. We journeyed through eastern Washington, Oregon, Idaho, skirted the Tetons to the south (Jackson), dipped through Utah, and Wyoming, and settled in Montrose, Colorado for about a week, and then headed back. Our compass was naturally tuned to the beautiful rivers of those areas so that we could cast some flies, but we also let our gaze just marvel at God's magnificent creation.

I am grateful to serve in a presbytery that supports the practice of taking a sabbatical. And I am extremely grateful to have such incredible staff and colleagues to work with now that I'm back. I know you join me in extending a huge thank you to Eliana, EJ and the whole staff for the wonderful job they did in keeping the presbytery moving forward while I was gone. And I look forward to catching up with many of you over the course of the next few months.

Peace,

Rev. Scott Lumsden
Co-Executive Presbyter

PC(USA) Book of Order Amendments

Book of Order Amendments Booklet

The 225th General Assembly (2022) approved 33 proposed amendments to the Book of Order—including a replacement for the entire D-section—to be considered and voted on by the 166 presbyteries prior to July 9, 2023. For an amendment to be adopted, 84 presbyteries must vote to approve it.

The booklet is now available in English; Spanish and Korean translations are also available on the PC(USA) website.

The Seattle Presbytery’s Executive Board has called a special virtual meeting on Tuesday, November 15 at 6:00pm via Zoom for the purpose of considering approval of the proposed constitutional changes from the 225th General Assembly. Register for the meeting.