Sacramento Presbytery - Presbytery Congregations by City Name
 
I have enjoyed working with the Vision Task Force since my arrival in May, 2011. This group has hosted conversations about what we value as a presbytery, and has begun putting some of those values in practice. I discovered on the wall in the large conference room a framed VISION statement which has now been moved to the main entrance area. I have also discovered in our Manual of Operations a MISSION statement for the Council and an organizational “flow chart” for the structure of the presbytery.
In reflecting on the work of the Vision Task Force and our presbytery’s manual, I have been struck by the discontinuity we live with. The Vision and Mission statements are clearly focused on empowering congregations. The “flow chart” has no place for congregations. In my report to the February 2012 meeting of the presbytery, I shared this awareness in a power point presentation. You may follow the presentation by clicking here.
Our “New Form of Government” is not to blame. It states clearly that the purpose of sessions and presbyteries is “to help congregations and the church as a whole to be more faithful participants in the mission of Christ.” Participating more faithfully in Christ’s mission – that is our reason for meeting as Presbyterians.
To borrow a phrase from the Roxburgh Missional Network, we have put ourselves in a situation we would never think ourselves into – we are in an “unthinkable” world as the presbytery has lost our focus on helping congregations being more faithful participants in the mission of Christ. “In an unthinkable world, it’s all about the conversations.”
So, how do we envision the presbytery? The Vision Task Force has offered an organic, network approach of congregations linked together, having conversations, building bridges, sharing mission and resources. We have a variety of conversations happening among congregations urban and suburban, farming and recreational, planning mission together, supporting pastors, reaching out to Latino, Indonesian, and Punjabi new worshipping communities.
I give thanks to God and to you for welcoming me into conversations seeking to equip and empower, to build bridges, participating more faithfully in Christ’s mission.

Rev. Walter J Wilkins, Ph.D.
Transitional Presbyter


 Transitional Presbyter’s Report

To the Presbytery of Sacramento

February 25, 2012

You will need Microsoft Power Point on your computer in order to view this presentation.
 View Presentation
 The Bridge Builder
By Will Allen Dromgoole
An old man, going a lone highway,
Came, at the evening, cold and gray,
To a chasm, vast, and deep, and wide,
Through which was flowing a sullen tide.
The old man crossed in the twilight dim;
The sullen stream had no fear for him;
But he turned, when safe on the other side,
And built a bridge to span the tide.

"Old man," said a fellow pilgrim, near,
"You are wasting strength with building here;
Your journey will end with the ending day;
You never again will pass this way;
You've crossed the chasm, deep and wide-
Why build you this bridge at the evening tide?"

The builder lifted his old gray head:
"Good friend, in the path I have come," he said,
"There followeth after me today,
A youth, whose feet must pass this way.
This chasm, that has been naught to me,
To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be.
He, too, must cross in the twilight dim;
Good friend, I am building this bridge for him."