Celebrating Men of the Church
June 18, 2006

"You Shall Love Your Neighbor as Yourself"
Luke 10:27

Father's Day, June 18th, has been designated as the day to recognize contributions that the men of the church have made over the past year. It is recommended that on Father's Day of this year, the lay men of the church plan the Sunday morning activities, conduct the morning worship, provide any special music, and recognize a preselected Church Man of the Year.

The theme, selected for the Men of the Church and Father's Day events and for the annual gathering in Chicago in April of this year, is taken from Luke 10:27: "You shall love . . . your neighbor as yourself." This theme focuses on the horizontal aspect of our faith journey and is valid every day of the year. Loving God is diluted without the manifestation of love of neighbor. True acts of love of our neighbors reflect a true love of God.

Worship
To assist the approximately one million men who are members of the more than 11,000 PC(USA) churches, the Rev. Eric Nielsen, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, has prepared a complete guide that may be used to plan your church's Father's Day morning worship. This guide contains lectionary texts, a call to worship, a call to confession, a litany of confession, words of assurance, sermon ideas, and a suggested morning prayer to assist lay men in conducting all of the activities that are normally performed each Sunday by the pastor and other designated men and women.

Suggestions for Honoring the Church Man of the Year
The morning service is the most appropriate time to honor your Church Man of the Year. This award, set up by the National Council of Presbyterian Men, Inc. (NCPMI), is awarded to men in congregations across the nation who have been nominated by their own churches; it is recommended by the Presbyterian Men of your church and approved by the session and the NCPMI.

Use your imagination to plan a fun, joyous presentation ceremony. You can create a growing sense of anticipation for the congregation when presenting the award by not giving away the man's name too early. Start by giving general information-for instance, that this year's recipient is seen working in many phases of your church's daily work, such as ushering, cooking, teaching a Sunday school class, repairing the building, and helping other members of the congregation. Upon announcing this year's recipient, ask him and his family to come forward to be recognized. Read the words from the certificate and present it to him along with the Church Man of the Year pin. Congratulate him on behalf of the congregation and the men's organization, and encourage the congregation to show its appreciation for his service.

Copies of suggestions for conducting the Father's Day Worship Service and the necessary forms for honoring the Church Man of the Year are available on the Presbyterian Men's Web site.

This article was prepared by Floyd M. Gilbert, a retired United States Army Colonel who presently serves the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) as president of the National Council of Presbyterian Men, Inc.

WASS-UP with you?

Wouldn’t it be great to be connected with nearby Presbyterian congregations?

Do you get the feeling your congregation is missing out on exciting worship and fellowship activities held at neighboring Presbyterian churches? Do you wish you could share your congregation’s events with other Presbyterians?

Janet Lowery, pastor of North Springfield Presbyterian Church in Akron, Ohio, tells us that WASS-UP is what’s up with twelve Presbyterian churches in the west area of Eastminster Presbytery. West Area Special NewS Uniting Presbyterians (WASS-UP) is a monthly compilation that keeps its participating congregations informed about each church’s special events. Janet explains, “We download the information onto our Web site and include it in our own monthly newsletter. This helps our members feel better connected to Presbyterians in other nearby congregations—and share our program ideas with them as well.” Some churches decrease the size of the two-sided 8 1/2" x 11" page for use as a bulletin insert, while some incorporate it into bulletin board displays (enlarge and copy each side). WASS-UP has one person who sends out reminders, and edits and formats submissions. The information is compiled electronically.

Why not ask “what’s up” with other Presbyterian churches in your neighborhood, city, or presbytery?

Create an events calendar mailing and get connected with more of your Presbyterian family!

Submitted by the Rev. Janet Lowery, North Springfield Presbyterian Church, 671 Canton Rd., P. O. Box 6347, Akron, OH, 44312-0347.

We Believe Workshop: An alternate summer Sunday school program

The following letter from the Rev. Karen Estes shows the flexibility of We Believe resources. Read how one congregation “mixes it up” with We Believe.

“Every summer our church gives our regular children’s Sunday school teachers a break. However, we think that Christian education is very important even when numbers are reduced. Canceling Sunday school is not an option. Last year we used the We Believe All-church summer curriculum, but we found that our adult classes preferred to continue on with their own studies. So this year we have decided to use We Believe Workshop. This way we can recruit church members who are artists, cooks, musicians, and “techies” who don’t normally get a chance to interact with the children. Our summer attendance is small enough that we can combine into just one or two groups, so Workshop teachers will only have to give up a couple of Sundays of their own adult study. We will only need one to two rotations, since central Florida schools only break for seven weeks. We are very excited about the chance to give loving adults a chance to interact with the children. Most of all, we are excited that we now have a choice for summer Sunday school that includes two very Presbyterian ways to help our children grow in their walk of faith.

Submitted by the Rev. Karen Estes, Tuskawilla Presbyterian Church, Oviedo, FL.