The Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area
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| The Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area and its 71 congregations and 25,546 members continue to seek new ways to serve while building on the accomplishments of earlier generations.
Kwanzaa Community Church grew out of Highland Park Presbyterian Church, a declining, white congregation in north Minneapolis. The presbytery, members of Highland Park, and people in the surrounding area agreed that establishing an Afrocentric ministry would fill many community needs. Kwanzaa engages in ministry throughout this underprivileged and transient part of the city. In fact, the neighborhood struggles with one of the highest murder and addiction rates in Minneapolis. The faith community at Kwanzaa embodies a ministry of liberation and of social and spiritual transformation. The congregation serves over 176 families every year through a summer Freedom School, a studio club for young people involved in street culture, a community arts program, men and women recovery circles, a club for adolescent girls, after-school enrichment, an HIV/AIDS ministry, and spirit-filled worship. Kwanzaa has become a place where faith and community merge with love. In 1991, two Korean immigrant churches merged to become the Korean Presbyterian Church of Minnesota. This congregation is moving in new directions. The church has expanded into two innovative mission areas. The Rev. and Mrs. Sung Chul Park began the Korean Adoptees Ministry to reach 15,000 Korean adoptees in Minnesota. This ministry attends to the social, cultural, identity, and spiritual needs of adopted Koreans and their families. In 2004, working in partnership with the presbytery, the Rev. Jin Kim, an English-speaking minister of the church, began a multicultural new church development, the Church of All Nations, to reach out to an increasingly multicultural population in the Twin Cities area. This church ministers to the young, the elderly, adoptive families, refugees, new immigrants, multiethnic families, and other marginalized groups. |
 Elder Manley E. Olson, member, GAC Presbytery Staff Rev. Judith P. Kolwicz, executive presbyter Rev. Deborah DeMeester, associate executive presbyter for leadership development Rev. Richard Headen, associate executive presbyter for connectional ministries Elder Ernest E. Cutting, stated clerk Trellis Powell, administrative assistant Pam McMahan, administrative assistant Katie Houge, administrative assistant Vivienne Pierce, administrative assistant PC(USA) General Assembly Staff D. William Simmons, WMD Elder T. Clark Simmons, BOP Aline E. Simpson, DEDO |
 “Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions” (Luke 12:15). |
 Ps. 25, 40, 84, 148 Nah. 2:13—3:7 Rev. 13:1–10; Luke 12:13–31 |
