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Synod Snaps is a weekly electronic source of news from your Synod staff. If you'd like to receive this weekly email, click here to subscribe.
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| CURRENT NEWS and upcoming events
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Take the Urban Plunge
Thursday, March 27, 2008 (44 reads)
 The House of Charity in Spokane, WA is offering a unique experience called the Urban Plunge. It takes place Friday nights at 7:00 pm and goes until Saturday at 3:00 pm
An Urban Plunge offers an accessible alternative to mission trips that often require extensive financial resources and travel over international borders. The plunge seeks to demystify the culture of poverty and homelessness by engaging and connecting the rich and the poor.
Anyone interested in urban, social justice, and community issues, is invited to participate in an urban plunge and experience greater engagement between the “poor in spirit” and those living in material or social abundance.
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Making Mission Trips Matter
Thursday, March 27, 2008 (42 reads)
 Effective trips include preparation and relationship building
(From PCUSA WORLDWIDE e-newsletter, March 2008)
According to one survey, 1.6 million U.S. Christians (2.1 percent of all church members) went on an international mission trip of 14 days or less in 2005. Participants go on these trips with the intent of strengthening communities and churches abroad and experiencing spiritual transformation. While mission trips can have remarkable results, there is potential for harming the communities they visit. Mission trips "can be terribly destructive and can be the impetus of very bad feelings," says Robert Priest of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, one of the first missiologists to study short-term mission. "How to work in ways that do not do that is a major challenge."
The March cover story of Presbyterians Today tells how congregations are meeting this challenge by emphasizing preparation, partnership cultural sensitivity and relationship building. Read more at http://www.pcusa.org/today/cover.htm
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A Message from the Synod Council Moderator
Wednesday, March 26, 2008 (45 reads)
A Visit to the Church of the Indian Fellowship
Dear Friends,
 My husband Donald and I did not know what to expect when we heard that the Church of the Indian Fellowship is right next door to the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma. There the church was, up on the hill over looking the valley. We arrived just in time for the Bible Study Class where Pastor Irvin Porter told us of the importance of Lent and how our observation of Lent prepares us for our beautiful Easter. It was clear to us as the class shared their joys and sorrows that this was a very important fellowship time for them.
When it was time for the worship service we went into the church where we saw a number of very active children in the sanctuary. During the service, as one of their Christian Education projects, each child picked an adult member of the fellowship to be a prayer partner for the coming months. It was so sweet to see them as they sat with their new partners until they were dismissed to class (whereupon they ran excitedly to their classrooms.) Later we learned that many of the children are being picked up by the church bus. One of the members suggested to me that having the bus could give the fellowship an opportunity to do other missions such as helping older tribal members, too.
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Historic Auburn Church Gets New Vision
Tuesday, March 18, 2008 (24 reads)
The Oldest Presbyterian Church in the Seattle Presbytery Hires New Director of Neighborhood Outreach
As part of their Taking Flight Ministry Vision Plan, White River Presbyterian Church in Auburn Washington has hired Deborah Taylor-Hough to the position of Director of Neighborhood Outreach Programs.
Taylor-Hough, a long-time Puget Sound area resident, is the author of a number of bestselling books including Frugal Living For Dummies(r) (Wiley) and Frozen Assets: How to Cook for a Day and Eat for a Month (SourceBooks). She brings a long history of publishing and publicity experience, church service, community action, energy and excitement to this new job at White River Presbyterian Church.
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Seattle Youth Garden Works
Friday, March 14, 2008 (0 reads)
 The Presbyterian Hunger Program recently donated $15,000 to the Seattle Youth Garden Works program. Seattle Youth garden Works is a program helping homeless and at under-served youth transform their lives through garden-based education and employment, including gardening, raising crops, selling them in local markets. They serve youths ages 14-22 and have two gardens, one in South Seattle and one in the University District. Their goals are to connect youth to housing, health care, education, jobs and community.
For more information or to donate, visit their website: www.sygw.org.
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Presbyterian Outlook Offers Resource to GA Commissioners
Friday, March 07, 2008 (47 reads)
 Commissioners to the upcoming General Assembly in San Jose will be tackling difficult and complicated issues, and Presbyteries across the country are orienting and training commissioners to carry out their duties effectively. The Presbyterian Outlook, an independent, balanced weekly newsletter, provides the most comprehensive, balanced news reporting and analysis – just the thing to help supplement the training for commissioners.
In order to facilitate that, The Presbyterian Outlook is offering a special subscription deal for GA commissioners. The special GA commissioners’ subscription plan will begin as soon as they receive your order. It will walk through all the major issues to be tackled at the GA, provide post-GA analysis, a “where are we now” edition (cf., the “Why Stay?” assessment that the Presbyterian Outlook presented after the 2006 GA), and then it will culminate in late summer.
Presbyterian Outlook is offering this short term 20 issue subscription to you for $20 per commissioner and/or advisory delegate.
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