There are two heroes to set the stage for our new church starting church. The first is the San Fernando Presbytery. The presbytery has been so committed to the work of starting new initiatives that our current polity can no longer honor the people that we have developed. As with all innovation, successful work pushes the edges of technical protocols and this is where we currently find ourselves. The second group of heroes in this story are the faithful innovators. Over forty new worshipping community leaders have sprouted in our little presbytery. These leaders have discerned a call, embraced the vulnerability that comes with such a call, and have impacted thousands of lives in the midst of their work. 

Our heroes, however, are at a crossroads. The current polity of the PCUSA is not providing fitting on-ramps for our leaders to join our ecclesial family. Cyclical LA (CLA) has discovered that many leaders would like to be more involved in the presbytery, yet current structures are keeping them from being involved. CLA, along with ECG, has also discovered that the presbytery would like to better include the leaders that they have so thoughtfully equipped and empowered in ministry. This is also a national problem that our presbytery has led in addressing in the most recent overture that we wrote. Please join us in praying that our entire denomination would continue to follow our lead in giving better representation to the leaders that we have committed to nurturing and supporting across our various contexts. In short, we have raised up leaders that we cannot include in our denomination, and this needs to change.

The Executive Presbyter of the San Fernando Presbytery, Juan Sarmiento, the clerk of the San Fernando Presbytery, Dave Wilkinson and the Director of Cyclical LA, a ministry of the San Fernando Presbytery, Nick Warnes, have been discerning a way to help the presbytery and our faithful innovators to build a bridge to solve the problem. The plan has emerged and our presbytery has discerned  to charter a church whose mission will focus on encouraging our faithful innovators deeper into the mission of God by creating space for a more robust relationship between the church starters and the presbytery. We are currently at 33 members in the new church and hope to move forward with ordination with approximately half of them! (If you, or someone you know would like to join, we hope this group continues to grow!) The church is scheduled to charter this fall and we can’t wait to share the event with you. This new church will give voice and vote to some of the best leaders in our presbytery and will give better representation to the work that we have been doing with one another for the past ten years. 

The future for our presbytery is bright on so many levels. From revitalization efforts, to deeper community, to ideas that are hitting the ground and changing lives across the San Fernando Presbytery and beyond. Please continue to pray with us that this new church adds to the work of God through the churches in our church family!