Transition
CTK Administrator
Congregational Meeting

The members of Christ the King Presbyterian Church are called to a Congregational Meeting on Sunday, November 22, 2020 from 7:00 to 8:00 PM, preceded by a prayer meeting that will start at 6:30p. This meeting will be held virtually.

Business to be conducted at the meeting:

  1. Elect a pastoral search committee* for the purpose of recommending a pastoral candidate for Cambridge

  2. Elect church officers – the slate of candidates to be elected will be shared upon approval by the Session

  3. Share information with the church

Instructions for how to participate in the virtual meeting will be forthcoming.

* PCA Book of Church Order chapter 20-2

Transition
CTK Administrator
Congregational Meeting (10/18)

The members of Christ the King Presbyterian Church are called to two upcoming Congregational Meetings.

The first is on Sunday, October 18, 2020 at 7:00 PM and will be held virtually. Business to be conducted at the October meeting:
1. Consider the resignation of Rev. Rick Downs as Pastor of Christ the King Presbyterian Church
2. Approve a process for forming a pastoral search committee*
3. Hear more information and ask questions related to placing an interim pastor in Cambridge and the search for a permanent replacement

The second is on Sunday, November 15, 2020 at 7:00 PM and will be held virtually. Business to be conducted at the November meeting:
1. Elect a pastoral search committee* for the purpose of recommending a pastoral candidate for Cambridge
2. Elect church officers – the slate of candidates to be elected will be shared upon approval by the Session

For updates about these two meetings, please follow https://www.ctkboston.org/news-events. Instructions for how to participate in the virtual meetings will be forthcoming. Other business may be added to either meeting. If so, we will provide advance notice.

* PCA Book of Church Order chapter 20-2

Adult Ed (Pic)

Please note, there is no Adult Education this Sunday (9/5).

Adult Education will resume on Zoom on 9/12 with a new class: In continuation of our study of hesed, or God’s lovingkindness, and in preparation for our subsequent study on the theme of God’s justice, the Adult Ed class will be going through a 2-week study of US Presbyterian history, focusing on the history of our tradition’s response to issues of justice, particularly in the area of race and ethnicity. The class will look at teachings about race in the 20th century southern Presbyterian church, the role of African Americans in these churches, the cultural forces at play in the formation of the PCA in the 1970s, and more recent 21st-century denominational statements about race and corporate repentance.

Gordon College Job Openings

Gordon College in Wenham, MA has several job openings available. The most up-to-date position information can be found at www.gordon.edu/jobs. Candidates can fill out this form to get their application started: Gordon College Professional Application (office.com). Once this form is completed, applicants will receive an email with a link to submit their resume, cover letter, memorandum of understanding, and any additional documents they may like to include.

Children's Worship

Children’s Worship is starting soon for children 4 and 5 years! Parents and children are invited to join us after the service on Sunday, September 12 for an Open House. Come tour the classroom in our newly renovated basement, preview our curriculum and familiarize yourself with the class schedule and procedures. Class will then open on Sunday, September 19 for up to 10 registered students (with a waitlist available). Kids will be dismissed from the service prior to the sermon and parents must escort children to class in order to check them in. Please contact Dana Russell with any questions.

Adult Ed

A new Adult Education class is starting this Sunday at 9am on Zoom (link here), going through a 2-week study of US Presbyterian history, focusing on the history of our tradition’s response to issues of justice, particularly in the area of race and ethnicity. A description for the class is below:

Many of us know that longstanding denominations in the US are entangled in the sin of racism, particularly since the issue of holding African Americans as slaves contributed to church splits during the Civil War. It is important, however, to be aware of racial injustices that are institutionally near at hand to us (as a congregation descended from the southern church) and to have a concrete, rather than vague, understanding of the sin and wrong in our denomination’s roots.

  • The first session will detail 20th century southern US Presbyterian history, following the church through the fundamentalist/modernist controversy of the 20s and 30s, the WWII period, and the Cold War and civil rights era.

  • With this timeline in place, the second session will consider several themes, such as the doctrine of the spirituality of the church, Presbyterian opposition to mixed-race socializing and marriages, theological teachings about “separateness” or “intrinsic boundaries,” and the ways southern Presbyterians opposed racial integration as a part of their larger social and political conservatism.

The class will be taught by Morgan Crago, and is largely based on For a Continuing Church: The Roots of the Presbyterian Church in America (2015) by Sean Michael Lucas, professor of church history at Reformed Theological Seminary.

Women's Morning Bible Study

Women’s Morning Bible is starting this Thursday, September 16 from 9:30-11a with a brunch outside on the front patio. Feel free to bring something to share. This semester we will be studying, What’s She Doing Here? The Messy Women in Jesus’s Genealogy. Books will be distributed on Thursday and childcare will be provided. Contact is Kelly Sawyer: bostonkelly@gmail.com

CTK's Anniversary Party

Save the Date! CTK’s 25th Anniversary party will be Saturday, September 18th from 5-8p. In addition, there are other ways to participate, including video and photo submissions and signing up to volunteer at the event. Video and photo submissions are due by Sunday, September 12. Please visit ctkcambridge.org/ctk-anniversary for more details.

Also, the group hosting the 25th anniversary is looking to borrow a couple pop-up canopy tents. If you own one that you are willing to loan for a day please contact Naomi Layne at nlayne@comcast.net.

Note from Pastor Clyde

Dear CTK Family,

This week I would like for you to read chapter 8, To the Uttermost in Gentle and Lowly. Let us take into our hearts together the invitation to be yoked to Jesus in our worship and work, in our words and deeds. And as my friend Rick Downs liked to say to me, "Brother, get ready to stand back and be amazed."

New Weekly Prayer Meeting. Beginning August 12, we will be adding another weekly prayer meeting by Zoom on Thursday evenings from 8:15 - 9:30. We will be using liturgies and scriptures to unite our hearts in prayer. There will be time for personal requests. Hopefully, this weekly PM Prayer Meeting will allow for those who cannot join the Tuesday AM meeting to participate. There is an old saying among missionaries, "much prayer, much power."

Shalom, Pastor C aka Papa C

Congregational Meeting

The CTK Cambridge congregation is called to an informational meeting tonight from 7-8:30pm via Zoom. There will be an optional time of prayer starting at 6:30p for those who are able to make it, using the same Zoom link. The agenda for the meeting is as follows:

  • 6:30 - 7 PM :: Prayer ( Optional )

  • 7 - 7:30 PM :: Presenting the 2021-2022 budget with Q&A

  • 7:30 - 8 PM :: Plans to close the CTK network with Q&A

  • 8 - 8:30 PM :: The decision to end our relationship with McGowan and Associates with Q&A

  • Adjourn with Doxological Hope

CTK's Anniversary Party (pic)

Happy Anniversary, Christ the King! Come celebrate 25 years of God's faithfulness to CTK at a drop-in neighborhood street party in front of the church on Saturday, September 18, from 5-8pm. Enjoy good food and live music with a city block party ambiance, as we seek to share with our neighbors from the abundance we have received. Stay tuned for other ways to help us celebrate!

Building Meeting

The deacons are hosting a monthly meeting about building care and improvements on Tuesday, August 10th from 7-8:30pm here on Zoom. Anyone in the congregation is welcome to join the discussion or to send us your thoughts (deacons@ctkcambridge.org)! Topics this month will include 8/14 work day planning, balcony rail extensions, nursery carpeting, and the schedule for exterior masonry renovations.

Pentecostal Tabernacle

Come serve with Pentecostal Tabernacle, a neighboring Cambridge church, at their pop-up food pantry on Saturday, August 21! From 10am-12pm, they will be distributing groceries and clothes at the Pisani community center at 131 Washington St, Cambridge (near the PT North campus). You can sign up for various time slots on Friday evening or Saturday morning. CTK members have helped with these events in the past, and it is a great way to connect with fellow Christians and serve those in need in the Cambridge area.

Directory

It’s time for a church directory update, and this time around, we’ll be changing the format. CTK uses software called Planning Center Online - which is how you register for services, or give online, or send us block out dates for volunteering. Planning Center now has a directory feature, so we’ll be transitioning over to that for our church directory. Over the next few days, you’ll receive an invitation to join the directory. Please follow the prompts to add photos and share whatever information you’re comfortable sharing. A few notes on privacy:

  • When signing up for the directory, you can choose what information to share (your photo, your phone, your email, and/or your address, or any combination thereof).

  • Only you can share your information and/or your household’s information in the directory. Church staff can invite you to join, but we cannot publicly post your information.

  • There will be a link to the directory on the website, but anyone who is not invited to the directory by staff will not have access to the directory and will not be able to see it.

  • If you have any questions or issues in joining, you can either visit our web page with instructions or you can email laura@ctkcambridge.org.

Youth Worker

We are excited to announce that CTK Cambridge is hiring a part-time Youth Worker (8 hours/wk) for the 2021-2022 academic year. The Youth Worker will lead three youth meetings per month, build discipleship relationships with students, and train youth ministry volunteers. Qualifications: a love for kids in grades 6–12 and a passion to teach the gospel in age-appropriate ways. Prior teaching experience in a Christian setting is preferred. Applications can be sent to office@ctkcambridge.org. Please spread the word!

Volunteering

As we are reopening, the staff at CTK want to take this opportunity to thoughtfully rebuild our volunteer teams. As such, we will not automatically assume that members will be serving in the roles they previously did. In the coming months, we will be discussing as a community how best to use our individual gifts to serve the church, and we ask you to prayerfully consider how you feel called and gifted. In the meantime, there are certain teams that are in need of volunteers. In particular, we are in need of communion servers each week. All adult members of Christ the King are encouraged to serve in this way, and most did prior to the pandemic. If you are willing to serve in this way, please email laura@ctkcambridge.org.

Children's Ministry in the Fall

As we plan for resuming children’s ministry in-person this fall, we invite all members to watch this video to hear how you may pray for us and consider serving with our kids. We’ve also changed our policies and ask all volunteers to complete updated safety measures this summer (whether or not you’ll be ready to serve in the coming months).