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Petaluma Pastors Prayer Retreat – those who were there at the end

More than a dozen pastors just returned from three days at Alliance Redwoods Conference Center. It was a good time of worship, prayer, mutual support, planning and recreation. Our prayer times were facilitated by worship/music leaders and Bill Berry, from Anthem Church in Marin County.

We’re excited about our plans to serve together in 2013 and partnering with COTS In a greater way to better meet the needs of those who don’t have enough food. Also, Together 2013 will be totally different. We’ll gather for worship and then go out and serve Petaluma through a myriad of projects.

Look for dates and more information on our website and Facebook page.

Serve Together 2013 – date to be announced soon

Petaluma Pastors after enduring the Ropes Course at Alliance Redwoods Conference Center

Planning Team: Bill Funk, Kevin Finkbeiner, Tom Marcum, Brad Edgbert, Zach Vestnys.

Petaluma Pastors’ Prayer

weekly, Thursdays, 8:45 am at Petaluma Valley Baptist Church

Petaluma Pastors’ Planning Breakfasts for 2013

Quarterly, Thursday, 8:45 am…

March 7 at Petaluma Valley Baptist Church

May 23 at Hillside Church

Sept. 12 at Open Door Church

Nov. 14 at the Vine

Now for Some High-wire Hijinks

More Pictures from the Petaluma Pastors’ Prayer Retreat

(click a photo to enlarge & start slide show)

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Continue reading »]]> Our Mission:

City Ministries exists to bring the churches of the Petaluma Area together through explicit agreement, visible unity, extraordinary prayer and service to our community.

Our Beliefs and Values:

• We believe in the existence of only one God who exists as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
• We believe the Bible is the infallible Word of God.
• We believe that Jesus Christ was God in human flesh and is the sovereign Lord of creation, the only Savior of mankind, and the Head and Chief Shepherd of the Church.
• We believe that working together in the unity of the Spirit embodies the heart and mind of Christ.
• We value forming authentic friendships with each other that include both support and accountability.

Our Commitment:

We have therefore covenanted together to do the following:

1) Praying privately for each other for at least half an hour each week.

2) Praying publicly for each other each week at our Sunday morning service

3) Gathering weekly for a time of prayer.

4) Meeting quarterly for breakfast and fellowship.

5) Meeting as needed to plan events.

6) Meeting annually for retreat(s) designed around prayer, fellowship and biblical instruction

7) Preserving the unity of the Body by:

Resolving, according to the Biblical pattern, any accusations made against
another Pastor.

Holding people accountable for unresolved issues as they move from one congregation to another.

8 ) Encouraging our individual congregations to seek the Lord in times of extraordinary prayer.

9) Working together in mutually agreed upon community activities to promote Christ’s Kingdom.

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City Ministries churches will gather for a citywide worship service at the Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds in Petaluma, July 29, 2012 at 11:00 am.

Brad Edgbert, Pastor of Hillside Church will bring the message of the day. Worship music will be led by Justin and the New Life band. Plan to come with friends and neighbors and bring school supplies to help our public school students in need be ready for school in August.

Be Prepared:

• Handicapped parking is available closer to the field. Just drive in through the main gate.
• Bring: Blankets or lawnchairs
• Bring the whole family – we’ll all be together.
• Plan also to stay for lunch. There will be a variety of vendors there, but you’re also welcome to bring a picnic lunch.

Together 2012 Service Project – School Supplies for Children in Need

We are asking churches and individuals to bring school supplies for elementary aged children to Together ’12. You can either bring them to church over the next few Sundays or bring supplies directly to the event on the 29th.

Items Needed include:

• Markers
• Pencils
• Pens
• Rulers
• Glue sticks
• Paper

We will then collect them at Together ’12 and give to Petaluma City Schools. They will direct the supplies to the schools where the need is greatest.
Together, we can really make an impact!

We’ll see you at the fairgrounds.

Continue reading »]]> City Ministries churches are providing their own Good Friday services this year. Here are some services. All are invited.

Good Friday Services – April 6

New Life Christian Fellowship is having a special Good Friday service at 7:00 pm. It’s an hour-long time of worship, selected readings, thoughtful reflection, and Communion. Because it is so different from our usual Sunday morning service, we have a special excitement as we look forward to it. Any and all are
welcome to come. Our house is your house. – Ronald J. Hunt

Petaluma Valley Baptist Church and St. John’s Anglican Church are hosting a noon Good Friday service that is very traditional in nature–lots of scripture (rooted in the Stations of the Cross), times of silence and reflection, low tech (no PowerPoint, electrified instruments or videos).  Just a simple and somber service providing ample time for prayerful meditation.  Everyone is always welcome. – Tom Marcum

Calvary Chapel will hold their monthly “First Friday” worship on Good Friday, Apr. 6, 8 pm.

Adobe Christian Center and Hillside Church are joining together for Good Friday worship, 7 pm at Adobe Christian Center.

The Vine will hold a Maundy Thursday service, beginning with a potluck meal, followed by showing portions of the Jesus Film and Communion. More here. – Dave Weidlich

Petaluma Christian Center will not be holding a Good Friday service, but encourages their folks to choose one of the above.- Bill Linton

Next year, 2013, City Ministries will work together to hold one or two services, as we have done before.

Continue reading »]]> City Ministries pastors enjoyed a time of renewal of relationship with God and each other during their annual retreat, January. Some critical issues guided conversations and decisions. Already, the pastors had decided to have citywide Good Friday services every other year, allowing individual churches or smaller clusters of churches the opportunity to hold their own Good Friday services. So, Good Friday services this year will be held at several City Ministries churches. In 2013, we’ll have the citywide Good Friday services. The Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast is another citywide event that we are not currently planning. It’s on indefinite hold, but churches are planning their own events to support the National Day of Prayer.

During the January retreat, the pastors decided to continue pursuing the goal of moving our members out into community service, but we will not organize a citywide community service event. The Serve Petaluma group will continue to raise awareness of events and promote cooperation in service to churches and community needs.

City Ministries will continue to hold an annual citywide worship service. This year’s Together 2012 will be held July 29 at the Fairgrounds.

The reason for scaling back on some of our citywide activities is so we can put greater energy into our supportive relationships with one another. We are focusing more on deeper relationships with one another for support and prayer. The Thursday morning pastors’ prayer meeting is a high priority and the format has been changed so we are spending more time in prayer together, focusing each week on one of our churches. In addition, pastors are determined to meet more often, one-on-one.

There was agreement that the time has come for City Ministries to move towards a structure to ensure accountability and protect financial and legal liability. You can expect a non-profit corporation in the coming year.

Continue reading »]]> Welcome to City Ministries of Petaluma

We have our domain name back, but it looks like we need to rebuild our website.

So…to start with, here’s some info about who we are:

Click for our Facebook Page

The Mission of City Ministries

City Ministries exists to bring the churches of the Petaluma Area together to promote Christ’s kingdom through explicit agreement, visible unity, extraordinary prayer and service to our community.

Our Beliefs and Values

• We believe in the existence of only one God who exists as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
• We believe the Bible is the infallible Word of God.
• We believe that Jesus Christ was God in human flesh and is the sovereign Lord of creation, the only Savior of mankind, and the Head and Chief Shepherd of the Church.
• We believe that working together in the unity of the Spirit embodies the heart and mind of Christ.
• We value forming authentic friendships with each other that include both support and accountability.

Our Commitment

We have therefore covenanted together by God’s grace to do the following:

• Gathering weekly for a time of prayer.
• Meeting every other month for breakfast and planning joint activities.
• Sharing in regular retreats designed around prayer, biblical instruction and fellowship.
• Praying:
• Privately for each other for at least half an hour each week.
• Publicly for another congregation each Sunday.
• Preserving the unity of the Body by…

• Resolving according to the Biblical pattern any accusations made against another Pastor.
• Holding people accountable for unresolved issues as they move from one congregation to another.

• Bringing our congregations together for times of citywide prayer.
• Working together in mutually agreed upon community activities.
• Giving to the support of City Ministries through our church budgets.