The Presbyterian Home for Children has been approved to join the Synod of Living Waters in a covenant relationship that expands support for the Home into Tennessee, Mississippi and Kentucky.
In the covenant, the Home and the Synod will strengthen the Home’s mission to provide caring and therapeutic communities for children and families in need, to assist children and families toward a healthier life together and, in the event of family separation, to provide both families and children with help toward the best possible alternatives.
The Home will be helped by the Synod to be a primary resource for the well-being of children and to nurture and enrich families.
The covenant also invites the Home to help the presbyteries and congregations of the Synod understand the needs of children and families in their region and respond to those needs in the name of Christ, without regard to race, ethnicity, age, sex, disability, geography, or theological conviction. The Home will do that through the highest standards of quality in all its programs and services as recognized by national accrediting bodies as appropriate.
As the Home has done in our 156-year history, we will recognize the changing needs of children and families, respond to the call of Christ to be agents of recognition, and provide a ministry of comprehensive programs and services to children and families in order that they might become the fully functional persons whom God intended.
The Home, through the covenant, will seek collaborations and partnerships with Presbyterian and other community organizations that will strengthen the Home’s programs as well as its financial future as a privately supported ministry of the Presbyterian Church.
The Home agrees in the covenant to be responsible stewards of the resources entrusted to us for our ministry by achieving a balanced budget and financial equilibrium and to implement necessary capital improvements on the campus, as funding permits, to provide efficient, safe and comfortable services to children and families.
In the covenant, the Home agrees to consult with the Synod and its constituent Presbyteries with respect to the selection of persons to serve as Trustees of the Home, and the Home will report regularly through the President/CEO to the presbyteries, the Synod and congregations of the Synod.
The Synod of Living Waters, which is a regional mid-council of the Presbyterian Church USA with jurisdiction over the presbyteries in the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi, has a mission to form, foster, and further relationships “in ways that empower our congregations and presbyteries, inspire our leaders, and nurture the next generation of the church.”
To this end, the Synod maintains covenant relationships with a variety of institutions and ministries in its bounds or with which it has historic ties or mutual mission interests.
In keeping with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.’s) deep conviction that “in Christ by the power of the Spirit, God unites persons through baptism regardless of race, ethnicity, age, sex, disability, geography, or theological conviction,” the Synod is committed to promoting diversity and inclusion in all of its ministries and partnerships, building on the rich diversity that exists within its bounds.
Therefore, the Synod of Living Waters commits in the covenant to undergird Presbyterian Home for Children spiritually by praying for its leadership, staff, and residents and to promote understanding of the Home through visibility on the synod’s website and a presence in its synod-wide communications.
The Synod also will support the Home’s efforts to promote Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion through participation in a grant program as funds are available and to partner with addressing any other mutual interests and concerns.
The Home is invited to present their Annual Report in person at the Synod’s annual meeting and provide details that may prove useful for purposes of promotion and funding support and to publish that Annual Report in the minutes of Synod.
