June 2026 Leadership Council Highlights

The Des Moines Presbytery Leadership Council met Tuesday, June 9, at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Des Moines. Here are some highlights of that meeting:

• As we do at every meeting, it began with a brief devotional and prayer. For the last several months we have been studying characters in the Bible who have had to discern God’s will.  We have looked at Nehemiah, Gideon, the apostle Paul, and this month we discussed Ruth.

• We reviewed the recent Presbytery meeting in Newton.

• A new task force called the Congregational Vitality Task Force was formed to look at the congregations in our Presbytery and report back to Leadership Council and COM.

• Each of the 3 Discernment Teams (Communication, Administration and Mission Values), reported on their progress as we continue to move forward with seeking God’s will if the 3 presbyteries should unite into one.

• The 3 moderators of the councils of the 3 presbyteries along with our staff, are planning for the All Iowa Gathering on Saturday, August 29, at the Northminster Church in Ames. A key component of this event will be to update all participants on where we are in the discernment process.  There will also be a variety of workshops for people to attend.  If at all possible, please try to attend!

• The moderators and staff are also planning an event for an in-person gathering of all 3 councils the day before in Ames.