December 19, 2022

Dear Congregational Partner,
On behalf of the Steering Committee of the Center and the Presbytery of Baltimore, we wanted to wish you a joyful holiday season and a prosperous new year. We wanted to send you an update about the Center’s future programming.
No matter the length of our relationship, you as a member of the presbytery have had a significant impact on our ability to equip churches and individuals to engage with their neighborhoods to make our communities more just.
2022 has been a time of tremendous transition for The Center. We sent off our founding executive director, the Rev. Kate Foster, and our assistant director, the Rev. McKenna Lewellen to their next ministry contexts. We also welcomed the Rev. Dr. Shayla Redfearn as our interim program director. In the fall, we said goodbye to our beloved dormitory space, which many of you have stayed in, and many others have helped repair, paint, clean, and restore. As of December 31, 2022, the Center will send off its remaining staff members, Rev. Dr. Shayla Redfearn and Elizabeth Baer, as we close out the calendar year.
We are optimistic for the future as we head into 2023. Our Steering Committee is engaged with the strategic plan of the Presbytery of Baltimore’s strategic plan and is also thinking about how we can continue to live into our vision statement. We are committed to using the gifts that have been entrusted to us as faithfully as possible. We expect this process to be clearer after the March Presbytery Gathering and the announcement of the new staffing model.
We understand that some of you may have questions about the continuation of the Center’s mission. We look forward to sharing more news on how to become involved in the future direction of community engagement in the Presbytery of Baltimore.
With gratitude,
- Rev. Dr. Shayla Redfearn, Interim Program Director
- Elder JT Paulk, Co-chair, Steering Committee
- Rev. Michele Ward, Co-chair, Steering Committee