Mission Yearbook: Loving our neighbor is a community action, pastor says

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The Rev. Theresa Cho

The Annual Event for the Association of Partners in Christian Education closed as it opened, with worship and insightful preaching by the Rev. Therese Cho.

Cho is pastor and head of staff at St. John’s Presbyterian Church in San Francisco. She also preached during opening worship of the Annual Event.

According to the liturgy for the service, God spoke through the prophet Ezekiel during the Babylonian exile about the need to “turn from their wicked ways and live.” God told Jeremiah, “I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sin.”

“Even the most foolish among us is loved,” the liturgy made clear for the crowd meeting in person in Pittsburgh and online. “Even dry bones will draw breath and know that God is God.”

“We know the good news is not for us alone. It is a light that is meant to be spread,” the liturgy stated, “a feast that is meant to be shared.”

Drawing from Galatians 3:23–29, Cho noted that the community of Galatia Paul was writing to, in modern-day Turkey, “was trying to discern what makes them a community,” she said. Was it circumcision? Knowing Scripture? Believing a certain way?

It was much more. “Jesus’ ministry was about bettering the lives of people by restoring them to God and one another, showing them how to love their neighbor,” Cho said. “If we aren’t addressing real-life problems, then the faith we practice is hollow.”

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Officer Clemmons and Mister Rogers cool their feet during a segment of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" (WikiMedia photo)

She showed the well-known clip from 1969 of Mister Rogers and François Scarborough Clemmons, known in Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood as Officer Clemmons, soaking their feet together on a hot day. “They didn’t want Black people to swim in the swimming pools,” Clemmons said years later. “Mister Rogers said, ‘that’s ridiculous.’”

“When I see this clip, I think of the time Jesus washed Peter’s feet,” Cho said. “Here’s Mister Rogers and Officer Clemmons doing that together.”

Cho recalled earlier ministry when she would carefully hold babies being treated at a San Francisco hospital. “I would hold children connected to way too many machines,” she said. “I would hold them very carefully so they knew in my arms they would not be poked or prodded or disturbed.”

“I didn’t have to know how to make them better,” she said, “but I had the arms to hold them. I wonder if that’s what the world could use now — cuddling. Presence.” She identified being present as one of the most difficult things students must learn in their chaplaincy training, “to witness the most vulnerable moments in a person’s life. It can call us to listen to their story and not tell ours.”

“I feel that’s when we have narrowed the gap — when the tears start flowing and we start to see one another as a child of God, a neighbor, and even divine and holy.”

Cho taught those in worship a pair of commonly used Korean phrases. One is used to acknowledge a server or barista “has been doing the hard work.”

“It’s been hard, huh? It’s been difficult” throughout the country in the past week or two, she said.

The second phrase is a goodbye phrase and serves as “an acknowledgement you are doing the good work,” she said.

“There have been generations before us and there will be generations after us that have been and will do the good work,” Cho said. Actions in Minneapolis and “in cities across the country are evidence of that, that what remains is love.”

She ended her reflection with a word of thanks. “Because you are you, I know there is a God greater than anything I can ever imagine. Because you are you, I have been loved into being,” she said. “Because you are you, I know that loving my neighbor is not a solo endeavor but a community action.”

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service (Click here to read original PNS Story)

Let us join in prayer for:

Charles Baker, Production Clerk, Presbyterian Distribution Service, Administrative Services Group
Kristine Baker, Associate for Risk Management, Administrative Services Group                   

Let us pray:

Gracious God, giver of every good and perfect gift, thank you for calling us to your service. Help us to be cheerful in using your gifts to us for the common good of     others — to your glory. Amen.

Mission Yearbook: APCE workshop focuses on expanding partnerships between churches and schools to help neighbors

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The Rev. Suzanne Parker Miller

Dressed in a “I [heart] public schools” T-shirt and clerical collar, the Rev. Suzanne Parker Miller, an ordained Moravian pastor and the founder and executive director of Pastors for North Carolina Children, led an interactive workshop during the Annual Event of the Association of Partners in Christian Education titled “Expanding Church & School Partnerships to Help Neighbors Thrive.”

Parker Miller sprinkled her workshop with food references, including welcoming “the cookie dough principle” for discussion, in which “half-baked ideas are OK” and calling “both popcorn and crockpots welcome.”

She asked participants: What are your churches doing in partnership with local schools?

One reported that her church, which is across the street from a public high school, collects hygiene products and winter coats, gloves and hats, and has provided “snack support” for faculty and other school staff. The school uses the church’s sanctuary for its concerts.

Another said the congregation, “after asking what they need,” provides classroom supplies that teachers would otherwise have to purchase themselves. The church also supplies bags of hard candy for children while they’re taking state-mandated tests. It opened its building and, importantly, its wi-fi capability during the pandemic.

A third reported that after a series of school shootings, pastors and others on staff “had a daily presence” at a nearby school and served as hall monitors.

“One church I know of feeds teachers’ breakfast early in the year and has a wall with prayer requests [from school staff] for the year,” Parker Miller said. “Church members took those and prayed for educators throughout the year. It was meaningful for the staff.”

Churches that participate in advocacy “have to answer the ‘we don’t do politics’ argument,” she said. “If we aren’t talking about politics, we aren’t talking about the gospel. Politics is how we govern and live together. What we don’t like is partisanship.”

According to Parker Miller, the growth in Christian nationalism has increased the need for even more advocacy connected to school vouchers, the defunding of public education, book bans, the placement of the Ten Commandments in classrooms and “chaplains” replacing school counselors.

Christian nationalism shows up in schools in several forms, she noted, including release time for religious education and prayer in schools.

“If your goal is to proselytize,” she said, “please stay away [from public schools].”

She said that if the goal is to begin or enhance the church’s partnership with a local school, here are some questions to consider:

• Who in the church might be interested in participating?
• What gifts and talents does the church have to share?
• How much time, energy and resources does the church have to allocate to this partnership?
• Who in the church already has a connection to a school?
• What are the demographics of the school, including how many students receive free and reduced lunches, are Spanish speakers and are academically gifted?
• What barriers might get in the way?
• What groups in the community are in partnership with the school already?
• Who do we need to meet with to explore the idea? Who are the stakeholders?
• What are the greatest needs of the school, according to the principal, counselor, social worker, nurse, teachers, the PTA and others?

She also left participants with these tips for forming and maintaining effective partnerships:

• The students and the school are always the priority — not the church and its needs.
• All glory is for God, and not the church’s ego.
• Don’t create more work for the school.
• Joining a team with other community partners is a great way to start. Silos are not helpful.
• Treat all children with respect and equality. Don’t play favorites or create jealousy.

Learn more about church and school partnerships here.

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service (Click here to read original PNS Story)

Let us join in prayer for:

Nora Baez, Lead Reservation Specialist, Stony Point Center, Presbyterian Life & Witness
Amber Baker, Donor Advised Fund Specialist, Operations, Presbyterian Foundation                                

Let us pray:

God of us all, we give thanks that you bridge the gaps of age, language and culture. Guide us as we partner with our brothers and sisters around the world and give us open hearts and minds to hear your voice. Amen.

Mission Yearbook: Armstrong calls for beloved community

From the pulpit earlier in Shelton Chapel at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, the Rev. CeCe Armstrong wondered aloud about the bonds among Jesus’ close friends, especially Mary, Martha and Lazarus. Armstrong, Co-Moderator of the 226th General Assembly (2024), was the preacher for the MidWinter Lectures, in its 81st year at Austin Seminary.

“They probably did ministry together,” Armstrong said of the four, drawing on John 11:38–44, the raising of Lazarus, as her preaching text. “Whatever others thought, they were friends, and they did the work God called them to do together.”

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Photo by Markus Winkler via Unsplash

Earlier in John 11, Martha goes to meet Jesus and tells him that he waited too long to make his appearance. Jesus reminds her who he is — the resurrection and the life. “She relied on their long-lasting relationship and agreed with Jesus’ claim, but is disappointed in the timing of it all,” Armstrong said. “How many times have we neglected to see God at work because it didn’t turn out like we had planned it?”

When Mary finds Jesus, she kneels at his feet, weeping, and tells Jesus that Lazarus would be alive if Jesus had only arrived sooner. “God is compassionate and loving, and so Jesus cries,” Armstrong noted. “Isn’t it strange how those outside the situation always seem to have a solution to your problem? They are always talking about how the situation could have been different.”

Lazarus is entombed and a stone blocks the entrance to the cave. When Jesus calls for its removal, Armstrong, quoting Martha, says, “there may be a stench.”

“Jesus was not concerned about that stinky smell,” Armstrong said. “Smell or no smell, she would see the glory of God.”

When Jesus prays, it’s “not a plea for a miracle” or a “woe is me” prayer, Armstrong said. “Jesus’ prayer was a prayer of understanding that the glory of God would be revealed. It was a prayer of thanksgiving. Jesus says, ‘I know that you always hear me, but I have said this so the crowd would believe that you sent me.’”

Instead of asking Lazarus, “would you like to come out now?” Jesus speaks “with conviction and power,” Armstrong said. When Lazarus emerges still bound, Jesus instructs those nearby to unbind him. He was speaking to “the nosy folks standing nearby,” Armstrong said.

“Friends, I don’t know if anybody has told you: you are the ‘them’ Jesus was talking to,” Armstrong said. “We are the ‘them’ in this text.”

“Could Lazarus take his own strips of cloth off with his hands and his feet bound? No. It is the requirement of the beloved community,” she said. “It is our responsibility to take grave clothes off, to tend to the ones who are bound.”

“We get so caught up in the miracle of the dead man coming to life,” she said, “that we don’t hear Jesus’ command to take the grave clothes off.”

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The Rev. CeCe Armstrong

“We must be willing to be on this journey to serve,” as Armstrong and her fellow Co-Moderator, the Rev. Tony Larson, are. “We can’t see something without saying something.”

Turning to protests in Minneapolis and other U.S. cities, Armstrong said Jesus “is expecting us to care for ourselves and to help others when we can. Now would be a really good time to revisit the Matthew 25 text. Helping those in need is being obedient to God and upholds your responsibility as the beloved community.”

“Wouldn’t you want help taking your grave clothes off?” she asked. “Why wouldn’t you do that for someone else?”

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service (Click here to read original PNS Story)

Let us join in prayer for:

Katherine Babicz, AVP Financial & Investment Planning Professional, Trust Services, Presbyterian Foundation
Margaret Boone, Project Manager, Special Offerings, Administrative Services Group

Let us pray:

God of the young and the old, we thank you for the opportunity to learn and grow together. Continue to stretch our boundaries, that we may ever grow into the people you have created us to be. Amen.

Mission Yearbook: Atlanta minister connects faith, law and advocacy

The Rev. Rebekah LeMon never abandoned her legal training when she entered ministry. Instead, she discovered that advocacy — the core skill of any lawyer — is also a fundamental calling for people of faith.

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The Rev. Rebekah LeMon (contributed photo)

“Advocacy is not a tricky word for lawyers. It is the job, right?” LeMon recently told host the Rev. Dr. Katie Givens Kime on Day1’s podcast. LeMon explained how vox, the root for “voice,” is in the word “advocate.” “You are literally ‘voicing,’” she said, adding that as a lawyer, “you are speaking for someone, and that is what you’re preparing to do.”

LeMon, senior pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, brought her legal background into conversation with her pastoral vocation during the episode, which featured her sermon “Be Humble Walking,” based on Micah 6:1–8.

The attorney-turned-minister acknowledged that while advocacy comes naturally in legal settings, it often creates discomfort in congregations. “Advocacy becomes a little trickier for church people sometimes,” she said, attributing this hesitation partly to “the deep rootedness of partisanship in our world right now that people associate advocacy with taking a partisan position.”

Over seven years ago, her call led LeMon to join the board of Presbyterians for a Better Georgia, an organization designed to give people of faith practical tools for civic engagement while breaking down partisan walls. “The goal of our systems and the goal of our legislative process are for the good of all, right? It is not meant to create benefit for some and lack or punishment for others,” she said.

LeMon identified a troubling disconnect in how Christians approach need. “So many people of faith would feel totally comfortable helping a person, right? We’ve read Matthew 25, we understand that people need — if they are hungry, we’re to feed them; if they are thirsty, we’re to give them drink; if they’re estranged, we’re to welcome them,” she said. “Somehow that feels comfortable if there’s a person in front of you and a material thing you can give them. But the systemic expression of that, which is let us change the system that is keeping people from having access to housing, or that is preserving food deserts, or that is alienating people from their home spaces, which are exactly the same things listed in Matthew 25, somehow the system level really scares people or makes them think they’re going to offend somebody.”

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Volunteers of Presbyterians for a Better Georgia on Lobby Day 2024. (Photo by Rich Copley)

Advocacy, she argued, simply extends individual acts of mercy to address root causes. “We’re doing it in these really beautiful and important ways for humans we know. And the logical step is, let’s do it for humans we don’t know yet, and let’s change the system so our expression of fulfilling the command of Matthew 25 is not limited to one person at a time,” LeMon said. “That's what advocacy is really — you're trying to change the thing that causes the need to begin with.”

Presbyterians for a Better Georgia facilitates this work by taking positions on legislation and partnering with other nonprofits to amplify collective voices, particularly around housing, homelessness, and health care for all Georgians, LeMon said. 

The organization provides what LeMon called “a fertile training ground for breaking down some of this partisanship stuff that's overlaying all of our lives right now.” 

“I’ve never heard advocacy described quite that way,” Kime responded, “and to hear it in a moment now when there’s such muddle about what it means to be faithful and to act in the civic sphere, right? In a moment when, like, oh, that’s so dangerous.”

In her sermon “Be Humble Walking,” Lemon reflected on Micah’s call to “do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with your God.” She emphasized that humility is not humiliation but rather “a way of being as you stick with God for the journey of a lifetime.” Noting that “our Lord was a walker,” moving from town to town throughout his ministry, Lemon framed Christian discipleship as walking alongside God rather than positioning ourselves defensively with “arms crossed, ready to self-defend.”

Addressing contemporary challenges to truth and humility, LeMon said, “In a world that settles for truthiness ... let us acknowledge we have so much to learn ... so much to change.”

Beth Waltemath, Communications Strategist, Presbyterian Life & Witness (Click here to read original PNS Story)

Let us join in prayer for:

Molly Atkinson, Senior Administrative Assistant, Financial Aid Service, Presbyterian Life & Witness
Yesenia Ayala,  Associate, Financial Aid for Service, Presbyterian Life & Witness

Let us pray:

God of all generations, open us to your call to love you and our neighbor no matter what our age, no matter what our talent, no matter what else we may have to do. May those who serve and those who are served feel like partner in your church, which hopes for the shelter, nurture and spiritual fellowship of the children of God. Amen.

God's Mission Our Gifts - Your September Mission and Service Stories and more!

Emancipation Day August 1, 2026 marked Emancipation Day, commemorating the legal abolition of slavery on the land that is now Canada. It’s a day to remember our history, acknowledge that racism continues to impact lives today, and renew our commitment to building a more just and equitable future. This Emancipation Day, The United Church of Canada Foundation extended an invitation to help sustain anti-racism initiatives across the church. You can still make a gift. Gifts will support programs that address racial injustice and create opportunities for learning, healing, and conversation. Powerful anti-racism initiatives are happening across our church in response to the truths that racialized and Indigenous Peoples have bravely shared and acknowledge their stories of resistance and strength. Contributions to the Foundation are an investment in these crucial initiatives, such as:   The United Church of Canada’s 40 Days of Engagement on Anti-Racism, which encourages vital conversations about racial discrimination across our church communities. Our involvement in Fund Canada, which aims to unlock $500 million in grants by 2030, focusing on underfunded leaders and underrepresented voices. This funding will transform communities by investing in leaders with lived experiences to drive necessary change. The Indigenous and Racialized Youth Scholars Program, an investment in young leaders in the church, encouraging their participation in dialogues that shape the future of our society.   Together, we can continue the work of becoming an anti-racist church. The giving page is online. Your September Mission and Service Stories PowerPoint slides for each story are available on the Mission and Service Resources page. September 6 Leaders in the Making At Camp Kee-Mo-Kee, emerging senior staff are discovering what it means to lead with the support of an experienced mentor who can coach, encourage, and step in wherever needed. As staff grow in confidence and capability, they are better equipped to create a caring, meaningful summer for every camper. September 13 Food4Fun Children spend their PA Days getting their hands in the soil, learning their way around the kitchen, and discovering the joy of doing things together. For children with different abilities and needs, the welcoming program offers a place to explore, build confidence, make connections, and perhaps discover a new love of gardening or cooking. September 20 Crossing Class Lines Crossing Class Lines begins with something wonderfully simple: people sitting around the same table, sharing a home-cooked meal and getting to know one another. From there, honest conversations about poverty, privilege, and lived experience can unfold, creating space for deeper understanding and relationships across economic differences. September 27 Restoring Sacred Connections Healing with Horses brings people together with the land, community, and the gentle strength of horses, including four rare Ojibwe Spirit Horses that have found their way home. Through riding, caring for the horses, traditional teachings, and time together, participants are finding new ways to reconnect, express themselves, and begin to heal.

Why be a Mission and Service Volunteer? You love the Mission and Service stories and want to share them: you’ve been reading the stories on the website every now and then, and you think they would inspire your congregation – if only you could hear about how other people were using them! As a volunteer, you can have Mission and Service stories for the upcoming month sent right to your email inbox. They’re part of a weekly email with lots of information you can use.  You can also virtually meet other Mission and Service volunteers and learn what works for them!  Contact us today to learn more!      Mission and Service Volunteer Program    The United Church of Canada Foundation  ms@united-church.ca    1-800-465-3771  Gifts with Vision News   Looking for a gift that gives twice? The Gifts with Vision online catalogue is brimming with meaningful ways to celebrate birthdays, holidays, milestones, or even "just because!" From supporting food security and education to caring for creation and emergency response, there's something for everyone. Take a look... you might just find the perfect gift. Take a look now! Questions? Email Gifts with Vision. You can also call us at 1-844-715-7969. Congregational Stewardship/Generosity   Don’t forget, as of July 2026, you can find Stewardship resources and support through the Community of Faith Stewardship page on The United Church of Canada website. Special Event: Project Ploughshares Marks 50 Years of Peacebuilding Celebrate 50 years of Project Ploughshares on the United Nations’ International Day of Peace. The anniversary gala will be held Monday, September 21, at 6:00 p.m. at Federation Hall, University of Waterloo, and will feature dinner and a keynote address by the Honourable Lloyd Axworthy. Tickets are $70. Proceeds support Project Ploughshares’ continuing research, advocacy, and action for global peace. Register today! GOD’S MISSION, OUR GIFTS is your newsletter. We want to provide news and information that you can use in your community of faith, whether you’re a minister, a board member, an administrator, a treasurer, or anyone else who wants to make a difference.   What else would you like to see? What can we do to help your community of faith get where it needs to go? Send us your thoughts! Donate Facebook Website Email Instagram YouTube LinkedIn   Your generosity enables the United Church to love, serve, and minister in the world. Make an online donation or learn more about your options to support the work of the church.

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