Mission Yearbook: NWC leaders learn strategies for sustainable fundraising

For new worshiping communities across the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), securing sustainable funding while staying true to their mission presents unique challenges. Traditional fundraising models often don't fit the realities of small, emerging communities led by bi-vocational leaders serving diverse populations. 

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The Rev. Nikki Collins (second from left) at the Lake Institute workshop for 1001 New Worshiping Communities leaders (Photos by Shawn Kang).

The Lake Institute on Faith & Giving recently partnered with the 1001 New Worshiping Communities movement to address these challenges, offering specialized training to 21 leaders and three staff members. The workshop, held at a discounted rate for the network, provided tools for integrating financial stewardship with theological vision. 

“We are grateful to the Lake Institute for offering this training to our network at a significant discount,” said the Rev. Nikki Collins, manager of the 1001 New Worshiping Communities movement. “Beyond that, in the planning for this event, the Lake Institute staff worked with Jeya So, associate for training, 1001 NWC, to tailor some of their materials for the unique context of starting new worshiping communities and for working across cultural contexts.” 

Collins emphasized the quality of the program, noting that facilitators brought both expert knowledge and deep personal experience in congregational giving while creating space for participants to explore their own relationship to money. 

Looking ahead, Collins said 1001 NWC will continue listening to the needs of new worshiping community leaders and their supporting presbyteries to identify additional training that will lead to sustainability and flourishing. 

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The Rev. Jeya So, associate for training for 1001 New Worshiping Communities, presents at the Lake Institute workshop.

The training offered a crucial shift in perspective: viewing stewardship not merely as fundraising but as spiritual formation. This reframing resonated deeply with Peter Okyere, a Ph.D. candidate and digital ministry strategist who leads A Light to the Nations, a new worshiping community that began in Worthington, Ohio, in 2023. 

As coordinator for immigrants and refugees in Scioto Valley Presbytery, Okyere launched the Matthew 25 initiative with connections to Delaware, Ohio, and ministry partnerships in Ghana and Nigeria. The multicultural, justice-oriented community aims to embody hospitality and provide a spiritual home for people seeking authentic connection across cultures. 

Okyere said he hoped to gain practical tools for aligning fundraising and resource development with the mission of multicultural ministry while ensuring sustainability and remaining faithful to core values. The training delivered on that hope, emphasizing entrepreneurial thinking and adaptive leadership for communities building from the ground up. 

"The training reminded me that generosity grows when people see how their gifts advance God's mission," Okyere said. "I plan to integrate narrative storytelling into our ministry — sharing testimonies of transformation that inspire giving and deepen engagement. This will help our community connect financial practices with discipleship and justice." 

Learning to communicate mission and invite others into generosity while building sustainability without losing the heart of ministry drove one leader's participation in the training. Katia Regina DaCunha, founder and executive director of Latinx In Action, leads its emerging new worshiping community serving immigrant families on Cape Cod in the Presbytery of Southern New England. 

The community began informally in 2017 in Hyannis, Massachusetts, responding to spiritual hunger among newly arrived immigrant families experiencing trauma and isolation. Prayer gatherings and pastoral care naturally grew into a worshiping community rooted in dignity, hope and hospitality, creating space where people encounter God's presence in their own language, culture and story. 

An elder currently pursuing ordination through Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, DaCunha said she hoped to gain tools for sustainable leadership, fundraising with integrity and the building of generous cultures that fit multicultural and immigrant contexts. The training offered practical and accessible frameworks that spoke directly to the realities of small, emerging and often under-resourced communities. 

During a practical exercise, DaCunha shared the community's Emergency Safe Planning Program for immigrant families who may face encounters with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The feedback she received proved invaluable. 

“Their insights helped me see even more clearly how essential this program is for the safety, stability and dignity of our families,” DaCunha said. “I left with concrete ideas on how to communicate its impact and invite partners to support it.” She identified strengthening and funding this program as a priority moving forward. 

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

Let us join in prayer for:

Atticus Gore, Summer Fellow, Office of Public Witness – Washington, Presbyterian Life & Witness
Austin Lane, Summer Fellow, Office of Public Witness – Washington, Presbyterian Life & Witness    

Let us pray:

Creator God, we give thanks for the gift of compassion. We pray for comfort for all. Amen.

Minute for Mission: Immigration Sunday

For your steadfast love is higher than the heavens, and your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. — Psalm 108:4

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(Provided by Amanda Craft)

This moment in the United States is one marked by division. For immigrant communities, the moment is marked by threats, fear and repression of rights. We witness arrests at courthouses as immigrants comply with the legal requirements for their cases. Arrests, detention and deportations separate families. We lament the impact of fear-based tactics on church communities, as many immigrant members live in fear. Division and trauma disrupt all facets of life.

As communities stand up peacefully to government overreach in immigration enforcement, we witness the erosion and repression of fundamental rights and values. Religious liberties and the right to public witness have been key values in the country. The Presbyterian Church has centuries of social witness policy that urges members to partake in public witness activities participating in God’s mercy, love and peace. The church also has a history of advocating just immigration laws and demanding the change of structures that cause harm on approach to practicing faith. The Scripture urges believers to awake to the goodness God promises. This steadfast love extends beyond human imagination and understanding. It is offered to all nations, to all people.

May we endeavor to be awake to this kind of love by finding ways to bring communities together, seeking protection and peace. Joining others to pursue ways to protect immigrant communities and ensure rights are examples of being awake to God’s presence and faithfulness. Support immigrant communities by connecting with immigrant rights groups in your area as they mobilize.

Amanda Craft, Manager of Immigration Advocacy, PC(USA)

Let us join in prayer for:

Serena Dowling, Summer Fellow, Office of Public Witness – Washington, Presbyterian Life & Witness
Tucker Samuelian, Summer Fellow, Office of Public Witness – Washington, Presbyterian Life & Witness

Let us pray:

Faithful God, give us courage to seek your love. Give us courage to join our voice with others. May we remember what is lost when we do not. Protect those who urgently need your refuge and care. Amen. 

Mission Yearbook: Fourth of July: A Chaplain’s Vision

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 “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” — Proverbs 29:18 (KJV)

On Independence Day, we remember that freedom has always carried both promise and cost. The long journey toward our nation’s independence was marked by courage, uncertainty, sacrifice and deep division. Behind every milestone were people who had to hold steady to a vision of hope when the future was unclear.

That same need for vision remains with us today, especially in the ministry of chaplains. Chaplains are called to walk the difficult roads with others — in hospitals, prisons, military settings, veterans’ communities and places of public service. They stand beside people in moments of grief, fear, transition, injury, loneliness and moral struggle. Their calling is not only to speak of God’s presence but to embody it through listening, compassion, wisdom and faithful care.

A chaplain’s vision is rooted in the truth that no one should walk alone. In places where burdens are heavy and answers are few, chaplains offer a ministry of presence that reminds people they are seen, valued and not forgotten by God. This work often unfolds quietly, one conversation, one prayer, one act of mercy at a time. Yet through these small faithful acts, hearts are strengthened, and hope is renewed.

As we celebrate July 4, we give thanks not only for the freedoms we cherish but also for those who serve others along hard roads. We remember chaplains who carry Christ’s compassion into complex and demanding places, and we pray for the strength, courage, humility and endurance their calling requires. May their witness help others find peace, dignity and hope even in the midst of hardship.

On this day of remembrance and gratitude, may we honor those who have sacrificed for freedom and those who continue to serve through ministries of care. And may God grant us all a clearer vision to be instruments of healing, encouragement and grace in a world that longs for hope.

The Rev. Dennis Hysom is the Executive Director of the Presbyterian Federal Chaplaincies and a retired Army Chaplain.

Let us join in prayer for:

Orla Connaughton, Reference Archivist, Presbyterian Historical Society, Presbyterian Life & Witness
Wyatt Betler, Summer Fellow, Office of Public Witness – Washington, Presbyterian Life & Witness

Let us pray:

Gracious God, on this Independence Day, we thank you for the gift of freedom and for all who have sacrificed in its defense. We lift before you the chaplains who serve in the Veterans Affairs, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Department of Defense, hospitals and many other places of need. Strengthen them to be faithful ministers of your peace, steady voices of hope and compassionate companions to those in their care. Give them wisdom for each encounter, courage for each burden and grace for each day. Through their service, may others glimpse your love and find renewed strength. Amen.

Mission Yearbook: Making the case for generosity

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The Rev. Dr. Corey Nelson led a workshop at the 2025 Stewardship Kaleidoscope in New Orleans (Photo by Gregg Brekke)

When the Rev. Dr. Corey Nelson arrived as the new senior pastor at First Presbyterian Church of Fort Collins, Colorado, in 2016, he soon discovered that “there was a lot of distrust and anxiety around talking about the church’s financial management practices.”

Members wondered, “How are the decisions being made? Who is in the room when the decisions are being made? And what voices not in the room are still being heard, such as significant members of the congregation who are not in formal leadership roles?”

Nelson shared some of what he had learned in the ensuing years during a workshop at Stewardship Kaleidoscope, a conference presented by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

The church had a tradition of donor confidentiality; the only person who had access to specific individual giving records was the financial secretary. The senior pastor did not have access to that information. The previous pastor did not encourage pledging by members, leaving the session without good data to prepare a budget for the upcoming year. The secrecy and lack of clarity had created skepticism, and even cynicism, in the congregation.

Nelson knew he needed better information. To gather it, he applied the theological principle of exegesis: careful study of Scripture to understand it better.

“I applied exegesis to the financial structure of my new church,” Nelson said. “I looked at the history of financial management, the historical patterns of giving and pledging (which had been implemented by the interim pastor), and what concerns needed to be addressed.”

Nelson began to talk regularly and consistently about belief in the mission, leadership and stewardship of the church.

He also persuaded the session to create a narrative budget to tell the story of how the congregation’s gifts were serving the mission of the church and spreading the light of God in the community and the world. This budget serves as the framework for the church’s communications program throughout the year, including video testimonials from members. The eight-page printed document focuses on how those gifts made a difference last year and will make a difference next year.

The narrative budget placed funds in categories that more clearly explained how the money was being used: Leadership, Purpose, Challenges/Opportunities, Stories of Impact, and a Financial Overview, which can include specific budgetary items, such as a projected increase in expenditures and the need for increased revenue. Personnel expenses, the largest component of the church budget, are distributed across ministry areas rather than shown as a lump sum.

Nelson, who describes the focus of his doctoral program as “philanthropy through the ‘yes’ of the church,” shared an approach to preaching generosity that has been effective in overcoming the skepticism in his congregation. “Living Generously, Living Abundantly” focuses on why someone is motivated to give before determining what and how they give.

Nelson described a visual presentation he uses in his church to illustrate the process of making philanthropic decisions. He places three buckets, one inside the other, on the chancel. The first, he said, is “What I know about.” The second is “What I care about.” The final, smallest bucket, is “What I act on.”

“It feels weird as a Christian to say there are things I don’t care about,” he acknowledged. “But it is impossible to care effectively about all the things we know of. What I care about are the things that resonate with me.”

The illustration proceeds logically, and grounds individual acts of stewardship and philanthropy in the larger spectrum of collective generosity. “I can only know so much in a world full information. And I can only care about the things I know about,” Nelson said. “Finally, I act on the things I care about. I trust that God has other brothers and sisters who care about the things I don’t and will act on them with generosity.”

Once the motivation is established, giving becomes an act of worship, not duty. “In our generosity, we are partners with God in the world God intends for us,” Nelson said. “You are engaging in worship when you give to the church.”

Chuck Toney for the Presbyterian Foundation (Click here to read original PNS Story)

Let us join in prayer for:

Shelby Reedus, NCTC Administrative Officer, Trust Services, The Presbyterian Foundation
Martha Reisner,  Director, Affiliated Markets, Engagement & Church Relations, The Board of Pensions  

Let us pray:

Make us worthy, Lord, to serve our fellow human beings throughout the world who live and die in poverty and hunger. Give them through our hands this day their daily bread, and by our understanding love, give peace and joy. Amen.

Mission Yearbook: Exploring discernment in a changing church

Continuing a “Leading Theologically” series exploring discernment, the Rev. Zoë Garry recently invited the Rev. Ann-Henley Nicholson, vice president of Enrollment Management and Vocational Outreach at Columbia Theological Seminary, to be her guest. Listen to their 34-minute conversation here.

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Nicholson, a former actor in New York City, told Garry that discernment became part of her practice “well before I was aware I was doing that.” She’s often wrestled with answering the question, “what is my greatest and highest use?”

Asked what questions she’s been hearing recently from students, Nicholson said they include “how might they meet this moment they and the country find themselves in” as well as “how can they articulate what they believe in a way that helps them and doesn’t harm others” and “how might they disrupt what they have come to know about God … and about themselves in an environment that encourages that kind of intellectual and theological curiosity.”

“Some need us to demystify what theological education is. Others are familiar with it and have wrestled with a call to ministry, some for decades,” Nicholson noted. “If they’re invested in the church and they want to see the church continue to exist, then God’s going to continue to call people. Usually when you remind people of that, someone hears a call.”

When Garry was a campus minister, she would ask every senior she could, “are you feeling a call to ministry?”

“I was astounded at how many students would say yes,” Garry said.

Increasing numbers of seminary students aren’t hearing a specific call to serve a faith community, Nicholson said. “I like to say that God’s call always lies beyond the limits of my imagination,” she told Garry.

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The Rev. Zoë Garry

Possessing a “healthy dose of humility and humanity” is “an opportunity for letting the Spirit come in and do its work,” Nicholson said. “It’s also a healthy recognition that this is Jesus’ ministry we have been called to be part of. It’s not ours.”

When Nicholson was a seminarian, “I had to remind myself that we are a community of shepherds, but we are also sheep,” she said. “That continues to preach to me. If I am practicing my ministry from that place, it means I am acknowledging my humanity and my reliance on others and all of Creation and most especially God, within and among us.”

Our Reformed theology reminds us “that ministry is something we’ve all been called to, whether or not we go to seminary,” Nicholson said. “We believe ministry is not restricted to those wearing robes.”

In the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), “we really do hang our hat on the sense that we cannot do this alone, that God is God and we are not. We need each other and we need all the different gifts within the kingdom to be a fuller human and a fuller church.”

Garry asked Nicholson what’s changed in PC(USA)-related seminaries and what’s remained the same. “You’re crushing it with your questions, Zoë!” Nicholson said, noting the “increase in diversity of thought, theology and vocational possibilities” present in today’s seminaries. Some students are called to ordained ministry. Others are interested in chaplaincy work. “More and more are drawn to pastoral care and counseling,” Nicholson said, while others see their future serving in nonprofit sectors or new worshiping communities.

“We are seeing people called to serve a church that doesn’t yet exist, and yet they are faithful to God’s leaning on their life and the Spirit leading them to seminary to discern how they might use these skills,” Nicholson said. “We’re also seeing more and more imagination in our faculty and their openness to the ways they are called to form and transform these current students and this future ever-evolving church.”

“The constant,” Nicholson said, “is that God continues to call people to ministry in so many different ways, which continues to sing to my heart, reminding me that God is not going to leave the church without a witness. I believe this with all my heart.”

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

Let us join in prayer for:

Vaughn Ratliff, HR Specialist, Human Resources, Administrative Services Group
Rebecca Rayner, Paralegal, Legal & Risk Management, Administrative Services Group

Let us pray:

Lord of all times, nations and peoples, help us to see each other through your eyes, celebrating the love you have given that binds us together. We ask your blessing upon the churches and peoples, so that we might be and make disciples in your name. Amen.

World Communion Offering Update Resources and Grants

World Communion Offering Announcements In preparation for the World Communion Offering, we wanted to remind you of a few important dates. Sept. 6, A Season of Preparation begins. Oct. 4, the World Communion Offering is received, on World Communion Sunday World Communion Offering Resources You can find resources for this year’s first-ever World Communion Offering on our website, ready for download. Or you can order printed resources from the PC(USA) Store. Watch for emails highlighting specific World Communion Offering resources later this summer. Download World Communion Offering Resources World Communion Offering Grant Updates! Information on the grant program has now been solidified and will be forthcoming. It will include a timeline, what the grants should be used for, details on who can apply and contact information for questions you may have. Watch your inbox for more information coming next week!  Visit our website for more information about the World Communion Offering and to download resources. We are the Church. Together. Thank you for generously supporting the World Communion Offering.   If you have any questions, reply to this email or call us at (800) 728-7228, Ext. 5047.

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Mission Yearbook: Former students celebrate 100 years of ministry at University of Oregon

When Jennifer Daniels wants to connect with students at the University of Oregon, she doesn't start with theology — she starts with toast.

“Last winter, I thought that maybe the smell of toast might bring in the students for coffee and snack,” Daniels, the current director of the UKirk campus ministry at the University of Oregon, told alumni recently gathered to celebrate the ministry’s 100th anniversary. “By the end of winter term, students were asking if we could keep making toast through the spring, and now we have Toast Tuesday as a regular activity.”

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A crowd gathers at the ministry center for the open house of Compass Campus Ministry, which celebrated 100 years of Presbyterian campus ministry at the University of Oregon in November 2025. (Photo by Austin Supanapong).

The simple weekly gathering exemplifies Daniels’ approach to reaching a new generation. “Something I’ve learned since I’ve been on campus with the students is that our message needs to be gentle, but it needs to be very clear,” she said. “I won’t mis-advertise anything. If it’s a Bible study, it’s a Bible study, and if it’s a Toast Tuesday, it’s just toast.”

That clarity matters to students who “have reservations” about faith communities, Daniels explained. “Many of the students have seen Christians on TV. They're also a generation that wants to know what’s behind the screen.”

The anniversary celebration, held at the university’s Ford Alumni Center, drew alumni, board members, presbytery leaders and friends to honor a ministry that has shaped countless lives since 1925. Tables decorated in university colors featured timelines where guests added memories, while old photo albums revealed decades of fellowship.

Among the speakers was Dr. Corey Schlosser-Hall, a deputy director of Presbyterian Life & Witness, who credited his undergraduate years at what was then called the Koinonia Center with transforming his life trajectory.

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The University of Oregon's UKirk board chair, the Rev. Dr. Liz Leavitt ,and comedian Tyler Boeh are pictured at the 100th anniversary of the campus ministry. (Photo contributed by Tyler Boeh)

“This was where I developed deep lifelong bonds, where I experienced true community,” Schlosser-Hall said. He spoke about the critical work of discernment that can happen during the college years and the support he received from campus pastors for that formative grappling. He encouraged supporters of the current program to stay engaged, reminding them how valuable this work is and how far-reaching the effects are.

“One of the most significant things that happened was kind of a deep vocational exploration,” Schlosser-Hall said, noting the table of friends who joined him — including his wife, the Rev. Adrienne Schlosser-Hall — all connected through campus ministry. “What happened through this campus ministry is we were not only given permission but also encouragement to explore: What does it mean to be a human in the world? What does it mean to be a human that’s trying to follow our Lord and Savior?”

He described how campus ministry became “a place of belonging that could be a place that you could launch from with some boldness because you knew you were valued.” The community celebrated his engagement and wedding and, decades later, sang at his daughter’s wedding. “It’s just become such a community of remarkable belonging that it’s shifted our lives in significant, meaningful ways.”

The Rev. Dr. Liz Leavitt, the current board president who served as co-chair of Presbyterian Collegiate Ministry from 2012 to 2015, traced the ministry’s evolution through its names. Originally Westminster House, it became the Koinonia Center in 1969. “Our little Presbyterian campus ministry has also always been a place where we can try new things in service to the gospel,” she said.

After months of discernment, the board decided the Greek term “Koinonia” no longer resonated with students unfamiliar with church. “We grappled with that for a while and eventually decided that something more identifiable would help us communicate who and what we are,” Leavitt said. Beginning this fall, the ministry is known as Compass Campus Ministry.

“It’s the same welcome we've spent 100 years offering, just a new identity that fits a new century,” Leavitt explained, distributing small compass tokens as reminders “that God is with you too, just as God has been in this ministry all these years.”

The celebration included greetings from the Rev. Paul Belz-Templeman, stated clerk for the Presbytery of the Cascades, and comedy from alumnus Tyler Boeh. Three former campus pastors were honored: the Revs. Tiare Mathison, Ann Bowersox and Jennifer Martin. Ed Willson of Central Presbyterian Church received special recognition for 17 years of board service. 

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

Let us join in prayer for:

Rick Purdy, HR Manager, Human Resources, Administrative Services Group
Douglas Portz, Vice President, Church Relations, Engagement & Church Relations, The Board of Pensions                    

Let us pray:

Dear God, thank you for raising up prophets in our midst to bring us good news. Accompany them in their journeys, and strengthen their ministries. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.