Mission Yearbook: GELs describe partnership model

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Staff representing global programs across Presbyterian Life & Witness meet with a partner in Villa El Sol, Peru. (Photo courtesy of Jed Koball)

Global Ecumenical Liaisons (GELs) the Rev. Jed Koball and Cindy Corell recently met virtually with members of Baltimore’s Brown Memorial Park Avenue Presbyterian Church, offering what Koball called the most important message of their presentation: “If you hear nothing else today from us, may you hear the words, ‘thank you.’”

Koball and Corell — two of the GELs serving in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s new office of Global Ecumenical Partnerships (GEP) — outlined a reimagined model of global engagement created in the wake of the closure of the PC(USA)’s World Mission in March 2025. That painful closure, Koball explained, came after “significant staff reductions” were announced in November 2024. “The money was no longer there to sustain this model of mission," he said, noting that the denomination acted when it did “in order to be able to provide those severance packages for mission co-workers.”  

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Indigenous women from the Andes Mountains in Peru. (Photo courtesy of Milagros Samillan, Lima, Peru)

“We needed to begin imagining a new model of how we’re going to engage the world and be in partnership,” Koball said. While acknowledging the pain caused by that transition and the gratitude for all who served under the previous model, Koball played a short video introducing Global Ecumenical Partnerships before Koball and Corell shared examples of the work of global ecumenical liaisons (GELs) and how this work is rooted in partnerships.

Corell, a U.S.-facing GEL, described the new office — part of the denomination’s Presbyterian Life & Witness — as staffed by 20 liaisons: 10 international-facing and 10 U.S.-facing. “All that we do continues to be rooted in partnerships,” she said, adding that Presbyterians pursue mission “with congregations, presbyteries, synods, ecumenical networks, NGOs and community-based movements.” Of the U.S.-facing GELs, several work closely with the 16 synods of the PC(USA) to connect mid councils, congregations and mission networks to the partnerships and resources of Global Ecumenical Partnerships, while others support churches and leaders within African, Middle Eastern, Latino/a/é, Native American/Indigenous, African American, Korean and Asian churches within the PC(USA). Four international-based Young Adult Volunteers, including Koball's wife, Jenny Valles, are closely aligned with the work of global partnerships. 

Early in the meeting, Brown Memorial church members shared their commitments to El Salvador, Cameroon, Cuba, the Lakota people, and local ministries that aligned closely with the priorities of the GEP program. “It’s incredibly encouraging and inspiring,” Koball told the congregation. “Very helpful for us, too, as we consider how we might grow our relationship with you.” 

Among several examples of global partnership, Koball highlighted work in the Andes Mountains of Peru, where PC(USA) offices collaborated to support Indigenous communities affected by climate change. He described a shared visit to the Andes with presbytery leaders and a General Assembly Co-Moderator and staff from Presbyterian Disaster Assistance,, the Presbyterian Hunger Program and the office of Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations. 

The group traveled to “learn from indigenous peoples, particularly how climate change is impacting them and how they are responding,” Koball said. The work reflects the denomination’s goal of centering “historically marginalized voices to generate solidarity,” but it also demonstrated the collaborative way that what is now PL&W is coming together in global partnerships. 

Corell lifted up work along the U.S.–Mexico border with immigrants. Joseph Russ, a U.S.-facing GEL, is one of several staff members who tell the stories of migration and advocate on immigration issues. Corell also described the work of former Intercultural Congregational Associates who now work as GELs in the U.S. She pointed to the ministry of the Rev. Irvin Porter, who serves Indigenous Presbyterian churches. “He serves in these communities … to bring the support that the Presbyterian Church can offer, but also to be there in connection and in solidarity,” she said. 

Koball lifted up collaboration with the Rev. Jermaine Ross-Allam and the Center for the Repair of Historic Harms. Among other initiatives, the PC(USA) is helping build a Pan-African network by connecting Afro-Peruvian, Afro-Brazilian, Afro-Caribbean and African American leaders demanding reparative justice. In Peru, the Center supported a conference for Afro-descendant women from across Latin America. “Our office and the Center for the Repair for Historic Harms helped make that happen,” he said. 

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

Let us join in prayer for:

Jon Baxter, Chief Engineer, Building Services, Administrative Services Group, A Corporation
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Let us pray:

Good and gracious God, thank you for the gift of life. Grant us the freedom to embrace the new thing that you are doing in our midst and employ our influence for the good of those that have none. Amen.

An Advent devotional for honest questions.

Advent doesn’t arrive after we’ve figured everything out. We enter Advent carrying grief, uncertainty, strained relationships, exhaustion and questions we may not know how to answer. That’s where the Outlook’s 2026 Advent devotional begins. Dear Pastor: Advent Letters draws inspiration from the real questions people bring to pastors and church leaders. Through letters and thoughtful responses from a variety of voices, the devotional explores how the familiar Advent promises of hope, peace, joy and love speak into the complicated realities of our lives. It’s an Advent devotional for people who don’t need easy answers — but do want space to listen, reflect and look for Christ in the midst of real life. Preorders are open now. Get your copy and start planning how you’ll journey through Advent with your congregation, small group or on your own. Pre-order Dear Pastor today for delivery on November 6. Grace and peace, The Presbyterian Outlook Team P.S. Want to take a look inside? Read a sample week. View a sample You may also like ... A Blue Christmas Liturgy by Charissa Clark Howe  An Advent Candle Liturgy by Laura Strauss Poinsettia Christmas gift card by Presbyterian Outlook A simple Christmas pageant by Karie Charlton Hanging of the Greens liturgy by Karie Charlton Advent hymns by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette

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Collaborating for the Call: Building Partnerships for Disciple-Making

The WEA has recently launched Call33, an initiative grounded in local discernment and intentional cross-border collaboration. Join us for our upcoming webinar, Collaborating Together for the Call, as we explore these two key themes and how they can strengthen our shared mission. Join the Conversation We will hear from Bishop Noel Pantoja, Secretary General of the Philippines Council of Evangelical Churches, who will share insights into the discernment process behind the development of the National Disciple Making Campaign for the Philippines Council of Evangelical Churches. We will also be joined by Michael Kaspar from Vision Synergy, who will explore biblical perspectives and key principles for effective collaboration, highlighting how working together can help us fulfil our shared calling. Wednesday, 11 November 2026 8:00 AM ET | 8:00 PM PHT | 2:00 PM CET This gathering will be an opportunity to learn, reflect, and be inspired to strengthen partnerships and embrace collaboration as we work together to see disciples made and communities transformed. Join us on 11 November 2026 as we explore what it means to collaborate together for the call! We encourage you to share this invitation with your church, colleagues and ministry networks as we seek to strengthen collaboration across the global evangelical family. REGISTER NOW → In Christ, World Evangelical Alliance Over two billion Christians in the world today are represented by three world church bodies. The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) is one of those, serving more than 650 million evangelicals belonging to churches that are part of 163 national Evangelical Alliances in 9 regions. Launched in London in 1846, the WEA unites evangelicals across denominations for prayer, evangelism, mission, theological education, religious freedom, human rights advocacy, relief, and engagement in a wide range of social issues. It speaks with one voice to United Nations, governments, and media in public or through behind-the-scenes diplomacy on issues of common concern to the Church. For more information, visit worldea.org WEA has been a charter member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability since 1980. WEA is audited annually by an independent public accounting firm. WEA is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. In the United States, your contribution is tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.

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Mission Yearbook: Professor says the church can’t be silent now

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Dr. William Yoo speaks during the Matthew 25 Summit in January 2024 at New Life Presbyterian Church in South Fulton, Ga. (Photo by Rich Copley)

In our modern time, the church cannot be silent. But what should it say?

That was the question for Dr. William Yoo, Associate Professor of American Religious and Cultural History at Columbia Theological Seminary, who recently spoke at Montreat Conference Center. View Yoo’s chock-full presentation and the question-and-answer session that followed here.

The title of Yoo’s talk is based on something the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said at Montreat amidst the civil rights movement, on Aug. 21, 1965: “When a crisis emerges … the Church has a specific and great responsibility. It has a real responsibility in the midst of this crisis because the problems involved are essentially moral issues. The Church being the moral guardian of the community cannot overlook its moral responsibility at this hour.”

As a moral guardian, the church “is called to be an interpreter of politics rather than an agent of politics,” Yoo said.

Many people believe they are deeply engaged in politics, Eitan Hersh wrote in The Atlantic six years ago. But mostly, “they consume political information as a way of satisfying their own emotional and intellectual needs. 

These people are political hobbyists. What they are doing is no closer to engaging in politics than watching SportsCenter is to playing football,” Hersh wrote.

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The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speaks in Anderson Auditorium at Montreat Conference Center on Aug. 21, 1965. (Photo courtesy of Montreat Conference Center)

When Yoo talks to churches, he asks them to fulfill the moral guardian role that King mentioned. “I would like churches to talk about maybe not partisan things, but political issues,” he said. “I would like for us to talk about how to do commonsense immigration enforcement. I think we need to talk about being a lawful nation, so people don’t have to live in the shadows, so people are protected and have access and pathways to dignity and flourishing, and I think that belongs in the congregation.”

Faith communities “need to get into the harder work of thinking about politics in the form of morality and what it means to be a guardian” as well as “what it means to be an interpreter of messy politics for the gospel, for the sake of the common good and moral flourishing,” he said. But how do we do that “in these extremes of political polarization?”

In researching Christian nationalism, Yoo ran across Gerald L.K. Smith, a minister and would-be politician who had the idea at the outset of the Great Depression that elderly Americans ought to have a social safety net.

He later formed his own political party, which he initially called the America First Party. He moved from there to call it the Christian Nationalist Crusade, Yoo noted. Smith later told the House Un-American Activities Committee, “I am just an old-fashioned, Bible-believing, Christ-loving American.”

What Yoo takes away from the Theological Declaration of Barmen is “it is right for the church as moral guardian to think deeply about economic struggles and the decline of the American Dream. But authoritarianism and Christian Nationalist parties are not the right prescription for this diagnosis.”

During his speech at Montreat, King, speaking at the time of the Watts Rebellion, noted that “at the bottom of many of the conflicts taking place today in many of our cities is the lack of economic opportunity.”

“Now the church, again the moral guardian of the community, must see this,” King said. “The church must speak to the power structure of the nation.”

It is the lack of opportunity and the decline of the American Dream that we’re witnessing today, Yoo said. Gene Ludwig, the 27th comptroller of the currency and a business and civic leader, called the American Dream “the desire that most parents hold: that with hard work and gumption, their children will be able to do a little better than the generation that came before them. The presumption of upward mobility has long distinguished American life.”

For Yoo, the dream is less about upward mobility “and more about freedom of opportunity to choose a vocation that maybe won’t lead to extravagant wealth, but to a decent wage and flourishing.”

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

Let us join in prayer for:

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Let us pray:

O God, we ask your blessing on those whom you have called. Strengthen them in this important service even as they strengthen the church through their work. Amen.