Today in the Mission Yearbook - That’s a RAP

A Union Presbyterian Seminary webinar explains Charlotte’s Reimagining America Project

May 7, 2024

The Reimagining America Project (RAP), a grassroots effort of clergy, activists and local leaders in and around Charlotte, North Carolina, who are working to reduce the unjust impacts race has on the systems of our society, was the subject of an illuminating webinar recently offered by Union Presbyterian Seminary and two of its institutions, the Center for Social Justice and Reconciliation (CSJR) and the Katie Geneva Cannon Center for Womanist Leadership.

RAP co-founders Jennifer Roberts, a former mayor of Charlotte, and the Rev. Dr. Rodney S. Sadler Jr., associate professor of Bible at the seminary and the director of the CSJR, were participants in the “Demonstrating Intersectional Justice” webinar, which can be seen here. Joining them were fellow RAP members Joanne Stevenson Jenkins, Kevin Woodson, and Dr. Jim Beard, a retired chemistry professor who’s now a lay pastor.

“I smiled when you called me one of the co-founders, because you are the other co-founder,” Roberts told Sadler. “We have been in marches and protests for the last 20 years, recognizing injustices we see all the time.” During a protest and march on the day George Floyd was murdered, “you and I walked together and looked at the crowd,” she recalled. “What was interesting was the diversity of the crowd.” She and Sadler asked each other, “Why does this keep happening over and over? We have got to end this cycle of oppression, violence and injustice,” the former mayor said. “We know violence disproportionately impacts communities of color. … Storytelling is so powerful. How can we bring these voices forward? That’s how we started RAP.”

Jennifer Roberts

“We want people to see that racism is real,” said Sadler, calling RAP “a head-and-heart approach.”

Beard said he came to RAP “in a circuitous route,” having heard the Poor People’s Campaign co-founder, the Rev. Dr. William Barber II, speak at the Festival of Homiletics. “He’s one of those people who will get you to do something,” Beard said. “I went to the [PPC’s] march on Washington, and after that, I was much more impassioned about doing something around racial injustice.”

One evening, Sadler “was making the pitch for RAP. It was a calling, and I felt I had to do this,” Beard said. Having taught environmental chemistry to college students, “environmental justice is an obvious thing for me. I have spent years fighting the battle to say climate change is real, but it had never occurred to me that environmental justice had anything to do with race.”

“For me, education has always been a lynchpin,” Woodson said. “Education frees you. It allows you to understand your surroundings and your own head.”

“With RAP, we are brave enough to get at the root of the matter,” Jenkins said. “We are trying to help people dismantle the silos they live in,” which she called an “either/or way of thinking, rather than both/and.”

The Rev. Dr. Rodney S. Sadler Jr.

“I believe people don’t want people to be as proximate to a solution,” Jenkins said, “as RAP encourages them to be.”

“We need to do a better job connecting people to governance,” Roberts said. Because governance in the United States is divided into local, state and national levels, “you’ve got to advocate in front of the right legislative body.” In many states and counties, “we have seen an attack on voting rights, and we know Jim Crow institutionalized obstacles. … That’s why voting rights and the way elections are run are very important.” The challenge in North Carolina and other states is that “we don’t have a citizen’s initiative process. That’s just one example of the things we need to continue to work on.”

Asked by Sadler what’s surprised them the most in their work, Beard said in environmental justice, “it’s how subtle and insidious” racism remains.

“It’s almost a secret virus that creeps through our society. Well-meaning people just aren’t aware of it,” Beard said. “They may not choose to look, but it becomes obvious in environmental justice. You have to look, and you have to think.”

Woodson said changes are needed in the entire education system. “Solving your child’s problem may not solve the problems for all children,” he said.

RAP meets via Zoom on Wednesday evenings. Learn more about RAP here.

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service

Today’s Focus: Union Presbyterian Seminary webinar

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Anisha Hackney, Manager, Human Resources, Administrative Services Group (A Corp) 
Beth Haendiges, Associate for Marketing & Client Services, Presbyterian Investment & Loan Program

Let us pray

We know that the secret to bearing fruit is abiding in Christ and he in us. Through communion, servanthood and fellowship, we benefit from Christ’s strength so that we may be able to bear fruit and be a blessing to others. Help us to serve with humility and grace. Amen.

Minute for Mission: Holocaust Remembrance Day

Standing in solidarity

May 6, 2024

On this day, communities around the world observe Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day. Together, we stand in solidarity with the Jewish people and pay tribute to the memory of the victims of the Holocaust. An estimated 6 million European Jews and at least 5 million prisoners of war, Romany, Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals and other victims were murdered by the Nazis in one of the most horrendous campaigns in human history. On this day, as we pay tribute to the victims of the Holocaust, we also come together knowing that this act of remembrance is a commitment to a shared responsibility for humankind to ensure such crimes never happen again.

As a young girl, I remember hearing the powerful words “never again” as our leaders and teachers taught us about this dark time in history, a history that is deeply painful to remember. Yet it was made clear that we need to remember, that we are called to remember, in order to reaffirm humankind’s obligation to stand against antisemitism, racism and other forms of intolerance that may lead to violence. In the words of U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, “we can never lower our guard,” as we have continued to see today an increase in antisemitic attacks, in xenophobia and homophobia, displaying the hatred that lives on.

As we continue to learn from and listen to the survivors and honor the victims through sharing their memories, their “portraits speak to us of the dignity, humanity and interconnectedness of each unique member of our human family. Their heartbreaking stories of survival and courage inspire us to do more, in whatever way we can, to combat persecution, hatred and discrimination, wherever they are found,” Guterres said.

We are all inextricably connected to one another, and our history reminds us as we move forward about our need to live out the Matthew 25 call to be compassionate, to seek justice and to advocate for others. This is our mission.

Link: https://www.un.org/press/en/2020/sgsm19943.doc.htm

Ivy Lopedito (she/her/hers), Mission Specialist, Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Today’s Focus: Holocaust Remembrance Day

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Denise Hampton, Director/Controller, Finance & Accounting, Administrative Services Group (A Corp) 
Jieun Kim Han and Myung Han Regional Liaisons for East Asia, World Mission, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us pray

Merciful God, we come to you with heavy hearts as we honor and remember the lives lost and those who are with us today who continue to suffer from the incomprehensible pain that it has brought. I pray that through this day of remembrance we continue to tell their stories so that it will always remind us of our promise to never let such horror happen again. Let us be agents of change, and give us the courage to stand firm against the hatred in our world today. Remind us of our need to be grounded in love as we seek justice and advocate for all. Amen.

Minute for Mission: National Day of Awareness & Action for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit People

May 5, 2024

Photo courtesy of Alethia Oatman

Indigenous communities have been struck by the epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit people (MMIW) for decades. This epidemic is a systemic failure where Indigenous women are going missing and being murdered at alarmingly high rates with minimal justice. Within the past several years, the MMIW movement has brought awareness of this violence to the public’s attention. Still, there is much work to be done.

On average, four out of five Indigenous women will experience violence in their lifetime. In some areas, the rates of Indigenous women being murdered is 10 times the national average (found at csvanw.org). This epidemic of violence against Indigenous women is devastating for their families and communities. Indigenous women have always been placed on a pedestal for being the creators and caretakers for each community, and losing even just one person is a loss in the language, culture and historical lineage.

As the MMIW movement continues to grow, there is hope that Indigenous families can find healing and justice. However, justice can only be found when the systemic barriers within the justice systems at the tribal, state and federal levels are addressed. Indigenous communities are advocating for federal policies to be put in place that would protect their nations’ sovereign rights over their people and homelands. Supporting legislative policies such as Savanna’s Act and the Not Invisible Act are the first steps in addressing these systemic barriers.

Indigenous communities may find healing when the tragic situations of their loved ones are recognized on a national level, with a sense of urgency for the tragedy to be addressed. It is crucial for the survivors’ stories and voices to be heard so they can mourn with peace of mind, knowing justice will be served.

Some possible ideas to assist in the work of MMIW would be to use your own social media to bring awareness to everyone you know about the cases. You can also call the local law enforcement department working on the case to see what you might be able to do to bring awareness to the seriousness of the situation, perhaps calling local media sources and national media sources in the search for missing people.

You can find more information at the Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women at csvanw.org.

Danelle Crawford McKinney and Madison McKinney, Co-Writers

Today’s Focus: National Day of Awareness & Action for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit People

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Rob Hagan, Ministry Relations Officer, Presbyterian Foundation 
Patricia Haines, Executive Vice President, & Chief Benefits Officer, Board of Pensions  

Let us pray

Creator From All Directions, we pray for strength and confidence for Indigenous women who feel invisible but need to know they are strong warriors, for your powerful hand to assist men when they feel helpless to protect and comfort families, and for all Indigenous people as they strive to teach the young people how to protect and prevent harm to their future communities. Help us to give them a voice and support them through our actions in areas where they need it the most. In your most holy name, we pray. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - Three PC(USA) pastors in Mission Presbytery share candidly in a webinar on isolation and loneliness

A Presbyterians Today piece, ‘Isolation in the Lone Star State,’ is the impetus for an insightful broadcast

May 4, 2024

The Rev. Maria Vargas-Torres

Three pastors serving churches in Mission Presbytery featured in this Presbyterians Today story recently took to the airwaves for an honest and illuminating conversation about clergy loneliness and isolation. Watch the 48-minute conversation that pastors Monica Thompson Smith, Jasiel Hernandez Garcia and Maria Vargas-Torres have with the author of the piece, Fred Tangeman of the communications staff in the Office of the General Assembly, and the managing editor of Presbyterians Today, the Rev. Layton Williams Berkes, who hosted the event, by going here or here.

Thompson Smith serves First Presbyterian Church in Luling, Texas. Hernandez Garcia is pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Kerrville. Vargas-Torres ministers to the 25-member First Presbyterian Church of Del Rio.

“Mission Presbytery is an incredibly diverse presbytery, and it’s vast,” Tangeman said, crediting the presbytery’s general presbyter, the Rev. Dr. Sallie Watson, with connecting him with the three pastors who spoke to him about dealing with isolation and loneliness. “Without those connections — as with all aspects of Presbyterian life — this wouldn’t have happened,” Tangeman said.

“I understand loneliness and isolation as the opposite of connection,” said Vargas-Torres, who worked 13 years as a Certified Spanish Medical Interpreter at a hospital in Fort Worth before coming to serve the church in Del Rio, which is about 2½ hours west of San Antonio. Throughout the pandemic, she worked in a health-care setting without contracting Covid before coming down with a fairly debilitating case in December. “I was feeling weak and had no appetite. All of a sudden, food was being dropped off at my door,” Vargas-Torres said. “That’s what people do in a small town. I started to gain strength again after all that nourishing food they provided me.”

Hernandez Garcia is pastor of the church he attended while attending Schreiner University, an hour northwest of San Antonio, as an undergraduate. “The dynamic is different in a pastoral position,” he said. “There is an understanding now about what is my role in the community and in the church, and how I interact with people beyond these walls.” He spoke of isolation “that comes in a familiar place but in a different role.”

The Rev. Jasiel Hernandez Garcia

“We thankfully found a way to build new relationships, and we have really enjoyed getting to know the congregation in a new way,” Hernandez Garcia said.

“I am never not a pastor,” Thompson Smith said. In a small community like Luling, which is about an hour northeast of San Antonio, “everyone knows I’m the pastor,” whether the setting is the grocery store, the gas station or the library. “Even in a different town, there’s a tattoo on my forehead,” said Thompson Smith, who’s married to a Methodist minister. “It’s who I am, and that’s how I respond to people. It makes us weird, in a way. Others don’t inhabit their roles the way we do. Anytime you feel weird or odd, it makes you feel lonelier.”

“I texted [a pastoral colleague] last week and said, ‘I need a shoulder to cry on,’ and they said, ‘Of course,’” she said.

Vargas-Torres learned the importance of self-awareness while taking part in her clinical pastoral education experience. “Expectations others put on pastors can lead to isolation,” Vargas-Torres said. “It’s not just expectations others put on me, but the expectations I put on myself. I need to practice self-care.”

Thompson Smith lives an hour from Luling but belongs to the ministerial alliance there. “If I need someone immediately [to provide pastoral care], I feel I can call on them to step in if I can’t be there,” she said. “It’s helpful to nurture relationships with the neighbors.”

A clergy coach has been encouraging Hernandez Garcia to “be more transparent about my boundaries and my capacity,” he said. He’s learning to tell church members, “This is a busy week, and this is all I can do this week. I have trained myself to use the word ‘capacity.’”

During the most recent session meeting, Hernandez Garcia told the ruling elders, “This is what I am going to be focusing on, and this is all I can do.”

“The session realized they had never had anybody name that out loud,” he said.

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service

Today’s Focus: Presbyterians Today piece, ‘Isolation in the Lone Star State Webinar

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Leann Gritton, Manager, Finance & Administration, Theology, Formation & Evangelism, Presbyterian Mission Agency  
Suzi Gwinn, Manager, Investor Services, Presbyterian Investment & Loan Program  

Let us pray

Loving God, as you have loved us, may we reach out with love to others. As you have cared for us, may we be caring toward others. As you promise to be with us, strengthen us to be there for others. Keep our eyes and hearts open to new places where we might serve you and the world in Christ’s name. Amen.

Minute for Mission: May Friendship Day

May 3, 2024

May Friendship Day, a Church Women United initiative, is most often celebrated on the first Friday of the month of May around a theme of shared concern for Christian women and their communities. The predecessor to May Friendship Day, May Fellowship Day, began in 1933 after two Christian women’s groups planned gatherings based on similar concerns: child health and children of migrant families. These groups united and, over the years, eventually became what we now know as Church Women United. The May celebration has been continually observed since 1933; in 1999, Church Women United changed the name from May Fellowship Day to May Friendship Day.

The 2024 Church Women United celebrations — including Human Rights Day, World Community Day and May Friendship Day — share the theme “What Does the Lord Require of You?” The focus for May Friendship Day is “Love Mercy.” In a world that cries out for healing and justice, the profound act of extending mercy heals hearts and transforms lives, even over generations.  

Christian women’s groups from many denominations (including Presbyterian Women, which encourages participation in and support of Church Women United) will participate in May Friendship Day throughout the United States during the first days of May. For more information, visit churchwomenunited.net or call 212-870-1030.

Carissa Herold, Marketing Associate for Presbyterian Women in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Today’s Focus: May Friendship Day

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Paul Grier,  Vice President, Project Regeneration, Presbyterian Foundation 
Laurie Griffith, Associate Director, Constitutional Interpretation, Office of the General Assembly

Let us pray

On this day of friendship, help us, God of all mercy, to put our love into action through kindness and care. Soften our hearts as we humbly and joyfully demonstrate your transformative and merciful love for all. Amen.

The Voice of the Martyrs - Finding Purpose in Prison

Finding Purpose in Prison

On Feb. 6, 2022, as Pastor Rajiv’s congregation in India prepared for Communion, three members of a right-wing paramilitary organization entered the service. They began making a video accusing the church of converting Hindus to Christianity. When police arrived, they took Rajiv and another Christian to the police station. The police questioned Rajiv repeatedly about his work, even though the church was officially registered with the government and had permission to meet. Eventually, based on the Hindus’ claims, Rajiv was charged under the state’s anti-conversion law and put in jail. READ THE FULL STORY

Please forward this email to Christian friends who will be inspired to pray for and support our persecuted Christian family.

Share this special opportunity with your friends and family.

Minute for Mission: National Day of Prayer

May 2, 2024

Pastor Al Earley, right front, and his wife, Martha (center) 

lead a monthly prayer gathering at LaGrange Presbyterian 

Church birthed from National Day of Prayer events two 

years ago. (Photo by Tammy Warren)

Wisdom. That’s one of the things the Rev. Jacob Duché prayed for at the first Continental Congress in 1774 — wisdom in forming a nation.

Prayers for wisdom and unity continue in the United States on the National Day of Prayer. Prayer events have been held annually by presidential proclamation in communities around the United States since 1952. And since 1988, National Day of Prayer events have taken place on the first Thursday in May.

The largest participation in National Day of Prayer events to date, in 2016, included millions of people praying together for our country during more than 48,000 interfaith gatherings in churches, parks, state capitals, stadiums, civic centers and many other locations, according to the nonprofit National Day of Prayer Task Force. National Day of Prayer proclamations were signed by all 50 state governors last year, as well as the governors of several U.S. territories.

The Rev. Al Earley coordinates National Day of Prayer events in Oldham County, Kentucky, as part of his responsibilities as president of the Oldham County Ministerial Association.

Earley, pastor of LaGrange Presbyterian Church, remembers that attendance at the noontime and evening prayer events in 2015 was the largest since the events held after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

“Clergy and laypeople led bold prayers at the noontime gathering at the county courthouse in LaGrange, none of which were prepared in advance,” Earley said. “They cried out to God to heal our nation.”

The evening gathering in 2015 was held at a community center and included a diverse group of people representing many denominations. “They prayed for denominational, racial and socioeconomic reconciliation.”

Afterward, he said, several people expressed a desire to keep on praying.

“I told them I would agree to start a prayer gathering at LaGrange Presbyterian if people would commit to pray for revival no matter how long it takes,” Earley said, meaning a powerful movement of the Holy Spirit that the entire body of Christ will recognize just as the early church did at Pentecost (Acts 2). “A core group of committed souls agreed. As God knit us together over the next year of quarterly gatherings, our prayers were quite meaningful.”

A Korean pastor who attended one of the quarterly prayer gatherings suggested that the group meet monthly.

Now, on the first day of every month at 7 p.m. — except for the National Day of Prayer — a cross-section of Christ-followers representing churches of various denominations gather at LaGrange Presbyterian to pray for spiritual revival. Over the past several months, at least 44 people have attended the monthly prayer gathering at least once.

“I believe in the power of prayer to usher in revival,” Earley said. “I don’t think it matters how many are praying, as long as there’s more than me.”

“I’ve been praying for revival in a separate small group of pastors for 19 years. At times, the group has dwindled down to two people. Yet, I’ve experienced personal revival by praying for revival for nearly two decades. Now I have a better understanding of who God is and my place in God’s work.”

To those who ask for advice about starting a regular prayer group, Earley says, “You have to come to a personal place where you know prayer is important to God, be willing to make a commitment to pray and be ready to accept that there will be times when attendance at the prayer gatherings will be light.”

“God calls us to pray . . . to stand in the gap for our communities,” he adds. “We don’t know when God is going to answer our prayers for revival, but as we wait for God to answer, revival will happen to each person who prays.”

A brief history of the National Day of Prayer
The first Continental Congress opened with prayer in 1774, and the second Continental Congress called for a day of public humiliation, fasting and prayer in 1775. Since then, there have been calls for prayer throughout history, but it wasn’t until 1952 that the National Day of Prayer became an official observance. Since then, the president of the United States has issued a proclamation each year establishing a National Day of Prayer. The 2016 proclamation by President Barack Obama said: “Our country was founded on the idea of religious freedom, and we have long upheld the belief that how we pray and whether we pray are matters reserved for an individual’s own conscience. On National Day of Prayer, we rededicate ourselves to extending this freedom to all people. Every day, women and men use the wisdom gained from humble prayer to spread kindness and to make our world a better place. Faith communities at home and abroad have helped feed the hungry, heal the sick and protect innocents from violence. Nurturing communities with love and understanding, their prayer inspires their work, which embodies a timeless notion that has kept humanity going through the ages — that one of our most sacred responsibilities is to give of ourselves in service to others.”

Additional resources for the National Day of Prayer
• The nonprofit National Day of Prayer Task Force: nationaldayofprayer.org
• PC(USA) pamphlet “Interfaith, Celebration Prayer and Worship”: pcusa.org/icpw

Tammy Warren is a former communications associate with the Presbyterian Mission Agency

Today’s Focus: National Day of Prayer

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Janie Green, Research Associate, Research Services, Administrative Services Group (A Corp)  
Ken Green, Church Consultant, Chicago, IL, Board of Pensions  

Let us pray

Heavenly Father, although there are many ways to serve you, remind us that we are all part of the same body of Christ. Encourage us to do our part to spread the gospel throughout the world. In Jesus’ name. Amen.