Mission Yearbook: ‘Everyone has an ecological story,’ webinar shows

Presbyterians for Earth Care recently offered a webinar on “Coming Home to Your Ecological Self” featuring a member of its Steering Committee, the Rev. Dr. Shannan Vance-Ocampo.

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The Rev. Dr. Shannan Vance-Ocampo is pictured alongside her favorite chicken, Madonna (Photo courtesy of Shannan Vance-Ocampo).

Vance-Ocampo is general presbyter of the Presbytery of Southern New England, where she spends some of her spare time gardening and raising backyard chickens.

Her doctoral research included work she put in on land, food and faith formation. Among other things, Vance-Ocampo wondered what prevents pastors from preaching on climate justice. She formed a cohort to test some of her ideas and heard from clergy that some parishioners heard such preaching as political rather than biblical.

“One thing that came out is folks feel disconnected ecologically. Many didn’t have a good connection to the natural world,” she said. “It got me to thinking about this issue of the ecological self. We need to be connected ourselves before we can do the work with others.”

Briefly, Vance-Ocampo modeled a process that people in faith communities can use. “We often don’t know the stories of the people around us,” she said. “More people than we realize are pretty disconnected theologically.”

Vance-Ocampo displayed a number of photographs outlining her own ecological journey, including photos of the Jersey Shore and a beach in Puerto Rico, as well as the Catskills and Colombia, from which her husband hails.

“A whole new landscape became part of my story,” she said, displaying photos of her mother-in-law’s home along Colombia’s Magdalena River, where the family has lived for nearly three centuries. Mango trees her mother-in-law planted 60 years ago are now taller than oaks, Vance-Ocampo noted.

“During the pandemic, I supercharged my gardening here in Upstate New York,” she said, including adding a few chickens. In the summer the chickens enjoyed treats including frozen watermelon, the subject of another photo.

“Those sweet animals helped me reconnect,” Vance-Ocampo said. “It was a place to engage in prayer and have time to let my mind wander. The garden and the work I have done on it has been a significant point of reconnection.”

They constructed a pond near the garden and have rewilded the space around their house. One photo was of the alpha male American bullfrog who lives in and around the pond. The photo depicted him all alone on a rock. “He owns that rock,” Vance-Ocampo said. “No other frog will come onto it.”

Her mother-in-law died eight years ago. Vance-Ocampo and her husband work on the gardens she created when they’re in Colombia. “It’s a very different environment. I know what to do in the Northeast,” she said. Still, her ecological reconnection “has changed how I preach and what I focus on and has given me a lot of new language to consider,” she said.

Webinar attendees then spent time in small groups discussing their own ecological stories. Some reported back.

“It was good to hear from others, and it wasn’t surprising that all of us had positive experiences in nature,” said one. “Our formative years were in a natural setting.”

The group then read John 1:1–5 and verse 14, which describes Jesus as the completion of God’s Word. Vance-Ocampo quoted Victoria Loorz, the author of “Church of the Wild: How Nature Invites Us Into the Sacred”: “To position Jesus as more than a man crucified by the state, John sought to identify him with the logos: the divine indwelling, ‘through [which] all things were made,’ an interconnected relationship underlying and holding together the whole universe.”

“I am interested in hearing about places that have a plan for reconnecting people in their congregation to ecology,” said one participant. “We have a long way to go in our church. Not a lot of our church members are on board.”

“We may long for a simpler life, but the world is whizzing by,” said another. “We have to work hard to [highlight] things that thank God for Creation and that use Creation for good.”

“Everyone has an ecological story,” Vance-Ocampo said. “By sharing them with others, we get to know people more deeply — and we get to know God in a deeper way, too.”

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

Let us join in prayer for:

Janeen Lush, Accountant, Accounts Payable Office, Administrative Services Group
Catherine Lynch, Senior Relationship Manager, Presbyterian Investment & Loan

Let us pray:

Loving Gather, we thank you for the courageous and faithful. As we serve, let us all walk humbly with you as we follow the example given to us by Jesus Christ. Amen.

Mission Yearbook: Office of Public Witness calls for an end to war, atrocities in Sudan

The Presbyterian Office of Public Witness has joined voices calling for the United States to intervene in the war and atrocities in Sudan, where people are suffering from starvation and mass killings.

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U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (Screen capture)

The Washington-based office is among more than 30 faith and advocacy groups that recently signed a letter to U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, a New Jersey Republican who chairs the House Subcommittee on Africa, asking him to stress to the White House the urgent need to help bring about peace in the African country.

“As people of conscience, we urge you to impress upon President Trump the seriousness of the crisis and the power he has to stop the killing and to bring about peace in Sudan,” states the letter, which notes that “the war between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces has likely killed more than 400,000 people, displaced over 15 million, and left over 26 million people in need of emergency aid.” 

With the situation worsening, “we strongly urge you to discuss Sudan with the President, imploring him to take two immediate steps, backed by decisive action,” the letter states.

Those steps, according to the letter, are:

• Demand that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) stop sending weapons to and otherwise supporting the RSF. The president “should use all levers of influence to cause the UAE to pressure the RSF to allow unrestricted, protected, and sustained humanitarian access into El Fasher and other areas under siege, to allow people to leave these areas freely and safely, and to end its targeted attacks on civilians,” the letter states.
• Surge U.S. humanitarian assistance to address the extreme hunger and deprivation experienced in El Fasher, South Kordofan, and elsewhere in Sudan and in the surrounding countries hosting Sudanese refugees.

The letter also notes that its request of Smith is unusual but is the “best hope for immediately preventing further starvation and mass atrocities, and [is] required for securing a sustainable, democratic peace. We urge the President to make peace in Sudan a top priority of his administration.”

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United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres 

In recent days, various groups and noted figures, including the World Council of Churches' general secretary, the Rev. Prof. Dr. Jerry Pillay, and United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, have raised concerns about the situation in Sudan.

In a press briefing in Doha, Qatar, Guterres called the war in Sudan a “horrifying crisis” that he said is “spiraling out of control.”

“For over 18 months, El Fasher and the surrounding areas in North Darfur have been an epicenter of suffering, hunger, violence and displacement,” he said. 

He went on to say, “Hundreds of thousands of civilians are trapped by this siege. People are dying of malnutrition, disease and violence. And we are hearing continued reports of violations of international humanitarian law and human rights. Indiscriminate attacks and targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure, including hospitals. Horrifying instances of gender-based and ethnic violence. And now, credible reports of widespread executions since the Rapid Support Forces entered the city. I once again call for an immediate end to this unimaginable violence. I call for the safe, rapid and unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid to all civilians in need. I call for an end to the flow of weapons and fighters into Sudan, which is making a desperate situation even worse. Finally, we need an immediate cessation of hostilities.”

The U.N. Human Rights Office issued a statement  with similar concerns and noted that there are indications of “ethnic motivations for killings, and of persons no longer participating in hostilities. ... Multiple distressing videos received by U.N. Human Rights show dozens of unarmed men being shot or lying dead, surrounded by RSF fighters who accuse them of being SAF fighters.”

Anglican bishops in Sudan, led by Archbishop Ezekiel Kondo of the Episcopal (Anglican) Church of Sudan, have condemned the violence, including the killing of women and children, and noted the reported slaughter of more than 450 people at a hospital.

“We call upon all parties to the conflict in Sudan to immediately cease hostilities,” the bishops said. “The war will not bring peace or development to Sudan. Fire cannot be quenched with fire: only water can make a difference.”

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

Let us join in prayer for:

Samantha Lund, Administrative Manager, Legal & Risk Management, Administrative Service Group
Erika Lundbom, Associate Director of Marketing, Electronic Resources and Strategic Business Development, Presbyterian Publishing Corporation

Let us pray:

Father, thank you for your love that enables us to love others. Help us to reflect the free gift of your grace to all who cross our path. Amen.

Mission Yearbook: Authors discuss being Presbyterian in a dysvangelical nation

The Rev. Alex Thornburg and the Rev. Ted V. Foote Jr., the authors of “Being Presbyterian in a Dysvangelical America: A Guide to Reclaiming the Good News of God’s Grace,” newly published by Westminster John Knox Press, appeared recently on “A Matter of Faith: A Presby Podcast.” Listen to their conversation with hosts Simon Doong and the Rev. Lee Catoe here.

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Thornburg is pastor of Heartland Presbyterian Church in Clive, Iowa. Foote, himself a longtime pastor, teaches pastoral ministry and leadership at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Previous collaborations include “Being Disciples of Jesus in a Dot.Com World” and “Being Presbyterian in the Bible Belt.”

“You can believe that immigrants and refugees are dangerous. You can believe empathy is toxic and women are second-class citizens. You have the right to believe that,” Thornburg told the podcast hosts. “Just don’t call it Christian, because it’s not.”

Thornburg said “dysvangelical” is a term coined by Foote to describe “a voice that’s articulated and has a lot of political power,” used by people who are “defining what they understand ‘Christian’ to be. We wrote this book in many ways to push against that and what Presbyterians understand what it means to be faithful” and “not defined by this very loud public voice that’s got a lot of power these days.”

The ”gospel of grace is where we all have ultimate value,” Foote said. But some instead “want to turn away from the table with everyone else and go to their own small table and change the recipe.”

There’s no better good news than God’s grace, Thornburg said. “Ted argues that some have taken the good news and turned it into something that’s bad, and that’s mean-spirited,” Thornburg said. “They have turned the good news into something dysfunctional, distorted and dystopian.”

“They have taken the good news of the gospel and used it to harm folks,” Thornburg said. It’s like Superman and the Bizarro World from the 1950s, Thornburg said, a world where everything was topsy-turvy from the world of that era.

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“We freely admit that even in our own tradition, the Presbyterian Reformed tradition, we have had had times in our history that have embraced dysvangelical beliefs,” Thornburg said. “We still see some of that in the church today.”

According to Foote, one tack the book takes is to “look at historical development to see how the gospel can come alive in different times and places.”

“We’ve tried to locate people who were not the great men and women in history — everyday folks with something to say and it just wasn’t heard,” Foote said. “We don’t always get it right, but we want to trust that God’s Spirit in Christ, with love, moves us forward together to be the people God intends.”

“What the world needs — and we believe Presbyterians can offer this if we stay true to our tradition — is good news,” Thornburg said. “At the core of our Reformed Christian theology is grace — grace that embraces us in the midst of our brokenness, wherever we are.”

One thing Thornburg loves about the PC(USA) “is that it’s changed its mind,” he said. “It’s painful to have a revelation. Repentance means turning around and changing your mind. That’s what we celebrate, that we are always open to changing our mind.”

Among the examples Thornburg pointed out are historic ways some in the church treated African Americans, LGBTQ folks and “not recognizing women as full members of the church.” Fortunately, “God was a work to lead us” to where the church is now.

“I don’t want to rest on our laurels,” Foote said. “If we go through our [Presbyterian] family history, we have disagreed and people don’t come to the family reunions anymore.”

Our communities and our nation “needs a Presbyterian Church that stands up and says [dysvangelicalism] is wrong. This is not who God calls us to be,” Thornburg said. “While we’re imperfect and we sometimes show up late to the party, we have something to give the world — something to pronounce and proclaim that we think might make a difference in this moment.”

New editions of “A Matter of Faith: A Presby Podcast” are released every Thursday. Listen to previous episodes here.

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Servicean Life & Witness (Click here to read original PNS Story)

Let us join in prayer for:

Christine Long,  Church Consultant – Tacoma, WA, Engagement & Church Relations, The Board of Pensions
Lisa Love, Deputy General Counsel, Legal, The Presbyterian Foundation                           

Let us pray:

Holy One, may we hear your calling us to participate in your inbreaking kingdom. May we recognize just how you have prepared us. And may we, with gratitude, give as you ask. In Christ’s name. Amen.

Minute for Mission: National Gun Violence Remembrance Day

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Artwork by: Blake Johnson

Today is National Gun Violence Remembrance Day, and the month of June is set aside as Gun Violence Awareness Month. You could be forgiven for wondering if these observances are necessary. After all, the United States is the only country in the world with more guns than citizens, and we experience per capita gun deaths at a rate just slightly worse than Panama and Iraq. Given the obscene amount of gun violence that surrounds us, do we need a special day set aside to remember or to be aware of the gun violence that surrounds us? If we settle for simple awareness, probably not. 

But if we understand today’s prompt to remember as a disciplined awareness that requires us to face up to the tens of thousands of Americans that die each year from firearms — tens of thousands of souls overflowing with sacred value and beloved by God — then our remembrance and our awareness can take on an important theological purpose and meaning. In remembering the immensity of this loss, we honor the victims and the survivors they leave behind who will never be fully whole. In remembering, we can refuse to become inured to the violence that surrounds us. In remembering, we can stoke the flame of holy anger that moves us to refuse to accept our current regime of firearms as one that we must simply endure.

If we do that, then we have an opportunity to remember in a way that stirs awareness in ourselves and in our communities. That sort of awareness is not inert. It’s the sort of awareness that encourages us to speak plainly about the absurdity of our idolatry of guns. It’s the sort of awareness that moves us to call our representatives, to mobilize our neighbors, to vote for the commonsense gun reforms that vast majorities of Americans approve of. In other words, awareness can be put into practice; when it is, we call it witness and the ministry.

(This prayer and the artwork can be found with others like it from our new gun violence prayerbook “How Long, Oh Lord?” and copies are available through the PC[USA] store here.)

Dr. Andrew J. Peterson, Representative for Peacemaking, Office of Public Witness, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Let us join in prayer for:

Andrew Rodriguez, Portfolio Credit Underwriter, Presbyterian Investment & Loan Program
David Loleng, Vice President, Church Financial Literacy & Leadership and Stewardship Education, Presbyterian Foundation     

Let us pray:

Prayer by the Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow:

Today I pray for politicians, policy makers and legislative bodies who have the power to address gun violence in the United States.

They offer “thoughts and prayers” 

without concrete action 

so even the most heartfelt condolences 

are received as disingenuous and hollow

God, I plead that your spirit intercede into the world in miraculous ways 

In halls of power

In committees

In localities

In courthouses

Give them the courage to risk positions of power

Give them wisdom to find solutions that make sense

Give them the fortitude to stand up to powers that will fight them

And give them reassurance that they are doing what is 

beneficial to the Body Politic and the Common Good.

God, public servants are not saviors, but partners in the

realization of what can be

a future when children can learn without active shooter drills

a future when people can gather without the ever-present specter of gun violence lurking about

a future when guns are not so desired or accessible

a future when the response to death by gun is not more guns.

a future when, after the next tragedy strikes,

“thoughts and prayers” are offered with truth and integrity and they are received as intended

because action has proven those words to be true.

For this future, I pray.

Amen.

Mission Yearbook: Small Tennessee church shares ways to be meaningful

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Katina Sharp Small Church Big Impact (provided)

Two-thirds of all congregations in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) have fewer than 100 members. Given this reality, the Rev. Dr. Katina Sharp’s workshop at Stewardship Kaleidoscope, “Small Church, Big Impact,” shared strategies and a template for growth in the community.

How can such small churches be meaningful? For Sharp’s church, Powell Presbyterian Church outside of Knoxville, Tennessee, the first step was to acknowledge that it was not the same church that it once was. This was not a value judgment, but acceptance of reality. With that honesty, the church could begin to imagine new ways to minister within the community.

Powell Presbyterian’s weekly worship attendance in 2018 was 35, its annual budget was $100,000, and the church had run deficit budgets for the previous 15 years. Given these challenges, Sharp recruited congregants to help her do some asset mapping. This exercise asks questions including, “What property do we own?” “What are our financial reserves?” and “What are our connections in the community?” Once these items were determined, the people of the church could begin to discern patterns or common themes.

Here are some of the distinguishing characteristics of Powell Presbyterian that emerged from its asset mapping exercise: It sits on 5 acres of property, and 4 of them are wooded. The church’s backyard is fairly flat and consists of a parking lot and half-acre field. The grounds include a covered pavilion. The church is across the street from a very large neighborhood. A middle school and a high school are nearby. One church member is a fundraiser with Relay for Life. Another is a leader in the Knoxville Track Club. And hosting Family Promise (a ministry to families experiencing homelessness) is a prominent mission focus.

Assessment in hand, Powell saw an opportunity to host a summer community festival. The first Blackberry Festival was a one-day event including a 5k run, vendors who rented 10-foot square parcels, a food truck and an old-fashioned bake sale. A local rental service provided the church with a rock-climbing wall for free. Sharp’s spouse, Whitney, engaged the makerspace she oversees at the University of Tennessee to make the race medals. They gave the local School of Rock (a franchise that offers rock band lessons for youth) a free tent if they supplied entertainment. And many members pitched in to help however they could.

The festival was a successful fundraiser in its first year, but its true power emerged from the community that it connected and awareness of the church’s desire to engage more thoughtfully with it.

That is not to say that all went smoothly, of course. Powell Presbyterian learned some lessons from the first year. First, don’t be afraid to ask for what you need. Organizers were able to secure free parking at the schools, and a local car dealer provided shuttles to those lots. Second, have many eyes go over the plan for your event, if you hold one. Third, consult your insurance agent and check local laws for permit requirements of zoning issues. Most importantly, know that your mistakes are opportunities for growth.

Even as Powell Presbyterian ruffled a few feathers with the first event, it had enough community goodwill to hold it a second year, and it was even more successful. The church continues to host the Blackberry Festival to this day, as it has blossomed into an event that the whole town looks forward to.

Regardless of what your faith community endeavors, Sharp said, ask these questions:

• What are the needs of the community? (Also, what is not needed?)
• Are you looking for a short-term idea or an ongoing project?
• Will you need heavy volunteer efforts or something less intensive?

Such questions will help you create a feasible plan. What is important is not shying away from doing something new. So, give it a try — even if it flops, you can always debrief, make a plan for improvement and try again.

If your event is successful, remember to debrief anyway. Celebrate success, practice gratitude (by writing thank-you cards to community partners, for example), and most importantly, rest.

Today, Powell Presbyterian has a balanced budget. The church contributes more than 10% of its income to mission, and it’s growing.

Jody Mask for the Presbyterian Foundation (Click here to read original PNS Story)

Let us join in prayer for:

Terrence Jones, Director of Building Services, Administrative Services Group
Jessica Campbell, Raiser’s Edge Specialist, Administrative Services Group     

Let us pray:

Dear Lord, we thank you for the opportunity to serve you. Help us to continue doing your work and advancing your kingdom. Allow others to see the love we have for you through our service. Amen.

World Evangelical Alliance - A Special Invitation to Build Stronger Families in Christ

Greetings in the name of the Lord! Thank you for faithfully taking part in the 50 Days Family Prayer Movement during the Lenten season which was the first phase of the family revival movement aimed to till the soil of our hearts by praying for families. We thank God for your commitment to pray, grow, and strengthen family ties through the 7 minutes prayer for 7 days and for 7 weeks. We had more than 1200 participants registered through email and WhatsApp and represented more than 21 countries covering most of the continents. We would like to initiate the second phase planned for 7 months, by which we want to introduce the 7 pillars that need to be strengthened in our churches pertaining to key life stages and the family culture of our homes. This will be handled by key global resource persons who are leading voices in the area of family discipleship in the globe. We warmly invite each one of you to prayerfully take this forward by registering for this event to bless families of the Church. Register Now Kindly share this invitation with anyone whose heart the Lord has prepared to be a blessing for families in their church, be it pastors, leaders, or anyone with a burden to see homes revived and generations strengthened in the Lord. We will be sending zoom links to only those who register. Blessings! For WEA family challenge 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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