Today in the Mission Yearbook - ‘We’re not all in this together’

Black communities are reeling from pandemic and economic hardships

September 30, 2020

The first segment of “COVID at the Margins” featured Christian Brooks (top left), Associate for Domestic Issues for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Office of Public Witness; the Rev. Jimmie Hawkins (top right), OPW’s coordinator; Rachel Ollivierre (bottom right), an advocate for black immigrants in the Northeastern U.S.; and Rev. Roslyn Bouier (bottom left), executive director of the Brightmoor Connection emergency food pantry, in Detroit.

The feel-good line “We’re all in this together” has been an oft-repeated refrain during the coronavirus crisis, but for some minorities, feeling the brunt of the pandemic, it doesn’t ring true.

“I see the commercials and I kind of get upset,” said the Rev. Roslyn Bouier, executive director of the Brightmoor Connection food pantry in hard-hit Detroit. “We’re not all in this together. If we were all in this together, we would all have the same resources.”

Bouier was featured in the first segment of “COVID at the Margins,” a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) discussion series focusing on the experiences and struggles of communities of color during the global pandemic.

Unequal access to resources is resulting in “the deaths of black and brown people … and poor people,” Bouier contends in the segment, “Black Communities’ Experience with COVID-19.”

Bouier described how poverty and other economic hardships, such as water shutoffs for nonpayment, are hurting people during a time when frequent hand-washing, disinfecting of surfaces, wearing masks and practicing social distancing are recommended to stay well or reduce the spread of the virus.

If everyone were truly in the same boat, she said, “we would all have running water in our home. We would all be making earned paid sick time, we would all make livable wages.”

In reality, there’s “not enough to pay all of the utility costs and the rent and just to sustain the family,” she said. “When we talk about sheltering in, most people cannot afford to purchase two weeks’ worth of food and go home and stay. That’s just not the norm.”

She also talked about residents being made to jump through too many hoops to qualify for aid to alleviate water shutoffs. “There are too many obstacles,” such as completing lengthy applications and having to upload documentation, she said.

Bouier was joined by Rachel Ollivierre, a market analyst and outspoken advocate for black immigrants in the Northeast, as well as moderator Christian Brooks, associate for domestic issues for the Presbyterian Office of Public Witness (OPW), and the Rev. Jimmie Hawkins, OPW’s coordinator.

Ollivierre discussed various life circumstances that she said put black immigrants at risk for COVID-19, including working multiple jobs, often in health-care settings, to pay expenses and support family in their home countries; being dependent on public transportation; being exhausted; and living in shared residences, sometimes with multiple generations.

“You need to have space,” she said. “You need to have distance, but that’s not possible if you’re living a life of poverty where you’re working multiple jobs and you’re living in very close quarters.”

Plus, “you’re bringing those viruses and all those germs from those two jobs into your household,” she said.

Brooks raised the issue of limited access to personal protective equipment on the job. “If the doctors and the nurses aren’t getting the PPE, then we know that the people who are cleaning the rooms aren’t getting it. The people who are cooking aren’t getting it.”

She also spoke about supervisors taking advantage of the fact that some workers don’t know their rights or would prefer not to rock the boat.

“COVID at the Margins” is illuminating these issues to help people understand the insidious nature of racism, hear directly from individuals about what’s happening in communities, and learn ways to get involved.

Ollivierre suggested providing communities with PPE so that they can change masks regularly, directing resources toward cleaning up neighborhoods and ethnic stores that might be not well-equipped to do so, fighting for workers’ rights, including the need for proper time off, and educating them to be better self-advocates.

“Many people when they come to the United States, they aren’t coming with an advanced college degree,” she said. “They’re coming with maybe a high school degree from a third-world country, and that really limits your ability to understand what your rights are.”

Bouier also made suggestions for getting involved, such as advocating for one fair wage, pushing for paid sick time and contacting political leaders on issues such as the water shutoffs.

“We’ve got to address the policies that are in place because that’s where the long-term change is going to come from,” she said.

Darla Carter, Communications Associate, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us join in prayer for: 

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Laura Olliges, Presbyterian Investment and Loan Program
Scott O’Neill, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us pray:

Merciful Lord, forgive us for not listening, for not hearing the voices of the oppressed and suffering. May your love guide us in joining our brothers and sisters for transformation, bringing glory and honor to you. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - ‘Everyday God-Talk’ guest asks, ‘Can the church catch the visions of young people?’

Joel, an oft-neglected book, speaks to millennials during COVID-19

September 29, 2020

In a recent edition of Everyday God-Talk, So Jung Kim, associate for Theology in the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s Office of Theology & Worship, visited with the Rev. Dr. Jaco Hamman, a PC(USA) ordained pastor who’s a professor at the Vanderbilt Divinity School.

In the first of a three-part video conversation, Hamman talks with Kim about his most recent book, “The Millennial Narrative: Sharing a Good Life with the Next Generation.”

“I wrote it because that’s the generation (ages 16-40) that’s usually absent from our churches,” he said.

The book draws on wisdom from the prophetic book of Joel. Saying it is “a very neglected book of Scripture,” Hamman called Joel “the most important book of our time.”

“The COVID-19 pandemic only reinforces its significance, especially for young people going through this crisis,” Hamman said.

Describing Joel as a six-act play, Hamman said the prophet speaks to and about people experiencing great loss. Life as they knew it had been destroyed. The prophet Joel encourages them to lament and grieve — and to change their identity and discover who they are. It is in this space that people discover a gracious compassionate God, who is, as Joel 2:13 puts it, “slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”

“Then God promises to pour out [God’s] spirit on all people, especially young people, who will see visions,” Hamman said.

In his book, Hamman asks, “Can the church catch the visions of young people?”

Hamman said the younger generation is interested in the good life, which along with financial security includes working for social justice and inclusion and breaking down structural racism.

“Churches have been so focused on the good news that they have missed the good life,” Hamman said.

Instead of asking young people to come to church, Hamman encourages faith communities to join young people in what they’re doing to make a difference the world — and to learn from them.

After viewing part one of Kim’s conversation with Hamman, the Rev. Dr. Barry Ensign-George, coordinator for Theology & Worship, said, “Hamman’s reflections on the book of Joel are fascinating.”

Watch the latest Everyday God-Talk — which includes Hamman’s full description of the six-act play in Joel — on the Office of Theology & Worship’s Facebook page.

Download the Everyday God-Talk videos here.

Part two of Kim’s conversation with Hamman was about the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Matthew 25 invitation. Part three focused on the coronavirus crisis and how “The Millennial Narrative,” the Book of Joel and the Matthew 25 invitation can speak to young adults now and after the pandemic. Those segments were released on May 13 and 20.

Paul Seebeck, Communications Strategist, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us join in prayer for: 

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Elizabeth Olker, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us pray:

God of the universe, we thank you for all that you have created and called good. We thank you for placing us in the midst of your Creation and for blessing us as your own. May we be all that you have called us to be, and may we follow you each and every day with excellence and in faithfulness. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - We the poor — all we have is God to protect us and we put ourselves in God’s hands’

Focus during 1001 webinar is on house churches

September 28, 2020

The Rev. Elmer Zavala, pastor of the Presbyterian Hispanic Latino Ministry of Preston, baptizes the children of families who are now feeling the devastating financial impact of the coronavirus. (Photo by Ellen Sherby)

The Rev. Elmer Zavala of the Presbyterian Hispanic Latino Ministry of Preston in southern Louisville knows about the unusual and difficult challenges that immigrants face with COVID-19.

Many in the house church of more than 40 families work in restaurant kitchens, hotels or construction firms that have been slowed to a standstill by the coronavirus.

Nearly 50% of those in the community have lost their jobs, Zavala said — and those who are still working are earning less because they’re working fewer hours. Making matters worse, under current law, even those who have a tax ID and pay taxes are not eligible for unemployment benefits or government stimulus checks.

Zavala said that what is happening to the community he pastors, in the Presbytery of Mid-Kentucky, is happening in immigrant communities across the country. Recently, in raising awareness for its new church development emergency fund, the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta said that 35% of its new worshiping communities were struggling with poverty before the coronavirus hit and are currently at risk.

The media specialist for the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta, Miranda Emery Segrest, wrote in an email that families in these Atlanta-area worshiping communities “are being hit hard, because they fall outside of the government safety net and stimulus packages as they face such things as job loss, eviction and food insecurity.”

According to Zavala, some families in the Hispanic Latino Ministry of Preston who have access to benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — formerly known as food stamps — are hesitant to use them because they are in the process of trying to gain residency.

“They’re afraid if they’ve been getting public (assistance), it might harm their ability to get a permanent resident card,” he said.

That fear is real. Zavala has heard stories that legal immigrants with Social Security numbers are afraid to apply for benefits because doing so might harm the immigration status of a family member.

In reality, Zavala said, what is coming the rest of 2020 is going to get even more difficult for many in his community. In Kentucky and in other states, landlords can’t force renters to pay rent. Courts are not accepting new eviction filings, at least for the time being. But eventually those worshiping in the Preston Highway community and in other communities across the country will have to pay what they owe to their landlord.

“Even if their working hours get back to normal, they won’t be able to pay their accumulated debt,” Zavala said. “The bills are coming, and the situation doesn’t allow them to stay home, even if they want to.”

Calling the situation for those in the community who are not able to work “a tragedy,” Zavala overheard two members recently having a conversation that went like this: “Thank God I’m working. Are you working?” “No, I’m not working. I don’t have a job right now.”

And another man in the community told him, “We the poor don’t have the luxury of staying home. We the poor — all we have is God to protect us and we put ourselves in God’s hands. We have no other choice.”

“It made me realize how Ellen and I are so privileged,” Zavala said. “We’re having a completely different conversation.  We’re talking about how we’re not working in the same way as we were before.”

On behalf of the Presbyterian Hispanic Latino Ministry of Preston, Mid-Kentucky Presbytery applied for and received a $7,500 COVID-19 PDA Grant. The Rev. John Odom, presbyter for Community Life, said the presbytery has already begun dispersing the money to the southern Louisville ministry.

Paul Seebeck, Communications Strategist, Mission Communications, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us join in prayer for:  

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Jenny Oldham, Presbyterian Mission Agency
Dayna Oliver, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us pray:

God of justice and peace, we mourn for our country’s growing homeless population and ask you to inspire congregations and individuals to work for affordable housing so that all your people will have a home. Amen.

Minute for Mission: Evangelism Sunday

September 27, 2020

Flora Wilson Bridges preaching at Rendall

Rendall Memorial Presbyterian Church is a small-in-numbers yet large-in-mission, Christ-centered, aging, progressive congregation in central (Black) Harlem. Its mission is to serve those in the community through the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Evangelism happens at Rendall as a “by-product” of intentional, gospel-focused ministry that is relational, personal, spiritual and missional.

Since 2016, in partnership with the Department of Homeless Services of the City of New York, the church has hosted those who are without homes 365 nights a year from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. with hot meals (breakfast and dinner), hot showers, clean beds, toiletries, small items of clothing and — vitally important — the safety needed to sleep in peace. Two other churches in the New York City Presbytery have since followed this model pioneered at Rendall. Rendall’s ministries to those in need attract younger adults to join the congregation.

Often in today’s world, millennials and Gen Xers question the “sound” of the trumpet call of the Christian church. Younger adults have joined Rendall teaming up with the session (which includes two millennial elders), deacons (currently all millennials), baby boomers and the greatest generation in joyful, intergenerational worship, biweekly Bible study (one taught by the baby boomer pastor and the other taught by a millennial), weekly prayer meeting (led by the greatest generation) and mission (administered by boomers and executed by millennials). Those who join believe Rendall is not simply talking about Jesus but being about Jesus. In Rendall’s compassionate service to the poorest of the poor, they trust the sound of the gospel.

The Rev. Flora Wilson Bridges, Ph.D., Pastor of Rendall Memorial Presbyterian Church

Let us join in prayer for: 

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff

Emily Odom, Presbyterian Mission Agency
Jihyun Oh, Office of the General Assembly

Let us pray:

Dear God, let us not copy the behavior and customs of this world, but transform us into a new people by changing the way that we think. May we repurpose our lives and act accordingly.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - Becoming Presbyterian

The Holy Spirit is at work in the PC(USA)’s 1001 New Worshiping Communities movement

September 26, 2020

Paul Seebeck, 

Nick Pickrell, organizer of The Open Table KC, has never set foot in a seminary. But after five years co-leading this new worshiping community in Kansas City, Missouri, he’s going through the process of becoming a commissioned ruling elder. “I wanted to be more connected to the PC(USA) denomination,” he says in the new 1001 Worshiping Communities video, “Becoming Presbyterian” at vimeo.com/416070513.

Before starting The Open Table KC, in partnership with Second Presbyterian Church in Kansas City, Missouri, Pickrell lived in a Catholic Worker House run by a PC(USA) minster.

Wendie Brockhaus is curator at The Open Table KC. She found out about the new worshiping community on Second Presbyterian Church’s website. “They had a position opening,” she said, “and suddenly I was co-pastor of a new worshiping community.”

Brockhaus grew up in conservative evangelical denomination. She didn’t see herself as a woman in ministry, thinking it wasn’t an option for her. Despite that she went to seminary and also completed her clinical pastoral education (CPE) residency. “Even though I have (a Master of Divinity degree) I don’t’ t feel a call to ordained ministry in the traditional sense, she says. “But I do feel a call to this community. I found a home.”

The Rev. Gad Mpoyo grew up a United Methodist in Democratic Republic of Congo. He came to the U.S. for MDiv. Program at Chandler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta. While he was there, a professor who happened to be Presbyterian asked him to run a homeless shelter.

As a student, he had also started an outreach ministry in Clarkston, Georgia. And as Presbyterians who volunteered at the homeless shelter heard about and saw the work he was doing, they asked him if he would be willing to start a new worshiping community, which became Shalom International Ministry in Clarkson, which is mostly made up of immigrants and refugees.

“To me, that was sign from God,” Mpoyo said. “I could never imagine in my wildest dreams that the PC(USA) would reach out to a United Methodist pastor.”

After going to seminary, Libby Tedder Hugus moved to Casper, Wyoming, with her husband Jeremey, expecting to pursue ordination with the Nazarene Church. Wanting to get to know the community, she started working in a coffee shop. One day she struck up a conversation with a woman who was a PC(USA) minister, who invited her to a small gathering of clergy.

Hugus was hosting a weekly meal in her home, and the conversations she was hearing around the table were those of the “nones” and “dones,” whom she defined as “folks who had never pursued a conversation about spirituality or religion formally, for a whole variety of reasons,” she said, “or they just didn’t have any experience with it.”

Hugus was invited to explore the possibility of starting a new worshiping community. The Table in Casper went public in 2015. She is now in the process of pursuing ordination — and will be ordained sometime in 2020.

In 2012, the 220th General Assembly declared a commitment to a churchwide movement that results in the creation of 1001 worshiping communities by 2022.  At a grassroots level, more than 600 diverse new worshiping communities have formed across the nation.

Paul Seebeck, Communications Strategist, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us join in prayer for: 

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Clara Nunéz, Presbyterian Mission Agency
Andrea O’Connor, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us pray:

Gracious God, we thank you for the opportunity to share your love in real and tangible ways with our brothers and sisters. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - Connecting Korea’s past and present for the future of mission

‘Korean-English Dictionary of Presbyterian Missionaries in Korea 1884-2020’ highlights the contributions of 1,000 mission workers

September 25, 2020

Yen Hee and Choon Lim celebrate completion of the first “Korean-English Dictionary of Presbyterian Missionaries in Korea,” covering 136 years of mission in Korea from 1884 to 2020. (Contributed photo)

Bridging the division in Korea through reunification is a dream of many. Another dream has been to compile the history of mission workers of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and partner churches in Korea from 1884 to the present. This connection of past and present mission workers in Korea by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and partner churches in Korea has become reality in the publication of the first “Korean-English Dictionary of Presbyterian Missionaries in Korea 1884–2020,” published March 27 in Korean.

This book chronicles who came to Korea and what they did as Presbyterian missionaries in Korea over the past 136 years. It highlights about 1,000 Presbyterian missionaries, beginning with Dr. Horace Newton Allen and Frances Ann Allen, who arrived in 1884 as Korea’s first Protestant missionaries. It continues through the decades to mission co-workers Kurt Esslinger and Hyeyoung Lee, who are serving today.

There are two main sections in the book. The first lists missionaries’ names alphabetically, along with brief biographical information. The second lists the missionaries according to the year they arrived in Korea.

The idea to produce a historic compilation of mission workers in Korea had been on the mind and heart of the Rev. Choon Lim, World Mission’s regional liaison for East Asia, since he and his wife, Yen Hee Lim, began their third mission appointment in 2012, serving in Seoul, South Korea.

Since their appointment as PC(USA) mission co-workers in 1991, Choon has been the chief relational bridge connecting global partners in South Korea, North Korea, Hong Kong, China, Japan and Taiwan with the PC(USA), while Yen Hee is engaged in ministry through the home.

Over the years, many Korean Presbyterians have wanted to learn more about their Christian ancestors. Until now there was no such official guidebook in Korea.

“The major problem we confronted in completing this project was deciding who to include in this book,” Choon recently wrote in a letter to mission supporters. “Many Presbyterians came to Korea as missionaries. They were sent by local churches or institutions for different reasons. We decided to include only those who were sent by the Presbyterian Church’s General Assembly.”

The merger of northern and southern branches of the church to create the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in 1983 also made it challenging to find out who belonged to which denomination, Choon said.

The Lims asked Young-gun Choi, a professor at Hannam University, to travel to the Presbyterian Historical Society in Philadelphia to assist with the necessary research. He spent one week gathering information, but he was unable to complete the task in that amount of time. Finally, the Lims spent a full week at the Presbyterian Historical Society last August to complete the research.

“Before our visit, we emailed them about our purpose for coming. When we arrived and started to read the wealth of stories of former missionaries, our hearts were touched. We saw their dedication and hard work to spread the Good News to Chinese and Korean people by word and deed. Reading these moving stories gave us the energy to continue our research for seven days, beginning at 9 a.m. and staying on until the building closed. Each evening when we left, our eyes were red and our bodies exhausted — yet the next morning we couldn’t wait to read more stories of mission work,” Yen Hee said.

Many times, while gathering information about the former missionaries, Choon couldn’t stop crying, Yen Hee said, “Those who came to Korea in the early years sacrificed their lives to spread the gospels’ Good News to the Korean people, as the living conditions in Korea at that time were very poor,” she said. “They had to face all kinds of diseases and had to learn the difficult Korean language.”

Choon founded the Korean Presbyterian Church of Indianapolis, which began in the Lims’ home. Choon became a deacon, elder, pastor and a mission co-worker of PC(USA) to Korea and Taiwan. After serving World Mission for 30 years, he will retire at the end of 2020.

The timing of the publication of the book, during the COVID-19 pandemic, is a reminder of the importance of staying connected, the Lims said.

Tammy Warren, Communications Associate, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us join in prayer for: 

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Lisa Nelson, Presbyterian Mission Agency
Valéry Nodem, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us pray:

God of grace, we ask that you would give us creative ways to serve people so that they may one day claim the hope and joy of abundant life in Christ. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - A lifetime of change — and acceptance

From Belfast to Nashville: One YAV’s journey of faith

September 24, 2020

The Rev. Ashley McFaul-Erwin is the community outreach pastor at Setauket Presbyterian Church on Long Island. She said the PC(USA)’s Young Adult Volunteer program “laid the foundation for being embedded in the church and the local community.” (Contributed photo)

The Rev. Ashley McFaul-Erwin would not likely be a pastor in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) today if she’d stayed in her homeland of Northern Ireland — and never found the Young Adult Volunteers (YAV) program.

“The YAV program saved my life,” she says. “I’d been working as a youth and community worker in Belfast. I had considered going into ordained ministry over there, but as a gay woman I would have had to keep part of myself secret. I chose not to do that. My relationship with my home Presbyterian church broke down, and I was angry.”

Same-sex married couples are not allowed to be members of McFaul-Erwin’s home church in Larne, Northern Ireland. She calls trying to stay in the closet “a dark place to be.”

“I didn’t know how I would be able to do this work I felt called to do. But then through the YAV program I found a place where I was not only allowed in, but celebrated,” she says.

While looking for ways to serve in a faith community that welcomed her, McFaul-Erwin came across the program at Second Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tennessee. The church was offering a year of service with area nonprofits through its Nashville Epiphany Project — and it was clear that the congregation embraced and welcomed every person.

“My heart soared to learn there are people in the church who would welcome me and where I could be myself and not hide myself,” she says. “This is when logic went out of the window and I let the Spirit take over.”

It’s not unheard of for young adults from overseas to take part in the YAV program, but it is unusual. McFaul-Erwin was directed to contact the PC(USA) offices in Louisville, where they encouraged her to “figure out my visa and they’d do the rest.”

Things moved quickly. Within a year, in 2011, she was in Nashville serving as a YAV for the Martha O’Bryan Center’s Top Floor Program. The program was based in one of the high schools with the lowest graduation rates. McFaul-Erwin says Top Floor is focused not only on graduating more students but helping them plan for what happens after high school — helping with college applications and more. She still keeps in touch with many of the students she served.

The YAV program is supported, in part, through the Pentecost Offering and, as it was for McFaul-Erwin, is often a path that leads to a lifetime of community service and leadership within the church.

“I’m proud that our denomination has a program so committed to that,” she says. “The YAV program helps young adults learn how to live out their faith — not just in church but embedded in the local community.”

After her year of YAV service ended, McFaul-Erwin returned to Northern Ireland and began exploring options for seminary. She eventually returned to Nashville, attending the Vanderbilt Divinity School while also managing a group home for adolescent boys. She also completed Clinical Pastoral Education, serving as a chaplain for women coping with drug and alcohol addiction.

She now lives in Long Island, New York, with her wife, Erica, whom she married in 2015. The pair moved to the area in July 2019 so McFaul-Erwin could serve as the community outreach pastor at Setauket Presbyterian Church on Long Island.

“The YAV program laid the foundation for being embedded in the church and the local community,” she says. “They gave me this feeling of freedom and opportunity to be my authentic self. To be authentic is so much at the heart of ministry, whether I’m preaching on a Sunday morning or visiting a local homeless shelter. To be able to be fully who I am has been an incredible gift.”

You can find additional resources and ways to support young people and their own faith journeys at pcusa.org/pentecost.

Give to the Pentecost Offering to continue the valuable work of the Young Adult Volunteer Program.

 Special Offerings, Presbyterian Mission Agency, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Let us join in prayer for:  

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Lorie Neff LaRue, Board of Pensions
J. Herbert Nelson, III, Office of the General Assembly

Let us pray:

Send your Spirit into this place, O Lord, as you did with a mighty rushing wind at the birth of your church. Rush mightily into our hearts to heal and to bind up, that we might go out to serve, to reconcile and to meet you in all people. Amen.

News from Presbyterian World Mission – September 2020

Mission Matters Recently, I attended a protest in Louisville that demanded justice for Breonna Taylor, the 26-year-old Black woman who was shot and killed by Louisville police when they entered her home with a no-knock warrant. It was a sobering moment; it was a moment of grief; and it was a moment of young adults. As I looked around at the crowd, people of all ages and backgrounds were there. However, the young adult presence was visible and inspiring. Young adults continue to carry the banner of justice in our country in ways that give hope for the future. They chanted, "Say her name — Breonna Taylor." I was deeply encouraged by the many ways that diverse young adults are showing their care and boldness in times of racial unrest in the U.S. Read mission matters →

Support mission co-workers As COVID-19 continues to challenge our mission personnel who serve the world’s most vulnerable people, many mission co-workers are sheltering in place or have returned to the U.S. to continue their life-changing work. But thanks to your generous gifts to Presbyterian World Mission, mission co-worker Nadia Ayoub has been able to remain in Greece to stand with "the least of these," including refugees in crowded camps for whom the pandemic poses an even greater threat. Nadia needs your prayers and support now more than ever as she continues to bring Christ’s light to those in need. Thank you for your prayers and your continued financial support, which allows mission co-workers like Nadia to act as the hands and feet of Christ both across the globe and here at home. Read more →

Church partners join with NGOs to help displaced families in Beirut Relief efforts are underway in Beirut to help the more than 300,000 people displaced by the Aug. 4 port explosion that was among the five strongest blasts in human history. (Photo provided on Facebook by Najla Kassab) Read more → Education can change the lives of children in Malawi Mission co-worker the Rev. Cheryl Barnes partners with the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian to reimagine schools. (Photo by the Rev. Cheryl Barnes) Read more →

‘Healthy Church’ in Taiwan is a blessing for mission co-worker The Rev. John McCall, who has served in partnership with the Presbyterian Church of Taiwan for more than 20 years, has learned that each invitation is different and sometimes challenging to navigate. But when he leaves, he always feels blessed. Read more → International Peacemakers Virtual Symposium begins Sept. 27 A two-week International Peacemakers Virtual Symposium, Sept. 27–Oct. 10, will feature peacemakers who have visited the U.S. in the past. The International Peacemaking Program, a partnership of the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program and Presbyterian World Mission since 1984, is supported by gifts to the Peace & Global Witness Offering. Learn more →

Questionable election results send the people of Belarus to the streets Recently the people of Belarus have declared, "no more," and have taken to the streets by the thousands. Read more → A yellow tricycle and a magical plate of biscuits The Rev. Shelvis and Nancy Smith-Mather find joy during transition forced by COVID-19. Read more →

Cuba Partners Network Virtual Gathering 2020 The PC(USA) Cuba Partners Network (CPN) invites you to celebrate connections on Saturday, Sept. 26, from 1–3 p.m., Eastern Time. This year we celebrate the 130th anniversary of Presbyterianism in Cuba and CPN’s 20th anniversary of building and strengthening partnerships between our two churches. Watch an engaging Cuban-produced documentary on the Presbyterian-Reformed Church in Cuba, learn how you can advocate here in the U.S. for the Cuban church and people, and engage in worship from Cuba. Rev. Dora Arce-Valentin, moderator of the Cuban Synod, will offer the sermon, based on Philippians 2:1–5, with special music from Havana. Learn more →

World Communion Sunday resources Oct. 4 is designated as World Communion Sunday, which celebrates our oneness in Christ with all our brothers and sisters around the world. This year, PC(USA) partner churches contributed to the resources to provide an international perspective. (Photo by Sarah Henken) Find resources →

YAV is ‘virtual’ in 2020–21 and ‘in-person’ in 2021–22 Sign up for "virtual" YAV service in 2020–21 by the Sept. 29 deadline. Application season for "in-person" YAV service in 2021–22 opens Oct. 1 (pcusa.org/yav). Be a "virtual" YAV! →

Matthew 25-Actively engaged in the world The Matthew 25 invitation was officially launched in April of 2019. Over a year later there are over 600 churches, groups and mid councils that have made the commitment to become a Matthew 25 church and work towards building congregational vitality, dismantling structural racism and eradicating systemic poverty. Explore our bold vision →

Coronavirus/COVID-19 — Latest church resources for congregations and members

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