Today in the Mission Yearbook - Stuffed animals minister to young and old

Toys bring comfort and joy

January 31, 2022

A variety of stuffed animals, part of East Side Presbyterian’s stuffed animal ministry, sit in a pew waiting for their new homes. The animals are free for the taking and often shared with those needing a hug. Ellen Jacobs

As a therapist, Ellen Jacobs knows something about the healing power that can be found in a hug. She also knows all too well the great need among young and old alike to feel loved. That is why Jacobs, a member of East Side Presbyterian Church in Ashtabula, Ohio, can often be found playing with stuffed animals. Well, maybe not playing, but rather inspecting and cleaning cuddly bears, giraffes, bunnies and more, before tying a tag on them and placing them in the church’s pews.

The animals are part of East Side’s stuffed animal ministry, which Jacobs freely admits was not her idea, but one that she was introduced to while visiting a church in Florida some years ago.

Jacobs remembers entering the sanctuary with her then young children and noticing a teddy bear in each pew. When she asked about them, a woman told her they were part of the church’s outreach ministry and were there for anyone to take who might need comfort.

Jacobs didn’t take a bear that day. “But I did take the tag describing the ministry so that I could bring the idea to my church,” she said.

Session blessed the stuffed animal ministry. A call for new or slightly used animals was well received, says Jacobs, adding that it was decided to welcome all stuffed animals and not limit the ministry to just teddy bears. Word spread about the animals, with a local hospital reaching out to East Side, inquiring if some could be shared with patients. “The stuffed animals do provide comfort,” said Jacobs, recalling one story of a young boy placed in foster care who was given a stuffed frog by a member of East Side.

“He loved frogs, so we searched for one just for him,” said Jacobs. The boy was read the tag attached to the frog, which told him that it has “ … spent time in the midst of our congregation. It has heard Scriptures read, sermons preached, prayers prayed and songs of praise sung. … It comes to offer you comfort and peace with the blessings of worship and love.”

Over the years, the stuffed animal ministry has also been blessing adults, as Jacob reminds, “Even grown-ups need something to hold.” The animals also find their way into care baskets, especially at Christmastime.

There is, though, another aspect to the stuffed animal ministry that no one saw coming. With the focus on giving the toys away, there was also the opportunity to invite children to help others by donating their beloved toys to the ministry.

Jacobs’ friend, also a therapist, in fact, suggested to a little girl she was trying to wean from her own “stuffy,” as she called the stuffed toy, to give the animal to another child.

“The girl decided that it would be a wonderful thing to do, and she gave her ‘stuffy’ to the church,” said Jacobs. The girl was later told that it soon got adopted.

East Side Presbyterian has been gradually taking steps to move back to in-person worship. As they do, Jacobs has been getting ready, too, cleaning and inspecting the stuffed animals.

After all these months of digital worship, it is safe to say the stuffed animals will be the first worshipers back in the pews, ready to soak in the prayers and the songs, and then go out to share the love of God — one bear, giraffe, frog, or bunny hug at a time.

 Donna Frischknecht Jackson, Editor, Presbyterians Today

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff

Todd Ingves, Vice President, Pricing, Analytics & Integration, Benefits, Board of Pensions
Jose Irizarry, Vice President, Education, Church Engagement, Board of Pensions

Let us pray

Creator God, thank you for the abundance you provide every day, in exactly the measure we need. Give us grace to take your good gifts and share them far and wide, that all may come to know your abundant love. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - Have you thanked your pastor?

Appreciation is valued

January 30, 2022

As the church slowly enters the post-pandemic era, pastors are exhausted and burnt out to the point that leaving the ministry altogether is tempting. A recent Barna study revealed that 29% of pastors have seriously considered doing just that: leaving full-time ministry. Too many have gone it alone, and it is taking its toll.

While tension and unrealistic expectations have always been inherent to ministry, they are likely to increase as churches continue to develop a hybrid model that not only makes sense in their context, but one that is sustainable, with the equipment and tech experts to oversee digital ministry.

According to presbyters, if a church doesn’t go hybrid, it will die. For the church not yet embracing technology — either by choice or due to a lack of resources — and for churches that are embracing technology but are confused with what a hybrid ministry will look like once the pandemic dust settles, the percentage of ministers leaving the church might grow.

The Rev. Dr. Bryon A. Wade was one of many clergy who found themselves making a vocational transition during the pandemic.

After 24 years of service to Davie Street Presbyterian Church in Raleigh, North Carolina, he became general presbyter of the Presbytery of Western North Carolina. He admits he’s surprised that more pastors haven’t left the ministry over this time of trial.

He is also quick to point out that showing pastor appreciation has not been widely embraced in the PC(USA) — and the reason could likely be due to cultural differences.

“Culture influences how congregations recognize their pastors. The Black Baptist church has done a good job of honoring their clergy as pastors are seen and looked upon as leaders in the community, especially when it comes to civil rights. We’ve inherited the legacy of those such as Martin Luther King Jr. and other Black preachers who were on the front line of social justice,” said Wade. “Preachers bring the Word and care for others. Showing appreciation to pastors is celebrated in such churches, but not so much in the Presbyterian church.”

Wade said appreciating a pastor starts with understanding that the work they do is a call, not just a job.

“To appreciate a pastor, you have to walk in their shoes. No one is complete or perfect. Showing love and appreciation goes a long way,” he said.

The Rev. Dr. Floretta Barbee-Watkins, the transitional general presbyter of the Presbytery of Detroit, knows that “appreciation appreciates” as she pastored a Black Presbyterian congregation for 18 years. During that time, she said she received such gifts as golf clubs, gift cards and a year’s worth of working with a personal trainer.

“In the church I served, many of the congregants came from traditions other than Presbyterian. The Presbyterian church could do a much better job of showing appreciation, especially after the pandemonium of the pandemic when pastors had to learn to preach in front of a camera, do their own editing, use their own equipment and stay in the struggle,” said Barbee-Watkins.

But it’s not just the new pandemic skills clergy have had to learn that make congregations showing their appreciation more important.

“Beyond the pandemic, Presbyterian pastors require a lot of education, carry student loans and serve smaller churches with small salaries that are not commiserate with their education,” she said, adding, “Clergy are not called to be indentured servants who answer on demand. They experience more emotional exhaustion and physical ailments than most. They want to do what they do and do it well. God has called us; we want to feel that those we serve grasp the time and effort it takes to fulfill that call.”

Studies have shown that most pastors burn out within seven years, as they are on call day and night and don’t have enough balance in their personal lives.

“Love breeds love,” said Barbee-Watkins, noting that tokens of appreciation don’t have to be lavish. They can be as simple as pictures drawn by the youth, words of affirmation and positive comments on sermons. “All acts of kindness count,” she said. And those acts “can transform a culture of lack and scarcity to a culture of abundance and generosity.”

Sherry Blackman, the Presbyterian Church of the Mountain in Delaware Water Gap, Pennsylvania, and author of the recently published book “Tales from the Trail, Stories from the Oldest Hiker Hostel on the Appalachian Trail.”

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff

Demetria Hurnton, Business Administrator, Benefits, Board of Pensions
Danny Hutchins, Mail & Print Specialist, Mail & Printer Services, Administrative Services Group (A Corp)

Let us pray

Loving God, too often we see people who are suffering, and we cross to the other side of the street. Help us to be compassionate, to love our neighbors, to feed your lambs. Amen. 

Today in the Mission Yearbook - Seeing the sacred in everyday movements

All of life dances

January 29, 2022

Bodies in motion are holy — period. That’s my truth and my reset button in a coronavirus world. It’s Janet tottering to the Chinese restaurant on her walker. It’s the UPS man bringing the day’s deliveries. It’s me boogeying to Motown in my kitchen as I make the third meal of a very long day for myself and my kid who quickly learned that one way to combat the lockdown blues was to make dance parties an evening ritual. I think God approves.

As a human who has spent roughly half her life in dance studios and the other half in churches, I see sacred movement everywhere I look — on stages, in gardens, at bedsides and in last breaths. I have come to appreciate the simple beauty in bodies simply moving.

Once upon a time, though, there was just professional dance with its curtain calls and bouquets of flowers. There were blisters and pulled muscles and competition for leading roles. There was the need to jump higher, run faster, move better — be noticed. What boundary can I break? What height can I reach?

It wasn’t until after my first semester of seminary, where I met Carla DeSola, that I began seeing all movement as holy. Carla, considered by many to be a grandmother of liturgical dance, founded the Omega Liturgical Dance Company in 1974, which was based at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York. Carla dislikes the distinction between dance that is sacred and dance that is not. It’s all holy. I, who traveled in elite dance circles, had to learn that. Carla wasn’t sure I could. My dance formation was self-centered and competitive. Could I step back, hold back and shine less so that the holy could have center stage? Could I believe that bodies of all sizes, with varying abilities, doing simply what the Creator made them to do, were stunning? Could I see God in a raised arm, a glance, a walk? I could and I did, and I do.

All of life is a dance and inhabiting the space of holy movement sustains me when stillness, peace and hope are hiding. This trinity emerges when I notice my feet on the freshly mopped wood of my kitchen floor. They giggle and hold my heart when I pause to give thanks for a body that can still climb the stairs to my light-filled bedroom. They sip tea with me around the kitchen table when the news comes of another person going home to be with God.

In the beginning, God moved upon the face of the waters. That’s straight out of Genesis. It suggests that movement was consecrated from the start. If I wanted to impress anything upon you about embracing the spirituality of movement, it would be to invite you to see holy movement as baked into you from the beginning — the ordinary act of stirring a pot to the coordinated flurry of bodies dancing the Pentecost story in church, to the caress of your cool hand on a feverish forehead and a convulsing body at a graveside ceremony bidding farewell to a loved one for now.

All of life dances. Consider that as you make your way to the pharmacy and place your crumpled dollars and jingly coins in a stranger’s hand. Notice that the next time you rise and make your way down your church aisle to receive the doughy bread and pungent communion wine. The way that you make your way to the table to dance with the Christ who meets you there is pleasing to God. Can Jesus have this dance? As you strut or stride or shuffle along, trust and believe that the God who moved on the face of the waters moves still and wants nothing

 Adriene Thorne, Senior Pastor, First Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff

Lacey Hunter, Manager, Finance & Administration, Director’s Office, Compassion, Peace & Justice, Presbyterian Mission Agency
Sherri Hunter, Program Assistant, Ecumenical Relations, Office of the General Assembly

Let us pray

Lord, give us eyes to see the loaves and fishes that are among us, that each of us brings to your table. Give us hearts that strive for community justice and human mercy rather than success. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - As micropantries pop up, creativity is key

Church creates a ‘mini-me’ outdoor food pantry

January 28, 2022

 

Not wanting to leave hungry neighbors out in the cold when the church building was shuttered due to COVID-19, First Presbyterian Church continued its mission to feed the community with a micropantry. Courtesy of First Presbyterian Church

First Presbyterian Church in Springfield, Illinois, has a history of providing social services for the community. So having to shut down its traditional food pantry in 2020 as a COVID-19 precaution was tough for members. “That was really hard because it’s such a significant ministry in our congregation,” said the Rev. Susan Phillips, the church’s pastor.

Unwilling to abandon its neighbors, First Presbyterian found other ways to help people in need, such as redirecting funds to a homeless shelter and other service providers in the community. But it is one of the church’s tiniest gestures that’s attracting the most attention: a micropantry. While micropantries — which are basically outdoor storage cabinets that people can access at any time of day to obtain food and personal items — have been growing in popularity in recent years, the pandemic turned the trend into a necessity, allowing people to get food without having to enter into an enclosed space.

“There’s an honor system,” Phillips said about micropantries. “Whatever it is you have, you can leave. Whatever it is you need, you can take. It feels very much like the early church: They give according to what they have, and they receive according to their needs.”

First Presbyterian’s micropantry, though, is unique, going beyond a simple boxlike structure. It was designed to resemble the church that Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln once attended. Like the building itself, the micropantry, for example, has distinctive front doors and a Tiffany-style window depicting a dove in flight.

“I like to build little things like that, so I just went ahead and built it,” said Don Ecklund, the church’s Habitat for Humanity representative. “Our church is well-known for its red doors, so I thought, ‘Oh, I’ll just paint red doors on this pantry to make it look cute.’”

Ecklund, a retired sociology teacher, had been involved in a similar project, the building of the first Little Free Library in Springfield about 10 years prior, so the church tapped him to erect the micropantry.

Ecklund credits part of the project to Linda Justice, a friend whom he invited to help him complete the micropantry, which is located on the church grounds.

“It’s very windy where I put it up, so I needed another person to hold things up in the wind while I tried to put it together, so she was a very, very big help,” he said of Justice, who sometimes attends First Presbyterian and was homeless during the project.

Since its completion, the micropantry has attracted the attention of local media and USA Today as well as a nearby Lutheran church that’s helping to keep the micropantry stocked. “I’m kind of surprised how much buzz just painting some doors on the micropantry has generated,” Ecklund said.

First Presbyterian’s project is thought to be the 33rd micropantry in Springfield, Phillips said. The congregation also stocks a micropantry a few blocks from the church.

“Sharing what we have and caring for those in need are longstanding traditions,” Phillips said. “Part of the conversation that we have here is that if someone has an immediate need, there should be a charitable response. If someone is hungry, they need food today. If they have no place to go, they need shelter tonight. If they’re ill or injured, they need medical care right now.”

First Presbyterian, the home of Samaritan Ministries, also is concerned about the root causes of hunger and homelessness and how to address them, Phillips said.

“We’re hoping that this being a news story can prompt conversations in our communities and other places about the causes of hunger and the causes of poverty, and some of those conversations are going to be about things like the need to pay people living wages or to ensure the affordability of housing or accessibility of health care, or equity when it comes to employment and education and in our legal system,” she said. “So, for me, this pantry is one small piece in a larger fabric of how our spiritual gifts and our sense of call are woven together with the circumstances and situations in our community, and how, as people of faith, we can participate in those conversations about what it means to live into God’s love and justice.”

Darla Carter, Communications Associate, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us join in prayer for: 

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff

Zuzana Hronik, Senior Operations Manager, Presbyterian Foundation
Sy Hughes, Mission Engagement Advisor, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us pray

Faithful God, we are blessed by the ways in which our sisters and brothers focus not on what they do not have but on what they do have and offer it to be a blessing to God and to others. May it be so with us. Amen.

News from Presbyterian World Mission – January 2022

Mission Matters In this month’s Mission Matters, World Mission’s interim director Sara Lisherness looks ahead to 2022 and beyond. (Photo by Rich Copley) Read Mission Matters →

PMA simplifies giving process Effective immediately, the Presbyterian Mission Agency implemented funding to a single fund that supports the PC(USA)’s 80 mission co-workers across the globe. Donors can still make gifts "in honor of" individual co-workers. (Photo provided) Learn more →

Join a mission or partnership network in 2022 World Mission-related mission and partnership networks bring together Presbyterians who share a common international mission focus. Network meetings provide a place for representatives of various PC(USA) partnerships to share information, learn from each other and coordinate their efforts to have greater impact. Many networks have been meeting virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic. Interested in joining? Click below to view the network meeting schedule. (Photo by Kelley Norrell) View schedule →

Two new regional liaisons named Presbyterian World Mission named Ruling Elder Vilmarie Cintrón-Olivieri and the Rev. José Manuel Capella-Pratts as new regional liaisons for the Caribbean. Although new roles for both, the husband and wife consider their new call the same vocation in a different context. (Photo by the Rev. Dr. Kathryn Threadgill) Learn more →

Join Cheryl Barnes in healing the wounds of poverty, oppression and structural racism Because true partnership is at the heart of everything Presbyterian World Mission does, we invite you to walk alongside mission co-workers like Cheryl Barnes, education facilitator for the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe. By using our 2022 Partner Card to guide your prayers and inform your faithful giving, you will be helping Cheryl and others break down the many barriers that separate God’s children from justice. Thank you for your generous gifts and for being an essential partner to Cheryl and a host of mission co-workers across the globe in the work that God calls us to do in Christ’s service. Partner with us →

New resource lifts up Palestinian voices The digital textbook, titled "Focus: Palestine," was released by the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC). The multi-media resource was designed to lift up Palestinian voices while placing the situation into theological, historical, and political contexts, and is easily used where English is not the dominant language. View the resource here. Learn more → CEPAD celebrates 50 years in Nicaragua The Council of Protestant Churches of Nicaragua (CEPAD), a longtime global partner with the PMA, celebrated 50 years of service to the people of Nicaragua. Founded to provide emergency earthquake response in 1972, the group helps communities take charge of their own development. (Photo courtesy of CEPAD) Learn more →

Grants to support climate-friendly projects If approved by the 225th General Assembly, the Presbyterian Tree Fund will support global efforts to combat climate change. The Rev. Jed Koball, mission co-worker in Peru, was instrumental in the idea’s development. Learn more →

Christmas in Eastern Europe marked by spirit of helping others The Christmas celebration is different in Eastern Europe than it is in the U.S., but the spirit of giving remains constant. The season is a busy time for our global partners. (Photo provided) Learn more →

What is a Matthew 25 church Matthew 25 is a living translation of Jesus Christ — strengthening relationships, transforming your church, and bringing alive your commitment to "serve the least of these" - those who are marginalized or in need — in your community and the world around us. Make no mistake, Jesus is calling us to perform ordinary acts of compassion in daily life. But we have also been called to consider the factors that led to these conditions, to confront the causes of inequality, to confess the sin of greed and to correct the problem of poverty — whether in our own nation and neighborhood, or around the world. Learn more →

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

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