Today in the Mission Yearbook - Whispers of the heart

They need your attention

October 31, 2022

The daughter of a church member texted, late one Friday night, to say that her dad’s physical health was fading fast. He had been placed on hospice, and she was concerned about how much more time he had. She told me that she had become his round-the-clock nurse/caregiver, and she was grateful to be able to do that. Earlier in the week I had offered to drive to her house (about 60 miles) to visit them. She indicated that she now wanted to take me up on my offer.

Saturday morning, when I read her text, I responded:
I need you to be forthright and honest with me about the timing of my visit. If you believe it needs to be today, please say so. There is no “better late than never” in this situation. I can be there with two hours’ notice.

 A few minutes later she replied:
 I just spoke with him. He said there is no need for you to drive all the way over here … that he is in good hands with the doctors and nurses through hospice. He appreciates my reaching out and your willingness to visit.

 I replied:
Thank you. I hereby grant you daughter/nurse override on your dad’s stubbornness. If you need/want me to visit for your sake (& your family’s sake), just say the word and I will show up of my own volition, because, sometimes, the whisper in my heart tells me to do things that others say didn’t need to be done.

 She “Loved” my reply, but said nothing else.

I then set out to write my sermon for the next day, since my work week had provided enough interruptions and distractions to keep me from figuring out how to preach my selected texts. I figured it would take me 2-3 hours to plan my sermon, but I finished my sermon preparation in about an hour. Having experienced the aforementioned “whisper in my heart” many times before, I decided to text her again as soon as my sermon preparation was complete. I texted: May I come this afternoon?

We made arrangements for my visit, and I arrived at her house two hours later. He was obviously tired and weak, and remained supine in his bed, but we had a good visit. He, his daughter and I talked, shared stories and laughed for about an hour. My closing “prayer” with him was a song I sang, “Wayfaring Stranger,” which I had personalized on the drive to his daughter’s house. My song/prayer was an invitation for him to let go of his pain and suffering, ushering himself into the everlasting arms of divine love, and to be greeted by his wife, who had died many years before, and his son (her brother), who died six weeks ago. My personalization was to change the end of the verses to:

I’m going there to meet my dear Peg.
She said she’d meet me when I come.
I’m just a going over Jordan.
I’m just a going over home.
                    and
I’m going there to meet my Andrew.
I’m going there, no more to roam.
I’m just a going over Jordan.
I’m just a going over home.

After my visit, I drove back home. Four hours after my visit, his daughter called:
“I want to thank you for your visit with dad and me today. He just died a few minutes ago. He was at peace, and my son and I were at his side.”

Pay attention to the whispers in your heart. Sometimes they tell you where you need to be and who you need to be.

The next morning, I wrote and sent her this prayer:

Remind us, O God, that being strong does not mean your heart won’t break; that refusing and running from heartbreak are escape and anesthesia. Help us recognize that the strong ones dare to stay close, allowing their hearts to break, not because it doesn’t hurt, but because they know that love’s ingress and egress flow richly through the cracks.

Todd Jenkins is pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Greeneville, Tennessee.

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Sherri Hunter, Program Assistant, Ecumenical Relations, Office of the General Assembly
Demetria Hurnton, Business Administrator, Benefits, Board of Pensions

Minute for Mission: Reformation Sunday

October 30, 2022

Forty years ago, the Dutch Reformed Mission Church (DRMC) in South Africa adopted Belydenis van Belhar — the Confession of Belhar — in its first reading. Belhar was an outgrowth of the DRMC’s effort to grapple with the church’s participation in and defense of apartheid and touches prominently on themes of unity, reconciliation and justice. The DRMC adopted Belhar in its final form in 1986.

Although the Confession of Belhar is inextricably connected to its South African context, its message extends far beyond. The PC(USA) describes Belhar as a powerful statement of belief for the Christian faith that, in part, bears witness to the gift of unity and the church’s obligation to it. Interest in Belhar grew internationally around 2006, including among reformed traditions in the United States, where the PC(USA) established the Special Committee on the Confession of Belhar. On the recommendation of this Special Committee, the 222nd General Assembly (2016) approved the inclusion of Belhar in the Book of Confessions because of the clarity of its witness and its capacity to serve as a model for the PC(USA) to “speak and act with similar clarity at a time when it faces division, racism and injustice.”

The Confession of Belhar is a unique voice among the predominantly European and North American confessions. It elevates the witness of Reformed Christians living under different circumstances and serves, even now, as a springboard to discuss its key themes of unity, reconciliation and justice within a wide range of current issues.

For more on the Reformation, visit history.pcusa.org/rs.

Kristen Gaydos, Director of Communications, Presbyterian Historical Society

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff

Sy Hughes, Mission Engagement Advisor, Mission Engagement & Support, Presbyterian Mission Agency
Lacey Hunter, Manager, Finance & Administration, Director’s Office, Compassion, Peace & Justice, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us pray

Gracious and loving God, help us listen deeply to all our siblings in Christ as we strive toward unity and justice. On this day, we give thanks for the Belhar Confession as one important source of your reconciling light in this world. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - A barista on a mission

Retiree’s second act is a coffeehouse ministry

October 29, 2022

Kate Lewis Brown spruces up Community Cup Coffee & More in Martinsburg, West Virginia. (Contributed photo)

Last fall, Shenandoah Presbytery hosted an all-day educational event at Massanetta Springs Camp and Conference Center in Harrisonburg, Virginia. The event focused on the bold vision of being a Matthew 25 church with two guest speakers: the Rev. Jimmie Hawkins, director of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Office of Public Witness, and the Rev. Dr. Margaret Grun Kibben, chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Between the morning and afternoon sessions, attendees left the conference spaces and engaged in table fellowship.

After selecting food items from the buffet, many stepped outside to eat lunch around picnic tables scattered on the front lawn. Like a breeze blowing through the trees, the Spirit blew among the tables igniting conversations about overcoming racism, building faith communities and loving neighbors.

Attendees sitting across the picnic table from Elder Kate Lewis Brown noticed that her face began to glow with joy as she spoke about her retirement goals of starting a coffee shop and a new worshiping community in Martinsburg, West Virginia.

Since Brown was the only person from West Virginia at the picnic table, she gave background information on her hometown: Martinsburg, located in the Eastern Panhandle of the state, was once a thriving city with six textile mills, a hospital, nursing school, hotel and many shops and restaurants. When the textile industry moved south, Martinsburg began to decline like so many other places.

More recently, Martinsburg was seriously affected by opioids and other drugs. This was partly because of its location adjacent to the I-81 corridor, a convenient route for drug transport from the South to large cities such as Baltimore and Washington, D.C. The results, she told others as they broke bread together, were increases in substance abuse, homelessness and mental health issues.

Already intrigued with the denomination’s 1001 New Worshiping Communities, Brown’s interest piqued in 2019 as she participated in conversations with local pastors and lay leaders exploring the vision of providing safe spaces for people in substance abuse recovery and sacred spaces for nontraditional worship.

When the team agreed to the idea of opening a coffee shop with an intentional gathering space for recovery groups, worship and Christian education opportunities, Brown jokes that she never imagined God would be calling her in retirement to serve as a barista.

While the pandemic slowed the coffeehouse project, Brown said, “In hindsight, the time away from meetings allowed for needed research and spiritual reflection.” Her research included working through the challenges of becoming a nonprofit. When the team realized they did not meet the IRS standards for nonprofit status as a church-owned coffee shop, they decided to operate under two entities: a for-profit business for the coffee shop and a nonprofit for the new worshiping community.

In the summer of 2021, Brown attended the Texas Coffee School, a three-day master class on starting a coffee shop. The class offered hands-on coffee education and barista training. The coffee school brought clarity to the project’s vision. As Brown learned the techniques of making lattes and cappuccinos, she also learned the high costs of specialty drinks.

Brown returned to Martinsburg and shared her findings. It was decided that the coffeehouse would be niche for freshly ground, fair trade coffee at a reasonable price. They would be open six days a week, morning through early evening. The coffee shop would not offer free food or drink. Instead, staff and volunteers would learn how to direct patrons to local agencies that provide food, housing and substance abuse treatment.

In December 2021, the team received a second grant, which provided the startup funds for the business. They leased a space in downtown Martinsburg for the coffee shop and incorporated as Community Cup Coffee & More LLC. Brown and her husband, John, have spent hours ordering equipment, refinishing floors, choosing paint colors, meeting with city officials and selecting a contractor. The years of hard work and discernment have not diminished Brown’s joy in opening a coffee shop.

“We firmly believe that we were led by the Holy Spirit to create this new worshiping community and ultimately to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with people in downtown Martinsburg,” said Brown.

The Rev. April H. Cranford is the pastor at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Waynesboro, Virginia. Cranford and her avid-angler husband, Reed, reside in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley with their two daughters. She writes a monthly faith column for the local newspaper.

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff

Tyler Holm, Mission co-worker serving in Malawi, World Mission, Presbyterian Mission Agency
Carl Horton, Coordinator, Presbyterian Peacemaking Program, Compassion, Peace & Justice, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us pray

Creator God, you are the God of the city. This day we ask your blessing on all who live and serve in your cities. May we be filled with your compassion and bring your love to all who so desperately need it. Through your Son, Jesus the Christ, we pray. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - Empty pews are here to stay

A hybrid world breeds worship fluidity

October 28, 2022

Rodnae Productions/Pexels

In-person worship services are returning at various rates and with various restrictions. And while some congregations are reporting in-person attendance that’s higher than it was pre-Covid, most churches are reporting lower in-person attendance with a significant number of people attending their online services. My congregation is in that majority.

While there are many factors that go into calculating the actual number of online viewers, the larger issues emerging in this hybrid landscape are worship frequency and fluidity. When we see average attendance that is half in-person and half online, we may think that the congregation is divided into two different congregations. In my congregation, though, what we’re seeing is that most of our active congregation attends in person sometimes and online other times.

We have been livestreaming since 2017, but prior to Covid, very few people watched online. Our online attendance was limited to a handful of people who were home sick that weekend or were out of town. On any given Sunday prior to Covid, people decided to either attend church or not.

Then the pandemic period acclimated our congregants to online worship. Post-Covid, attending online worship has become a fully acceptable third option. So, on many Sundays and for many reasons — inclement weather, cranky children, oversleeping — those who fully intended to come to church in person decide to attend online.

Before the pandemic, frequency of worship attendance was already declining. A frequent attender was one who attended 2–3 times per month. Now what we’re seeing is that people are attending in person once or twice per month and online once or twice per month. It would be a mistake to look at the 50-50 split between in-person and online attendance and interpret that as half the people not being interested in the in-person community that is important to the life of a congregation. Most of our people want to have an in-person experience. They just don’t need it every week. In this light, one of the roles of online worship is to maintain the sense of connection with people between the times they attend in person.

So, I encourage you not to focus on how your average weekly attendance has changed, but to look at your attendance in different ways. For example, in a given month, how many of your congregants attend more than twice per month? How many are monthly? How many are fewer than six times per year? How do we communicate most effectively with them? How do we keep them engaged? Would you even attempt to adjust your messaging or programming to reach these different subgroups?

And remember: Most in your congregation are not online versus in-person worship people. They are both. Appreciating the nuances of frequency will give you a better picture of how your parishioners are engaging with your congregation and help you engage them more effectively.

Richard Hong is the pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Englewood, New Jersey

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Courtney Hoekstra, Associate, Advocacy Committee Support, Executive Director’s Office, Presbyterian Mission Agency
Cathy Holland, HR Generalist, Human Resources, Administrative Services Group (A Corp)

Let us pray

Holy God, your gifts are overwhelming, and the power of your Spirit is great. We pray this day for small membership churches. Jesus began the church with just 12 people, and in the power of the Spirit they changed the world. Moving forward, and empowered by the same Spirit, may we do likewise. Amen.

Ministry Matters - Don't build your life on sand | A path to belonging

What is the real difference between wisdom and folly? Don't build your life on sand by Aaron Perry   The ancients were wise when they named their gods—Mammon, Venus, Aphrodite, Jupiter, Mars, Kratos, and so on. The gods were rightly conceived as having personality and adeptly named because they held something that mere humans don't have but want: they seem able to ride the waves of the sea. We still speak names with reverence—or scorn—of those who have something that we wish we could have—of those surfers who ride the waves of the sea, if only for a time. Read here

What do you think makes a person feel welcomed? A path to belonging in review by Patricia Allen   Mary Kay DuChene and Mark Sundby’s A Path to Belonging: Overcoming Clergy Loneliness touches on a subject that clergy may hesitate to acknowledge, and congregations find difficult to comprehend. Their writing demonstrates a keen understanding of the unique dynamic of clergy and congregational relationships and the expectations associated with those relationships. Read here

How did a post-war culture of fear change the church's scriptural vision? Post-war fears, evangelicalism, and incompatibility by Wesley Bros Comics   This week, we find ourselves in post-World War II Jim Crow America. I am intentionally drawing predominantly white characters in the pages of this week’s comic to signify a significant push in American society to unify the country around the American dream for white families. Christianity in the West had become increasingly separated, not by denominations per say, but by a divide in biblical interpretation. Read here

Sycamore trees, the search for meaning, and this Sunday's sermon Resources for engaging children in worship this week

Making connections in worship this week

We're looking for congregational leaders like you. Our mission is to offer resources and content that can help you in your work—and we want to know how you are putting those resources to use. We're looking for congregational leaders to review books and other resources for MinistryMatters, helping orient our readers to the resource and explaining how the resource has influenced your practices in ministry. If you are interested in becoming a published reviewer, please contact our editor here.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - ‘It’s church, and church in its best form’

Webinar reveals the secret behind the partnership between a Delaware new worshiping community and a shared commercial kitchen space

October 27, 2022

The Rev. Chelsea Spyres, executive director of the Wilmington Kitchen Collective and pastor of the Riverfront Church, speaks during last month’s grand opening of the collective kitchen space, which is housed in Grace United Methodist Church in Wilmington, Delaware. (Photo by Cindy Kohlmann)

In locations across the country, PC(USA) churches and mid councils are finding ways to transform otherwise humble church kitchens into spaces of ministry, mission and community engagement.

One such fertile space is in Wilmington, Delaware. The Rev. Cindy Kohlmann, connectional presbyter for New Castle Presbytery, recently hosted an online discussion with the Rev. Chelsea Spyres, executive director of the Wilmington Kitchen Collective and the pastor of Riverfront Church, a new worshiping community in Wilmington. Watch their conversation here.

Riverfront Church meets outdoors in good weather and in restaurants and bars when the weather turns cold or rainy, Spyres said. People who attend “describe Riverfront as a space of rest, community and table. We’ve really been grounded in food from our beginning, but we were never really sure what that was going to look like missionally,” she said. A few years ago, the Wilmington Alliance, a community partner, came to Riverfront’s pastor at the time, the Rev. Edwin Estevez, “and said we have this idea for a community kitchen, a shared kitchen space,” Spyres said.

Organizers approached Grace United Methodist Church — Spyres’ denomination as well — who said, “We have the space, but we don’t have the people. The Wilmington Alliance said, ‘We have some funding,’ and Riverfront said, ‘We think we can get some additional funding and we are willing to invest a staff person part time to this mission.’ That’s where I came into the picture,” Spyres said. “I was that part-time staff member.”

For a year or so, “we did a lot of grant-writing … It was a slow and hard process,” Spyres said. Eventually the team secured enough money to rebuild the Grace kitchen to bring it up to code. In January, the local health department gave its final approval, “and we were officially open.”

Wilmington Kitchen Collective has four goals:

• Provide low-cost shared kitchen facilities for growing food-based businesses
• Increase access to capital and startup grants for entrepreneurs
• Increase access to training and business development for entrepreneurs
• Build a community of culinary entrepreneurs to support and encourage one another on their journey.

Wilmington Kitchen Collective held its grand opening. More than 200 people turned out to celebrate. (Photo by Cindy Kohlmann)

Spyres said 60 Wilmington businesses are now on a waiting list for shared commercial kitchen space. “We’ve just announced we are opening a second site,” Spyres said. “We’re really amazed at the way the Spirit has been working.”

The space exists “for folks in the start-up or dreaming phase of what their business could look like,” she said. “The business development and economic support is important to us because we have heard over and over again from our entrepreneurs that space is not enough. To launch and do business well in the startup phase, they need more support and resources,” including micro grants and business development coaching.

“We are not business experts,” she said of Wilmington Kitchen Collective. “But we have a lot of connections in the community. We are more than a kitchen space.”

WKC has delivered services and workshops that entrepreneurs have told them they need. Among them: food photography and styling workshops. Using only their smartphone cameras, entrepreneurs “saw their pictures transformed” by the end of that workshop, she said.

The Delaware Small Business Development Center offers coaching, and each entrepreneur has a caseworker to help develop a business plan and check in periodically. WKC has also arranged for training sessions in social media use, marketing and accounting.

“It’s a real community,” Spyres said. “We try to make sure our entrepreneurs know that when they win, we win.”

WKC celebrated its grand opening in recent weeks. More than 200 supporters turned out to express their appreciation.

“The Wilmington Kitchen Collective gives me the opportunity to expand my menu to offer new items to customers,” one entrepreneur said in a testimonial. “Being part of the collective, I am excited about working with other businesses to partner for events and collaborate on new business ventures … I’m looking forward to new adventures and vendor relationships that will develop.”

“It’s refreshing for entrepreneurs to be in a space where they’re rooting for each other,” Spyres said. “It means working together and sharing kitchen space — and being patient when someone is running over time or forgot to wipe the counter down properly.”

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Destini Hodges, Coordinator of the Young Adult Volunteer Program, World Mission Presbyterian Mission Agency
Steve Hoehn, Manager, Hubbard Press, Administrative Services Group (A Corp)

Let us pray

God of grace, we thank you for the joy of serving you by serving others. Continue to open our hearts to the needs around us, and may we show forth our concern with hearts and hands, so that all your children may be showered with your love. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - Science has a place in our faith

Science has a place in our faith

October 26, 2022

iStock photo

Go to Berkeley. Become a Christian. That might sound like a joke, but that’s my faith story. I became a follower of Christ during my first year at the University of California at Berkeley. It was then that I heard that one excellent reason not to believe in God was science. As a newly minted Christian sitting in the pews of First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley, I also heard that “the Gospel is not fragile.” The Gospel’s strength to connect with culture, including science, was something I desperately needed to hear — and is something Presbyterians believe.

A paper presented to the 1982 PC(USA) General Assembly called “The Dialogue Between Theology and Science” said faith and science complement one another: “Faith gives us hope for survival and the motivation to achieve conditions for that kind of survival. Science provides the tools, intellectual and material, to get on with what we have to do.”

Science opens us to becoming “like little children,” as Jesus says in Matthew 18:3, and deepens our faith. “The Dialogue Between Theology and Science” affirms this, stating: “We cannot know the truth either finally or absolutely. Therefore, in science as in theology, we live by faith and not by sight.”

I’ve also found at Science for the Church — the organization I co-direct with a mission to cultivate a stronger church through meaningful dialogue with mainstream science — that when congregations engage science, they grow, not just in understanding science, but in their faith.

Science can also open us to new approaches to key issues, like racial healing and pastoral well-being. A seminar on race and Christian faith was recently held by the Synod of the Covenant. The response to learning how science helps us see that race is a powerful cultural category, but not a biological one, deepened the conversation and provided new tools for racial healing. As we emerge from Covid, we are finding that pastors are burned out and confused. The science of mental health is a key resource for this time. It demonstrates that a church community literally keeps us alive — and growing.

All my time as an ordained pastor, since 1996, has been spent with emerging adults, and I have argued that bringing science to church is good for our outreach to emerging adults. The Barna Group agrees, citing one of the six main reasons 18- to 30-year-olds leave the church is that they see it as “antagonistic to science.”

No, the Gospel isn’t fragile. It can withstand scientific discourse. I learned that years ago while sitting in an orange fabric pew at First Presbyterian Berkeley.

The Rev. Dr. Greg Cootsona is an ordained minister in the PC(USA) and lecturer in religious studies at California State University, Chico in Chico, California. He has been interviewed on faith and science by The Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio and the BBC, to name a few. He is also co-director of Science for the Church.

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Dori Hjalmarson, Mission co-worker serving in Honduras, World Mission, Presbyterian Mission Agency
Randy Hobson, Manager, Design & Multimedia, Office of the General Assembly

Let us pray

Heavenly Father, your unconditional love inspires us to be loving, welcoming and hospitable to our neighbors. Pour into our hearts your compassion and strengthen and guide us as we go forth to make your kingdom tangible. Grant us your peace and surround us with your presence. Amen.