Today in the Mission Yearbook - PC(USA) congregation and partners work to build a home for all God’s creatures

Members and friends of First Presbyterian Church in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, share their journey toward opening the county’s only animal shelter

June 30, 2023

Cyndy Danielson, left and Kathy Nellor are All God’s 

Creatures board members.

Henry County, the home of First Presbyterian Church in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, lacks an animal shelter — but not for long.

Community partners both inside and outside the church are working on what they call “Mission Pawsible,” the campaign to build All God’s Creatures, which when it opens will accommodate about 12 dogs and 50 cats, have medical exam space and quarantine areas, dedicated rooms for training, house a trap-neuter-release program for stray cats and kittens, and more.

All God’s Creatures board members Cyndy Danielson, Kathy Nellor and Kate Ridinger were happy to discuss the campaign recently, which is on its way to its $1.7 million goal. A building has been purchased and an executive director has been hired, although there’s currently no timetable for the opening of All God’s Creatures, which is a commission of First Presbyterian Church and one of the ways the church lives out its Matthew 25 ministry to build congregational vitality.

A kitten plays in the facility that will soon become All 

God’s Creatures Animal Shelter in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. 

(Photos by Rich Copley/Presbyterian Mission Agency)

“I am a relatively new member of this congregation,” said Nellor, a former bank examiner who three years ago was helping her husband through a brain tumor and “was not being fed” at the church she was attending at the time. “I looked at the people who had reached out to me sincerely with a word or a hug or a plate of cookies, and I realized the vast majority were from this church. That said to me that this church isn’t just reading Matthew 25 — they’re demonstrating it. As fine a pastor as Trey is,” she said, referring to FPC’s pastor, the Rev. Trey Hegar, “it’s the masses of the congregation that can make a huge difference.”

The idea for All God’s Children began during a Bible study when members took a virtual stroll around the neighborhood and asked, “Who is my neighbor,” according to Danielson, who chairs the board and is a retired judge. “The [Mount Pleasant Correctional Facility] is several blocks away,” Danielson noted, which caught members’ attention and their imagination.

A $300,000 bequest by a couple “put us into a building, which took us further than we had anticipated,” Danielson said. “Our goal became getting a building and refitting it to our purposes and using it to meet the needs of people and animals.”

Samson, a dog owned by the Rev. Trey Hegar, interacts with

incarcerated individuals at the Mt. Pleasant Correctional Facility.

Nellor describes the mission as “connecting hands and paws of all God’s creatures in Henry County to make a happier and healthier community.”

“We have to let people know there are people we really want to connect with, and the prison was one of those populations,” Ridinger said of the minimum-security facility, which will be featured in an upcoming Presbyterian News Service story. “All God’s Creatures has done research on other prisons” including “what are the pitfalls, so we go in with the best knowledge possible. There are fewer cat and kitten programs, and so that’s where we look to start.”

One idea is to relaunch a program inside the prison that enables incarcerated individuals to help train and handle dogs to make them more adoptable to the public.

“I loved that it was a younger person [Ridinger] who asked me to join the board,” Nellor said. “It made all the difference. It’s fun to see the interaction with younger members on our board.”

“A lot of people might want to be involved, but they don’t know how,” Danielson said. “They might say, ‘I know nothing about dogs.’ You ask them what they like doing and you find out they have all sorts of very good backgrounds you can build on.”

“Make sure you look into your community to find out what their skills are,” said Danielson, who attends St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, “and find congregations that can build on that as well.”

Nellor speaks of the board as a CARE team, an acronym for Creators, Advancers, Refiners and Executors. An organization needs all four, Nellor said — people who are visionary and have good ideas, those who can take steps to advance those ideas, people who are detail oriented, and those who can carry out the plan. “You can’t have a successful project without those four aspects,” Nellor said.

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service

Today’s Focus: All God’s creatures animal shelter

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Shelley Gardner, Chaplain, Board of National Mission, Presbyterian Foundation
Kevin Garvey, Funds Development Specialist, Presbyterian Foundation

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 - Secret Sauce conference offers a recipe for partnerships with immigrant communities and a ‘cookbook’ to download

1001’s test kitchen serves up an irresistible secret sauce with four global ingredients

June 29, 2023

Secret Sauce conference organizers and speakers, from 

left, the Rev. Gad Mpoyo, the Rev. Sungwoo Sam Kim, the Rev. 

Nikki Collins, the Rev. Dr. Lindsay Armstrong and the Rev. 

Rafael Viana. (Photo by Beth Waltemath)

“We all have accents, and really, an accent is nothing to be ashamed of but to be proud of because accents are beautiful,” the Rev. Rafael Viana said during his plenary presentation for the recent “What’s the Secret Sauce?” conference in Atlanta.

The conference focused on the wisdom and experiences of new immigrant worshiping communities and those who partner with them. The four plenary sessions were dubbed “main courses” while the various workshops were considered “side dishes.” The four plenaries focused on a philosophical concept not easily expressed in English that resonates in particular cultures and enriches the communal life and the Christian theological understanding of the larger church in the same way an accent conveys a sense of communal belonging and a connection to a particular community of formation.

“An accent provides emphasis where and how it is employed. Thus, we believe that an accent is a beautiful expression of the Christian mission of bringing the gospel everywhere and in all languages,” said the Rev. Sungwoo Sam Kim, the leader of Atlanta Oikos Church and the translational ministry coordinator for Columbia Theological Seminary.

According to the Pew Research center, 68% of the 44.5 million immigrants to the United States identify as Christian, according to data presented by the conference organizers. Immigration to the United States has been on the rise since President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the 1965 Immigration Act and the Voting Rights Act.

The motivations behind migration are complex, ranging from negative causes such as fleeing persecution or escaping the dual effects of climate change and the unjust economic development in their home countries, sometimes in collusion with North American corporations, to positive hopes like seeking opportunity, education, and freedom of religion or identity.

The Secret Sauce conference featured these 

Communion elements.

Over three days, leaders from new immigrant churches and worshiping communities and their partners in established churches, mid councils, the Presbyterian Mission Agency and the Office of the General Assembly explored the realities of immigrant pastors, their members and their congregations and asked important structural questions about the United States immigration system, the biases and governance of established host congregations and presbyteries, the obstacles in mid council and national polity and translation services, and the financial thresholds for chartering churches and long-term participation in the Board of Pensions that can inhibit new immigrant leaders and their communities from full inclusion in the PC(USA).

The four plenary presentations focused on four words in Zulu, Korean, Spanish and Bantu to accentuate the experiences of immigrant communities in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The Rev. Dr. Lindsay Armstrong, chief executive officer of the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta’s New Church Development Commission, opened the first plenary with discussion of the need for individuals and the institution to fully see immigrant communities and the realities they face. Armstrong also discussed “sawubona,” a Zulu word meaning “we see, we respect and we value you” that speaks of the power of individuals to take responsibility for the sight and the recognition of their culture and their institutions when they seek to understand others in the fullness of their own realities.

Armstrong said she learned the word from the Rev. Dr. George Marchinkowski, the moderator of the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa, when he came to shadow her for a month as she practiced one-to-one meetings with new immigrant leaders and leaders in potential host churches. “After a month of following me around as I did my job, he remarked over dinner one night that I practice sawubona. He said, ‘You understand it perfectly. You just don’t know the word. It is not something that translates fully into the English language or U.S. culture, but I have watched you do it every week I have been here.’”

Kim, Viana and Mpoyo have published a 39-page resource “cookbook” sharing the concepts of dure, mi casa es su casa and ubuntu as well as other wisdom and stories from new immigrant church leaders called Accents, which is available for download through the Presbyterian Mission Agency website and the New Church, New Way online resource site.

Beth Waltemath, Communications Strategist, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Today’s Focus: Secret Sauce conference “Cookbook” called Accents

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Debbie Gardiner, Executive Assistant, Executive Director’s Office, Presbyterian Mission Agency
Ruth Gardner, Director, Human Resources, Administrative Services Group (A Corp)

Let us pray

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it” (Hebrews 13:2). Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - First Presbyterian Church in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, is helping to ensure that IowaWINS

One part of the church’s Matthew 25 ministry, IowaWINS, aided 32 immigrants following an ICE raid five years ago

June 28, 2023

Tammy Shull and David Suarez are board members of IowaWINs (Iowa Welcomes its Immigrant Neighbors). First Presbyterian Church in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, has numerous community partnerships in line with the Matthew 25 vision, including IowaWINs and All God’s Children Animal Shelter. (Photo by Rich Copley/Presbyterian Mission Agency)

A day ahead of celebrating the varied facets of its Matthew 25 work, First Presbyterian Church of Mount Pleasant, Iowa, recently shared some of the key people in both the congregation and the community to discuss their work and future plans with Presbyterian News Service.

The first presentation came courtesy of Tammy Shull and David Suarez, board members with IowaWINs, an acronym for Iowa Welcomes Immigrant Neighbors. Learn more about IowaWINs, a commission of First Presbyterian Church, here or here.

IowaWINs was originally established in 2015 in response to the Syrian refugee crisis, Shull said. Then, nearly five years ago — on May 9, 2018 — a Mount Pleasant factory was raided by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which detained 32 workers from the plant. “What came to my mind that evening was Tammy Shull,” said Suarez, community development manager for Community 1st Credit Union. “I remembered that First Presbyterian Church has this wonderful organization, IowaWINs, that helps immigrants. They were a well-organized entity who could help those affected by the raid.”

Suarez said he also knew “those families were doing nothing wrong. They are hard workers, and we need that. Mount Pleasant is small rural community, and we need a workforce. They were that workforce.”

Shull, a member at First Presbyterian Church, said that establishing IowaWINs “has made the church a lot more alive.”

 “Because of all the relationships we had formed, we had resources to respond to the raid that night,” Shull said, including immigration attorneys, interpreters and counselors. “That wouldn’t have been possible if we hadn’t built all those relationships in the community. Our church saw we were really following Jesus and making a difference.”

Once those relationships have been established, “it’s about reaching out to people, recognizing their gifts and seeing their point of view,” Shull said. “That way you can connect with people and magical things can happen.”

Suarez said his work with the nonprofit credit union “is all about the connections, the network. We are all in the same boat, and so we have to help each other.” The demographics in some southeastern Iowa communities are skewing toward diversity, “and we have to be aware of that,” Suarez said.

Long before IowaWINs, organizations in Henry County, which includes Mount Pleasant, have worked “at making a better future, and diversity was a big part of that” for groups including Healthy Henry County Communities, an initiative of Henry County Public Health, according to Shull. “We have long had efforts to make this place welcoming to newcomers.

Shull recalled fears and rumors dating back to IowaWINs welcoming Syrian refugees in 2015: that refugees “were the way terrorists would come into the country.”

“We worked on educating the community about that,” Shull said. “We were able to bring in people who had worked directly with refugees, like Catholic Services.”

IowaWINs works hard to make its ministry financially sustainable. One solution has been Meals by Nutrimos, which sells nutritious, sizeable entrees to the community and its visitors, including, on occasion, RAGBRAI cyclists. “We came up with these freezer meals. It started small, and it now has expanded to the community,” Shull said. Last year, IowaWINs sold 2,000 Meals by Nutrimos to help support the program.

In addition, a small revolving loan fund — at 0% interest — has helped, for example, a family buy a plane ticket from Guatemala to Iowa so that a family could be reunited.

“For me, this is like a dream,” Suarez said, adding he hopes the microloan program can be expanded.

“I am seeing with my own eyes how the lives of our people are changing with IowaWINs,” Suarez said. “They are changing lives, and that is the most important result of all the work IowaWINs is doing in Mount Pleasant.”

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service

Today’s Focus: IowaWINS, First Presbyterian Church in Mount Pleasant, IA

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Greta Garbo, Accounting Clerk III, Administrative Services Group, (A Corp)
Lemuel Garcia-Arroyo, Ministry Engagement Advisor, Ministry Engagement & Support, Administrative Services Group (A Corp)

Let us pray

Dear God, open our ears, eyes and hearts to sense the possibilities all around us for mission and evangelism. Make us communities that sense needs and do everything in our power to meet them. In the name of Jesus, the Christ. Amen.

Ministry Matters - Just keep walkin | You have been called

Each week, we seek to bring you resources for what matters most in ministry. From worship support to sermon notes, from articles on how to lead well in conflict to inspiration for your own spiritual care, MinistryMatters is committed to being your essential partner in your work. Help us continue that mission by taking this short survey and tell us more about the authors, creators, and mentors who you turn to! Click the link below and take a couple of minutes to respond. Tell us more!

How do we keep walking the way of love in this moment? Just keep walking by Jake Owensby   Mack McCarter envisions a world where “every single child, no matter their age, can be safe and loved.” That vision led him in 1994 to leave traditional congregational ministry in Texas and to found Community Renewal International in his hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana. Two decades of church work had convinced him that cities and towns are essentially a web of relationships. When the relationships fray, those communities begin to decline. Read here

What words shape a pastor's spirituality? You have been called by William McDonald   It was a long service, but your spirits were high. After three years of seminary education, your first appointment, meetings with your district and conference Board of Ordained Ministry, and probationary membership, you had been waiting for this day. It felt good to walk in the procession through the conference assembly, singing “Lord, You Give the Great Commission” (UMH 584). It was a day for vestments and red stoles and banners, a meal together before the service with your pastoral colleagues, the group picture for the journal. Read here

So, can your church rebuild? Is this church ready for rebuilding? by Rebekah Simon-Peter   As I worshiped on a recent Sunday morning, I couldn’t help but ponder the question of whether this church, which I’d been attending for over a decade, was ready for rebuilding. I genuinely appreciate this church. However, it has experienced numerous changes. While the church once held three services a week, it now only offers one. Many familiar faces have disappeared. Read here

A willingness to sacrifice, heavenly hospitality, and your sermon this Sunday Offering a welcoming presence in worship this week with these elements

Today in the Mission Yearbook - Finding the financing to grow enough food for all God’s children

Ecumenical Advocacy Days webinar suggests solutions as food insecurity grows worse

June 27, 2023

Aldo Caliari

As they prepared to lobby on Capitol Hill about the climate crisis, food insecurity and other significant ills, Ecumenical Advocacy Days participants took in an online session on the role that climate finance can play in securing enough food for everyone.

Across the globe, more than 345 million of God’s children suffer food insecurity. Climate change has made the problem worse through the loss of arable land, disruptions to ecosystems, depletion of water sources and other factors. “As the international community seeks to ramp up climate finance for mitigation, adaptation and loss and damage,” organizers wrote in the webinar description, “how can financing modalities better target synergies with food production and the most vulnerable?”

Aldo Caliari, senior director of policy and strategy at Jubilee USA Network, moderated the two-member panel of Jordan Teague Jacobs, co-director of the Policy & Research Institute at Bread for the World, and Dr. Tinashe Gumbo, program executive for economic and ecological justice at the All Africa Conference of Churches.

Food prices are up about 50% over the past four years, Caliari noted, “and climate change is a significant factor.” In Africa, climate change has driven down food productivity by one-third. “Developing countries face this crisis,” Caliari said, “with budgets depleted by the pandemic.” More than two dozen countries now pay 20% or more of their gross domestic product in debt service.

Jordan Teague Jacobs

“Pastoralists face high barriers,” Gumbo said. “We need more systemic ways to address their plight. Resources are needed at the very local level.”

Gumbo, who’s from Zimbabwe, said the situation in Africa “is not detached from the situation in Latin America and other places.”

The most recent U.N. climate conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, did provide one reason for celebration, Gumbo said: a Loss and Damage Fund, the culmination of decades of pressure from climate-vulnerable developing countries. “It has been on the agenda for several years,” Gumbo said. “Climate finance is one way of funding our food processes.”

Over the previous three decades, world hunger has been cut in half, according to Jacobs, who called that “unprecedented progress.” But climate change “is quickly affecting the planet,” and along with armed conflict, the impacts of Covid and many other factors, “hunger is now on the rise again in our world.”

Dr. Tinashe Gumbo

“Adapting to the impacts of climate change on agriculture and food security are immediate needs that must be addressed,” she said. Many more farmers are now reporting disrupted planting and growing seasons than in previous decades. “One only needs to look to the Horn of Africa right now,” Jacobs said.

Climate change is also damaging food quality. Increased carbon dioxide levels affect soil and reduce the nutrient content of crops. Climate change causes people to leave their homes and farms, and “if agriculture is no longer viable, they need to find other ways of making a living,” she said.

Climate change also disproportionately affects “those who are or have been marginalized,” she said. “Many who did the least to cause climate change are now experiencing the most impact.”

Considering the impacts of climate change, improving agricultural productivity “is essential, but by itself is not enough to end hunger,” Jacobs said. “In a world where we produce enough food, we need to focus on equity. Unless we do something, climate change is going to reverse the progress we’ve made.” By 2030, a projected 100 million people will be experiencing extreme poverty as a result of climate change, Jacobs said.

“There are policies that can help reduce the human costs” of climate change, Jacobs said. One area of emphasis for ensuring food availability and accessibility is by “better preparing farmers and the land to the effects of climate change. We call this climate-smart agriculture,” she said. A second way of ensuring food availability and accessibility is to establish “well-functioning systems of social protection that save lives and livelihoods even in difficult circumstances.”

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service

Today’s Focus: Ecumenical Advocacy Days webinar

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Marissa Galvan-Valle, Associate, Hispanic Resources & Relationships, Presbyterian Publishing Corporation
David Gambrell, Associate, Worship, Theology & Worship, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us pray

Lord Christ, unite us in our awareness of you, our oneness in you, even across our differing cultures, languages, political affiliations, genders and economic conditions. In that oneness may our idolatries be exposed and expunged and the vitality of our abundant life be celebrated. Amen.