Today in the Mission Yearbook - The PC(USA)’s newly formed White Ally Network convenes in Charlotte, North Carolina

Network innovated by Racial Equity & Women’s Intercultural Ministries works to disrupt patterns in church systems

November 30, 2023

The Rev. Shanea D. Leonard (Contributed photo)

The Rev. Shanea D. Leonard, director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s Racial Equity & Women’s Intercultural Ministries (RE&WIM), has been doing the work of dismantling oppressive systems for more than two decades.   

In their work, they found that this requires white people teaching and facilitating white people. The hard conversations and unfiltered truths that come from fully embodying this work is often a lighter burden when white people are doing this self-work together without the emotional labor of people of color.

Leonard’s discovery helped lead the RE&WIM team to form the White Ally Network — a working title — which recently met for the first time in Charlotte, North Carolina. Nine colleagues from across the denomination gathered under the overarching theme of “radical welcome” to begin the work of becoming facilitators. “Radical welcome” is defined as the spiritual practice of embracing and being changed by the gifts, presence, voices and power of The Other — the people systemically cast out of or marginalized within a church, a denomination and/or society.

Led by RE&WIM team members Samantha Davis, associate for gender and racial justice, and administrative assistant Mikyle Johnson, Leonard’s vision is finally coming to fruition. “When creating this network,” says Leonard, “Samantha and I were clear that some will only hear this message as truth and the work of the church if it comes from white voices they know and can identify with. I am so glad to have pastors, elders, pew members, mid council leaders, retirees and even national staff all a part of this great work.”
As more such workshops and facilitator trainings are still being scheduled throughout the country, the hope for the White Ally Network is that the people who have deemed it important enough to be a part of it will be dispatched into various parts of the PC(USA) to challenge systems, practices, and culture that promote and sustain white supremacy culture.

“I further hope that this work will challenge some and disrupt patterns within our church that we do not even realize and/or acknowledge are there,” said Leonard.

“And finally, I hope this network will continue to multiply, by the leading of the Holy Spirit, in a way that truly embodies what faith, justice and allyship look like in action. We have plans for the next phase of the work. But for now, we are focused on building something sustainable, communal, effective and transformative.”

For more information on RE&WIM or on becoming part of this initiative, go to RE&WIM’s website here.

 Shani E. McIlwain, Communications Strategist, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Today’s Focus: White Ally Network

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Julianna Sheridan, Administrator, Investments, Board of Pensions
Alejandra “Alex” Sherman, Executive Assistant, President’s Office, Administrative Services Group (A Corp)

Let us pray

God, fill our lives with courage to live with hope in a hopeless world. Revitalize your church so that many people might see a new dawn! Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - Acting Stated Clerk urges churches to share the expanded love of Christ

Bronwen Boswell reflects on how the PC(USA) is moving forward post-Covid

November 29, 2023

The Rev. Bronwen Boswell, Acting Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the PC(USA)

Pastors and leaders across the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) are still finding new, innovative ways to be church in a post-Covid world. In-person attendance may be down from where it was four years ago, but thanks to advances in technology, combined with some creativity, a new church is emerging. The Rev. Bronwen Boswell, Acting Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the PC(USA), recently reflected on where the church was during the pandemic, and her hopes for where it is going.

Video URL: https://vimeo.com/870653415

Rick Jones, Director of Communications,  and Randy Hobson, Manager of Design and Multimedia, Office of the General Assembly

Today’s Focus: Bronwen Boswell,  Acting Stated Clerk of the General Assembly, reflects on how the PC(USA) is moving forward post-Covid

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Anish Sharma, Software Developer, Information Technology, Administrative Services Group (A Corp)
Ellen Sherby, Associate Director, Global Connections, World Mission, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us pray

Fathering and mothering God, you guide our steps. Continue lighting our paths, so that we might reflect and radiate that light wherever we are. Let your church see not just the future but also the present that is already serving you. Amen.

Minute for Mission: Giving Tuesday

November 28, 2023

Giving Tuesday, which is being observed today in more than 150 countries, exists for one purpose: to celebrate and encourage giving. We Presbyterians have a strong history of giving, and we see examples of this all over the world: schools, hospitals, beautiful churches and exciting ministries of justice, peace and mercy with the name Presbyterian attached to them have enlivened a world more like God’s realm in almost every place in God’s Creation. I don’t know about you, but I spark with joy whenever I see an institution or church that proudly places the name or logo of our denomination on their sign. It causes me to become prideful, yes, but primarily thankful for the saints who have gone before us and shown us how they were faithful. Their legacy of giving shines like a lodestar in our world. As a presbytery executive friend of mine often says, “I am sinfully proud to be a Presbyterian!”

As you turn your attention away from Thanksgiving and time with family or those who are like family, remember that God’s family — our spiritual family — aspires for a world where everyone knows the joy of God’s grace, which we respond to in gratitude to God. What a gift we have the opportunity to share in our giving on Giving Tuesday and every day! Please remember to give freely and generously on Giving Tuesday through the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) so that all our ministries continue to flourish right here at home and all around the globe.

Join the PC(USA) in responding to a world in need! Give now.

The Rev. Wilson Kennedy, Associate Director for Special Offerings and Appeals, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Today’s Focus: Giving Tuesday

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Robyn Davis Sekula, VP, Marketing Communications, Presbyterian Foundation
Jeanie Shaw, Ministry Engagement Advisor, Ministry, Engagement & Support, Administrative Services Group (A Corp)

Let us pray

To make my offering to you, God,
Is to bring back to memory
That you are the source of all gifts, and
The one from whom all blessings flow.
When we join our gifts with the gifts of others, we are reminded that we cannot go it alone.
We are in the company of the household of faith and the whole host of witnesses who went before.
Each gift I make is a “thank you” for the community of faith where I can share my griefs and burdens, my joys and excitement.
Each gift is a “thank you,” God, for the gift of life.
Each gift is an act of hope in God’s future for all Creation. 
Each gift is a sign of our thanks and gratitude.
May it always be so.
Amen.
Prayer by the Rev. Rosemary Mitchell (Honorably Retired)

Today in the Mission Yearbook - Once Advent comes and goes, Presbyterians can pause for Lent by spending time with the psalms

The Rev. Dr. Elizabeth Caldwell is a recent guest on ‘A Matter of Faith: A Presby Podcast’

November 27, 2023

The Rev. Dr. Elizabeth Caldwell

Even as they look forward to Advent soon, Presbyterians will be peeking into Lent by mid-February. With her book “Pause: Spending Lent with the Psalms” scheduled for publication by Westminster John Knox Press on Jan. 2, 2024, the Rev. Dr. Elizabeth Caldwell discussed the rhythms of the Lenten season recently with Simon Doong and the Rev. Lee Catoe, who host “A Matter of Faith: A Presby Podcast.” Listen to their conversation here. Caldwell, whom many know as “Lib,” taught for more than three decades at McCormick Theological Seminary. She joins “A Matter of Faith” at the 28:48 mark.

Early on, Catoe asked her: Are there lessons or practices for Lenten-style pauses or reflections that we can use at other times of the year?

The Christian calendar, which includes Advent, Christmas and Epiphany, followed by Lent beginning with Ash Wednesday and, later, Holy Week and then months of Ordinary Time after Pentecost “offers a nice alternative to the cultural calendar,” Caldwell said. For many, Easter is the big day during the spring, but “it’s about a season. It’s about a practice,” she said. “For me, Lent is a way of engaging in a practice of some faithful reading, some pausing that prepares me to enter this season of Easter.”

“I like the rhythms of the church year,” Caldwell said, “because they offer me a way of connecting with other persons of faith” while also making “me attentive to my own life of faith and my own practices.”

According to Caldwell, spiritual formation has become increasingly important following the pandemic, “and we are not totally dependent on somebody feeding it to us one hour on a Sunday morning.”

For churches sending an e-blast late in the week to inform members and friends about worship and other upcoming activities, Caldwell recommends engaging them with a question or two about the texts being preached on.

“A Matter of Faith: A Presby Podcast” with the Rev. 

Lee Catoe and Simon Doong drops each Thursday.

“I do a lot of encouraging” for parents to start faith formation practices with their children, “even if it’s only a blessing” at mealtime, because “if they grow up with nothing and they expect the church to be the only place where they get it, it’s not going to stay with you,” Caldwell told Doong and Catoe.

She recalled Ash Wednesdays while teaching in Chicago, receiving ashes on her forehead and then leaving them on all day. “I’d forget it, and then I’d get home at night to wash my face and there it would be,” she said. “And it became kind of this ritual of taking it off and reminding myself I am God’s beautiful child and I have some responsibility and commitment during this season to follow in the path that Jesus has set and walk that road.”

One year, Caldwell focused her daily Lenten readings on the psalms rather than all the lectionary passages, and that focus made all the difference. She likened it to taking a hike. Do we hike just to get our steps in to raise our heart rate? Do we hike “because that’s what your body needs, and your brain needs?” Or do we hike so that we “can pause and look at something beautiful in nature?” It’s like walking a labyrinth, “not with the intention of getting it done, but with the intention of being in touch with the rhythm of walking and where I am in nature and what’s going on,” Caldwell said.

Caldwell said she wrote the book in part “because pausing is what I’ve come to value at this age in my life.” With more time on her hands than she had while teaching, “I can be really, really intentional about how I pause to reflect. … Each of us needs to find something personal. I think it’s different for every person, but it seems to me one of the things we could be doing is talking about … some varieties of practices and the ways that help us survive — not only survive, but maybe find ways to thrive in the deep needs of the world in which we’re embedded.”

Previous and upcoming editions of “A Matter of Faith: A Presby Podcast can be seen here.

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service

Today’s Focus: Rev. Dr. Elizabeth Caldwell, a guest on ‘A Matter of Faith: A Presby Podcast’

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Michelle Schulz, Administrative Manager, Information Technology, Administrative Services Group (A Corp)
Jonathan and Emily Seitz, Mission Co-workers serving in Taiwan, World Mission, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us pray

Loving God, may we be and see others as bridges of hope and transformation. Amen.

Minute for Mission: Matthew 25: Eradicate Systemic Poverty Sunday

November 26, 2023

Panama 1

For more than 52 years the Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People (SDOP) has helped communities recover from the legacy of racism and structural inequality infecting every nation around the world. The focus on community comes into focus when our story is shared in Spanish, El Comité Presbiteriano del Autodesarrollo de los Pueblos.

Pueblo communicates the commitment to supporting the development of social capital. 

Recently, members of the International Task force for SDOP made a trip to Panama to deepen our connection with groups who have received funding over the past three years. 

Our visits included two groups whose members are all women. One in Azuera contributes to economic vitality by teaching women how to make traditional tembleques. These traditional hair adornments made out of fish scales make an important contribution to continuing long-held traditions.  The second all-woman group is working to address systemic poverty in Afro-descendent in San Miguelito.

Panama hair adornments

The range of projects span the fields of agriculture, the arts and renewable energy. Each project has in common the outcome of changed lives, changed relationships and new vision for people and pueblitos with processes that are environmentally friendly, nonviolent and sustainable.

SDOP funding is provided by the people in the pews who make gifts to One Great Hour of Sharing. The grants made by SDOP are directed toward projects that are owned and controlled by the groups making requests. Such requests must include goals and objectives that address long-term issues of poverty and oppression.

Panama woman in purple

One woman spoke for many when she said, “I am 50 years old; no one will hire me. But here I have learned how to make and sell these tembleques and now I can bring money home for my family. I have new skills, new friends and new hopes.”

The Matthew 25 call for us to eradicate systemic poverty is one that should be deeply heeded both in the United States and abroad. Systemic poverty can be understood as the exploitation of people through systems such as laws, policies, practices, ideologies and institutions that continue to perpetuate poverty and lack of access to education, transportation, fresh food, financial resources, healthy environments, living wages, health care, benefits, citizenship and affordable housing.

 As Presbyterians, we are called to be both movement and missionally minded about addressing these issues of poverty by engaging this significant work together. We can do this by building coalitions, creating networks and forging authentic relationships with communities and anti-poverty organizations. As you engage in this work, the PC(USA) Matthew 25 webpage provides practical and helpful resources designed to assist and equip you in taking action. Visit presbyterianmission.org/ministries/matthew-25/poverty.

Article contributors:

 Rev. Mark Davis, retired pastor and member of the National Committee of the Presbyterian Committee on the Self Development of People. He is a member of its South Task Force.

 Rev. Dr. Alonzo T. Johnson, Coordinator of the Presbyterian Committee on the Self Development of People.

 The prayer is by Rev. Jeanette Salguero, pastor at the multicultural The Gathering in Orlando, Florida, vice president of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition and director of the Carrion Hispanic Leadership Institute at Southeastern University.

Today’s Focus: Matthew 25: Eradicate Systemic Poverty Sunday

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Rose Schoene, Client Service Specialist, Presbyterian Foundation
Eileen Schuhmann, Associate, Global Engagement & Resources, Presbyterian Hunger Program, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us pray

Lord, help us to follow your commandment of loving our neighbor as we love ourselves. Help us to heed your word and stand alongside those facing hunger and satisfy the needs of the oppressed.  If the sin of partiality comes knocking at our door — may we stand firm in your word — and reject it. Help us understand that when we give a banquet and invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind — we will be blessed. In Jesus’ name! Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - The call of Matthew 25 is heard in distant lands

The Sewing Center Project is launched in North Pakistan to help incarcerated people provide for their families upon their release

November 25, 2023

The Rev. Maurice Shahbaz (center) brings new fabric into the 

Abbottabad Jail in Northern Pakistan for use by the new 

Sewing Center Project. (Contributed photo)

The Jesus call, “I was in prison, and you did not visit me,” is heard even in Pakistan, a Muslim country one-third the way around the world, where the sun rises nine hours earlier than it does in the Eastern Time Zone in the United States.

It is a country where Christianity, even as the third largest religion in Pakistan, makes up only 1.3% of the population. Pakistan is slightly larger than Texas, and densely inhabited, with a population of 241 million versus 31 million in the Lone Star State.

The Jesus call is heeded in this foreign land because courageous Christians living there have for centuries proclaimed the message of God’s love and forgiveness. They do so in harmonious cooperation with Islam, the official religion of Pakistan, protected by the country’s Constitution and practiced by 96.5% of the population. The remaining 3.5% practice Hinduism, Christianity, Sikhism and other religions.

This story relates to one brave, resolute man who learned the Jesus message the hard way.

Maurice Shahbaz was sentenced to life in prison at the age of 13. During his 12 years of incarceration, he experienced many difficulties and extreme trials, but he also acquired endurance and strength and managed to achieve a Bachelor of Arts degree. Upon release in 1998, he entered seminary and completed a Master of Divinity degree from the local Gujranwala Theological Seminary. He left the seminary with a biblical quote in his heart, “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute” (Proverbs 31:8).

A sewing instructor brings a model dress into the Abbottabad 

Jail. (Contributed photo)

Now the Rev. Maurice Shahbaz is the founder and director of the Prisons Mission Society, a nonprofit organization dedicated to prison outreach and education to equip the incarcerated to better face their future upon release.

With a well-trained, dedicated staff of well over 100 legal, health and educational professionals, under the inspired leadership of Shahbaz, the Prisons Mission Society provides much-needed outreach in several Pakistani prisons. Their offerings include lectures, seminars, religious services and educational programs, in addition to ongoing support to individuals upon return to society.

This year is the 25th anniversary of the release of Maurice Shahbaz from prison, and great progress has been made by his organization. Since Thomas the Apostle allegedly brought Christianity to the Indian subcontinent in the first century CE, tension has existed, and occasionally flares up between Islamic fundamentalists and the minority religions in the country. Last August, Shahbaz reported that a number of churches and homes of poor Christian families had burned down.

Despite these threats, the Prisons Mission Society, in good social entrepreneurship style, recently conceived and raised funds for a promising new prison outreach project. Possibly inspired by the old proverb, “give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime,” they started a prison sewing project so the incarcerated can learn how to make clothing and upon release earn a living for their family.

This September, the organization launched the Sewing Center Project in the district jail of Abbottabad in Northern Pakistan. Shahbaz explains the project this way: “This is a six-month course started with 100 students including male and female prisoners and some incarcerated youth. In this half-year program, the prisoners will learn the skill of design, cutting, and stitching, so after release they will be able to earn bread for their families.” He continues, “Our organization donates all the fabric, thread, and other relevant material, as well as ongoing expert teaching and guidance.” Based on his years of experience, Shahbaz is determined to extend this program to additional prisons in the active network of his organization.

This community outreach program in faraway Pakistan is a shining example of the Adopt-A-Prison (AAP) concept introduced in the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in New York in 2020. Since then, this program has become a successful vehicle for developing a symbiotic relationship between prison and the local community and has inspired several pilot programs abroad. AAP has proven to be a valuable tool for the manifestation of the universal law of love.

Dr. Hans Hallundbaek, Special to Presbyterian News Service

Today’s Focus: Sewing Center Project is launched in North Pakistan

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Corey Schlosser-Hall, Deputy Executive Director of Visioning, Rebuilding and Innovation, Presbyterian Mission Agency
Jeanie Schmuckie, Legal Assistant, Presbyterian Foundation

Let us pray

God of the harvest, you are in the midst of our arduous work. You manifest your tender care for us. We thank you for the privilege of being part of a church that welcomes us with our life stories, our pilgrimages and even our mistakes. Amen.

Advent Unwrapped: Hoping for Better Days

Advent Unwrapped - November 24, 2022 View this email in your browser

Better Days The words of Goo Goo Dolls “Better Days” feel particularly poignant this week; Black Friday shopping predictably lead into Giving Tuesday appeals all while the atrocities of war continue to unfold around us. And even though my heart is breaking, I follow along and do my part searching for just even “a chance that maybe we’ll find better days.” Afterall this is the promise and hope of Advent, through and with Christ better days are coming. We wait with our sorrow, but also with our anticipation and hope at the end, for a new beginning with Christ. I know it sounds a bit like a Marvel plot line, where we anticipate the one burdened with glorious purpose. But all of these stories captivate us because they speak to a larger aspiration of hope, love, friendship, and that very human need within each of us to strive towards something better, a world where all of creation can thrive. Better days, indeed. I can’t hardly wait. So as we prepare to wait, watch and work towards these better days together this advent, Advent Unwrapped is here for you. Every week from now until Christmas, I will be checking in and sharing a round-up of resources to help us all engage with the reason for the season. Remember sharing means caring! If this email has been forwarded to you by a loving friend, family member or neighbour please sign-up for the newsletter. You may also want to join our Facebook page, where you can share links to resources, ideas and inspirations that have inspired you. This Week’s Round-up: Buy less this Christmas! Don’t forget about our beloved Buy Less Shopping Guide where you can find home made gift ideas for everyone on your list. And in case you missed it we also have a guide for a Do-It-Yourself Wellness Kit. Why not make two? One for yourself and one to share. "Nothing Says Advent Like the End of the World” is an intergenerational bible study that can be done in a coffee shop, a dorm room, around a kitchen table, or in worship. You can find it on our Advent Unwrapped webpage, in the Worship Ideas section. About to Drop (and it’s hot): New music videos are coming before Advent 1, including several beloved Christmas hymns in American Sign Language! Our Advent Guide is coming! A handy newsletter to share with friends, print out and photocopy, or keep on your desktop this advent. Mark your calendars for the November 28 webinar conversation at 7:00 p.m. EST on Copyright Justice and Musical Misappropriation with folks from the Then Let Us Sing! development committee. Advent Blog of the Week Black Friday, Giving Tuesday, Bah humbug! Do you agree with Scrooge from Dicken’s A Christmas Carol, when he states Christmas is “a poor excuse for picking [our] pockets?” Or is Scrooge’s quote being misinterpreted by folks like me who are trying to buy less? Read more about Scrooge’s relationship with consumerism, business and Christmas in our latest Advent Unwrapped blog by Stephen Milton, Why Did  Scrooge Hate Christmas? Shout Outs! Shanna Bernier and Tori Mullin of Jesus, Glue and Glitter—you're awesome! Check out the Advent, Christmas and Epiphany issue of their Discover: Presence. It’s free, it’s awesome and full of handy at home and at church resources for school age children. Former moderator Richard Bott is always sharing his love of liturgy with the church, and we are grateful. Make sure to follow him on social (were he shares a lot of his resources) including this alternate wording to O Come, O Come Emmanuel. For Next Time Next week emails will focus more on worship resources and crafts. In preparation, I would love to hear from you about the Christmas hymns and texts that you find problematic and what you are doing about it! Email me at worship@united-church.ca.   I am glad that we are in this together, Alydia Facebook Twitter Website Email Instagram YouTube LinkedIn   Your generosity enables the United Church to love, serve, and minister in the world. Make an online donation or learn more about your options to support the work of the church.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - Presbyterian mission co-workers: Interfaith dialog center a safe space for all faith followers

Co-existence without agreement a driving principle of the Al Amana Centre in Oman

November 24, 2023

Earlier this year, Presbyterian World Mission’s the Rev. Cathy Chang, 

Luciano Kovacs and the Rev. Dr. Elmarie Parker, left to right, visited 

the Al Amana centre in Oman. (Contributed photo)

The Al Amana Centre (AAC) in Oman was founded in 1987, but its roots date back to the country’s first Christian mission in the late 19th century. Its initial iteration was evangelistic ministry, but quickly grew into medical care to serve the common good and live out a Christian witness among non-Christian people and education. It was the only modern hospital in the middle eastern country at the time and remained the only modern medical provider in Oman for nearly 80 years.

Today Al Amana, which means “sacred trust” in Arabic, functions as a meeting and training center focused on promoting and practicing interfaith dialogue and co-existence between different faiths. Mohammed Ali Al Shuaili, assistant to the executive director and one of AAC’s program managers, uses scriptural reasoning practices which combine individuals from different faith traditions into small groups — usually 8–10 but no more than 20 — to share, explore and understand each other’s texts. It is designed to enhance personal religious boundaries beyond the familiar and develop respect for differing perspectives without insisting on agreement.

Earlier this year, three members of the Presbyterian World Mission staff — Luciano Kovacs, area coordinator, Middle East and Europe; the Rev. Dr. Elmarie Parker, regional liaison to Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and the Gulf States; and the Rev. Cathy Chang, acting regional liaison for Southeast Asia and the Pacific — visited AAC for conversation with Al Shuaili and other AAC team members.

“I’ve known of Al Amana’s work for many years, but what a privilege to see the center in person, to learn about the Omani context, and to meet the partners who carry-out the peace-building work of the center,” said Parker. “I especially appreciated learning about their ‘scriptural reasoning’ experiences, which bring together people from different faith traditions to read and interact with passages from their respective holy Scriptures. The focus is not on conversion, but rather on exploration and understanding. The mutual respect and insights that come from this process are transformative for participants.”

Luciano Kovacs, the Rev. Dr. Elmarie Parker and 

the Rev. Cathy Chang visit with their host at the 

Al Amani Centre in Oman, Mohammed Ali Al Shuaili. (Contributed photo)

“We seek to give participants an experience where they co-exist and can feel safe,” said Al Shuaili. “We provide them the safe space to discuss and recognize it’s OK to like someone who is different from you, doesn’t share the same values or beliefs that you share. It’s OK to like and live with them.”

Oman itself is a Muslim-majority country, but with a heavy population of expats there are many Christians, Hindus and followers of other religions also living there. Al Amana’s target audience is international groups — they generally do not accept individuals into their programs, but host groups from the U.S., Europe, Africa and other countries. Their typical group is interested in learning what it is like living in a Muslim-majority world as a Christian, or looking deeper into what Islam looks like from inside a predominantly Muslim country. They also create safe space for religious groups from areas experiencing religious tension to learn and to connect in a neutral space.

According to Al Shuaili, AAC provides a rich cultural experience for first-time visitors to a Muslim country. Part of that experience inevitably involves breaking down myths or stereotypes around Islam and its followers.

Some common stereotypes that Al Amana addresses for American groups is that Muslims oppress women, that women do not have rights in Islam, and males are superior to women. This includes women not being allowed to uncover their heads or go to work.

“When they come to Oman, they realize none of those perceptions are true. Women here have liberty and rights. There is no systemic discrimination of women,” says Al Shuaili.

Another stereotype Ali is eager to dispel surrounds security in the Middle East and the ability to travel safely. In Oman, at least, Al Shuaili has not seen evidence of police violence at any point.

“The general feeling of people living in Oman is that they are safe. We are happy to clarify that, especially for people from the U.S. Furthermore, participants will not be targeted in the streets by people asking them to convert to Islam. When we host groups, we do not show them how the media shows them. We let them see how it is,” he said.

Scott O’Neill, Communications Strategist, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Today’s Focus: Al Amana Centre (AAC) in Oman

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Lee Sangik, Translator, Global Language Resources, Administrative Services Group (A Corp)
Jose Santana, Product Manager – Academic Books, Presbyterian Publishing Corporation

Let us pray

God of all seasons of life, thank you for the blessing of our church. Guide us and give us wisdom and willingness to let you lead us in all things. Amen.