Today in the Mission Yearbook - The Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis entreats Presbyterians to organize to end poverty

‘Poor has become a four-letter word,’ opening speaker at Matthew 25 Summit tells capacity crowd

February 29, 2024

The Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis delivers the opening plenary

during the Matthew 25 Summit. (Photo by Rich Copley)

A powerful sermon by the Rev. Hodari Williams, team leader of New Life Presbyterian Church in South Fulton, Georgia, deftly set the stage for the Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, who brought conference-goers to their feet with her opening plenary on the first day of the historic Matthew 25 Summit.

Theoharis, executive director of the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights, and Social Justice at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York and co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival with the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and teaches at Union Theological Seminary.

After Williams poignantly compelled worshipers to see and to value those who are invisible in society, Theoharis rendered the invisible — the poor — manifestly visible through her use of video, her skillful exegesis of Matthew 25 and her bold call to organize to fight and end poverty.

Opening her address by invoking the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “in one of his hometowns just a day after his birthday,” Theoharis cited King’s final work, “Where Do We Go from Here?”

“’The prescription for the cure rests with the accurate diagnosis of the disease,’” she said, quoting King. “‘A people who began a national life inspired by a vision of a society of brotherhood can redeem itself. But redemption can come only through a humble acknowledgment of guilt and an honest knowledge of self.’ We owe it to [King] and to ourselves to take these words seriously.”

After painting a bleak but realistic portrait of the 45 million people currently experiencing hunger and food insecurity in America Theoharis asserted that policymakers in Washington and so many states continue to legislate as if inequality weren’t an emergency.

“When it comes to accurately diagnosing what ails America, let alone prescribing a cure,” she said, “our nation falls short … ‘Poor’ has become a four-letter word.”

Then, turning to the Bible, which she called “the only [media source] that has something good to say about the poor,” and addressing her particular audience of Matthew 25 Presbyterians, she said, “As a people, too often we believe we can claim to be Christian just by going to church on Sunday rather than committing ourselves to the issues to which Jesus committed himself.”

The Rev. Denise Anderson, director of Compassion, Peace & 

Justice in the Presbyterian Mission Agency, introduces the 

Matthew 25 Summit’s first plenary speaker, the Rev. Dr. Liz 

Theoharis. (Photo by Rich Copley)

As Theoharis began to unpack the Scripture that served as the inspiration for the Summit, she corrected a common misperception.

“The first thing we get wrong about Matthew 25 is that it’s a message for individuals,” she said. “Matthew 25 tells us that Jesus is speaking to the nation, perhaps to those with the political and economic power to meet the needs of the people. … The message of Matthew 25 is when a nation acts, the whole society flourishes.”

Theoharis practices what she preaches. As co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, she and Barber have helped to build a movement that seeks to revive the message of the original campaign, which declared that racism, militarism and poverty are interconnected evils and must be fought together — and that the poor and dispossessed must lead that fight.

“When we build a movement of those considered expendable, we can end poverty,” she said. “If we refuse to organize our society, our nation, around the needs of the poor, poverty and want will never be banished and we will have abandoned Jesus.”

As she continued to ground her thesis in both Scripture and the actions of the early Church, Theoharis said that organizing a movement today very much looks like the agency of those early Christians and their acts of civil disobedience.

“Both back then and today, we have to figure out how to meet each other’s needs and keep on fighting,” she said. “If we are to follow God’s economy, there is no poverty, there is no hunger, there is no homelessness. The absence of poverty isn’t just an absence of poverty, but the presence of justice.”

Theoharis also invited attendees to visit the website of the Poor People’s Campaign to learn more about and take part in nationwide rallies on March 2 and a June 15 event in Washington, D.C.

Emily Enders Odom, Associate Director of Mission Communications, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Today’s Focus: Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, opening speaker at the Matthew 25 Summit

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Katie Carter, Manager I, Faith Based Investing, EDO, Presbyterian Mission Agency 
Laura Caruthers, Client Specialist II, Presbyterian Foundation 

Let us pray

Gracious God, we give thanks that you draw us and all Creation toward your perfect will. You work through us to give newness of life to neighbors down the street and neighbors around the globe. We pray for ministries that bring your message of reconciling love to our broken world. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - The PC(USA)’s first-ever Matthew 25 Summit opens with powerful and prophetic preaching

The Rev. Hodari Williams, team leader of the host New Life Presbyterian Church, urges everyone to tug off cloaks of invisibility

February 28, 2024

The Rev. Hodari Williams got the Matthew 25 Summit started 

with stellar preaching. (Photo by Rich Copley)

Growing up in the 1980s, the Rev. Hodari Williams was a fan of Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger comic books — especially Cloak, whose superpower was becoming invisible when he wore his robe.

One year the young Williams, who grew up to lead New Life Presbyterian Church in South Fulton, Georgia, the host church for the Matthew 25 Summit, received a maroon bathrobe for Christmas. “Who gives a kid a robe for Christmas?” he asked. Still, Williams believed his robe made him invisible, just like his superhero.

In first grade, “I learned I was inherently equipped with an invisible cloak, thrust upon me by society in America,” Williams said during opening worship of the first-ever in-person Matthew 25 gathering. Or, as Ralph Ellison says in “Invisible Man”: “I am an invisible man … simply because people refuse to see me.”

In Matthew’s Judgment of the Nations found in Matthew 25:31–46, both sheep and goats “fall short of recognizing divinity of those concealed by societal norms,” according to Williams. But Jesus, “a North African Palestinian Jew, skillfully confronts the disciples’ blindness. He connects the whole human experience by positioning himself among the invisible. It serves as an indictment, urging disciples to strip away the forced cloaks of invisibility imposed by society.”

New Life Presbyterian Church’s electronic sign welcomed the 350 or 

so people attending the Matthew 25 Summit. (Photo by Rich Copley)

“If you don’t see [the effects of invisibility], I compel you to look deeper,” Williams said. “If I don’t see you, I am not compelled to value you.”

“We must ask ourselves: Who is benefiting from the invisibility?” Williams said. Or, as Dr. John Henrik Clarke puts it: “If we would lose our eyesight, we’d increase our insight.”

If we do that, “we become aware of those around us,” Williams said, inviting the packed sanctuary to offer the South African greeting, “Sawubona,” or “I see you.”

That means “I see the whole you — your experiences, your passions, your pain, your strengths and weaknesses, and your future,” Williams said. “You are valuable to me.”

“I see your cloak, and I dare you to take your cloak off so you may be seen in who you are, your wholeness,” Williams said. In South Africa, the response is “Yebo Sawubona,” or “I see you, too.”

“May we see each other more clearly,” Williams said to loud and sustained applause.

Dr. Tony McNeill rehearses singers before the start of the Matthew 25 

Summit at New Life Presbyterian Church in South Fulton, Georgia. 

(Photo by Rich Copley)

Before worship, attendees were welcomed by an array of happy Presbyterians. The Rev. Dr. Diane Givens Moffett, president and executive director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency, held up three “C” words as Matthew 25 Summit goals: gaining clarity about what Matthew 25 is all about, thinking about the context of Matthew 25 as it’s lived out, and hoping that “we will all make connections.”

The Rev. Shavon Starling-Louis, Co-Moderator of the 225th General Assembly (2022), offered greetings from herself and fellow Co-Moderator the Rev. Ruth Faith Santana-Grace “on behalf of the faithful and mindful” commissioners and advisory delegates from the PC(USA)’s most recent Assembly.

“I’m so excited about what God is doing in and through this movement,” Starling-Louis said. “I thank those who have laid the groundwork, and I thank you for embodying what God is doing right here and now.”

A number of singers joined musician Dr. Tony McNeill to provide the 350 or so people gathered at the host church and the many worshiping online with stellar music throughout the service. The Rev. Shanea Leonard, director of Racial Equity & Women’s Intercultural Ministries, and Dr. Corey Schlosser-Hall, deputy executive for Vision, Innovation and Rebuilding in the PMA, helped to build excitement for the sold-out event by serving as emcees. “We are ready to ride and ready to fly,” Schlosser-Hall said following Williams’ benediction, which included these words offering thanks to the Almighty, “the One who sees us, knows us, counts the very hairs on our head, the One who knew us before we were formed in our mother’s womb.”

“Let us go from this place in insight, intentionally seeing others and looking beyond the cloaks of invisibility placed upon them. May we see the light of divinity in each other.”

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service

Today’s Focus: PC(USA)’s first-ever Matthew 25 Summit

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Heath Carter, Senior Editor, Presbyterian Historical Society, Office of the General Assembly 
Jackie Carter, Project Manager, Media & Publishing, Communications Ministry, Presbyterian Mission Agency 

Let us pray

God of all, we praise you for the ways you use our simple gifts for the good of the kingdom. Thank you for providing bridges between all people with your love. Give us strength and vision to live every day as children who love and serve you. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - New York Avenue Presbyterian Church hears from one of the nation’s great preachers

The Rev. Dr. James A. Forbes, Jr. appears as a McClendon Scholar

February 27, 2024

The Rev. Dr. James A, Forbes, Jr.

Last September, just about the time of his 88th birthday, the Rev. Dr. James A. Forbes Jr. had a transformative experience. It was so life-changing that he wasn’t sure the people present at New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. as well as many more online would want him to deliver his planned talk, “How Can We Heal Our Nation?” as part of the McClendon Scholar Program.

“I am not the same Jim Forbes you thought you were inviting,” said the senior minister emeritus of The Riverside Church in the City of New York. “I’ve had a real transformation of consciousness.”

On about Sept. 6, “something happened to me, and I’ve never been the same,” said Forbes. Here’s what Forbes heard from the Almighty during the encounter: “From now on, you must fully dedicate yourself to being a spokesperson of my intentions for the Earth. You must give up trying to please, seek to discern my will — and then live it out and speak it forth as frequently as you can.”

“I’m not here to give you a good Jim Ford stem-winding speech,” Forbes said. “I’m here to be a spokesman for God on how we can heal the nation.”

Forbes then read the first of what would be several poems he’s written to help explain his transformation. This one said in part: “When the world became so violent and filled with hate,

You revealed inside of me a defective character trait

That would hamper my service to you in these awful times of strife

I had developed a personality of niceness sustained throughout my life.

You reminded me that you preferred unadulterated profanity

Rather than niceness that covered up rage on the verge of insanity.”

The Rev. Joe Daniels

“The new me is steadily learning to live free. This Jim Forbes may fuss, cuss and discuss vehemently,” he said. “Still want me?” Those in attendance said they did.

Paired in conversation with the Rev. Joe Daniels, pastor of Emory United Methodist Church in Washington, D.C., Forbes said he’s been hearing from God that we can’t heal the nation on our own. “Human beings are so much of the endemic problem,” he said, turning in his Bible to 2 Chronicles 7:14 to read these words: “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

Daniels wondered: Where does that humility start?

Again, Forbes turned to his poetry:

“When God is acknowledged as God again, we can confess our original sin

When truth and justice recover their place, the nation can face the issues of race …

God will inspire beloved community, making more complete our humanity

Healing infirmities we’ve known from birth, bringing the joy from heaven to Earth.”

In addition to humility, we’re also called in the biblical text to seek God’s face. “Ever since my change, I think of myself no longer as an independent,” Forbes said. “I am me, we and thee.”

“I believe in God’s love, God created of God’s own self a miniature deity, and that God is shacking up inside of every fiber of little old me,” Forbes said. “Can I say it again? The Creator of the universe, the sovereign ruler who brought existence into being and sustains everything, has inserted that self into every fiber of my being. … There’s a God in there, and that God is tethered to the sovereign ruler of the universe.”

“Doesn’t that make me something?” he said, strutting and grinning.

“I believe the same God in me is in you. Every fiber of your being bears the presence of the creative power of the universe. You’re some powerful dude,” he told Daniels.

Then Forbes turned to the audience. “If I mess with you, I’m messing with God. That’s why I won’t mistreat you. I don’t have the courage to mess with the God in you.”

Listen to Forbes’ 90-minute conversation with Daniels here.

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service

Today’s Focus: Rev. Dr. James A. Forbes, Jr. delivers talk, “How Can We Heal Our Nation?” as part of the McClendon Scholar Program

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Olanda Carr, Senior Ministry Relations Officer, Presbyterian Foundation 
Darla Carter, Mission Communications Strategist, Communications Ministry, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us pray

Gracious God, we give thanks for the teachers who taught us and for the students in our midst and those who teach them. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - Presbyterian Older Adult Ministry Network points to a fascinating online word study on aging

Pastor and wordsmith the Rev. Dr. Keith Albans of the United Kingdom leads a workshop attended by people from across the globe

February 26, 2024

The Rev. Dr. Keith Albans

The Rev. Dr. Keith Albans, who served 16 years as the director of Chaplaincy and Spirituality at Methodist Homes in the United Kingdom, is something of a wordsmith. His prodigious abilities were on display during the University of Waterloo’s Conrad Grebel University College webinar, “It’s How You Say It: Exploring the Language and Imagery of Aging.” The hourlong event was recommended by the Presbyterian Older Adult Ministry Network and was attended by more than 100 people from around the world.

“Why do you want to work with older people?” Albans was asked more than once when he applied for the position at age 43. “It was the highlight of my ministerial career. I have been to a 110th birthday party and thoroughly enjoyed it.”

The use of terms like “justers” and “wasers” describes how many older people speak of themselves, Albans said: “I’m just a housewife” or “I was a chemist” indicates “our entire life is in the past,” he said.

“How we speak of who we are and who we were reflects how we are feeling,” he said.

Then Albans launched into a study of words containing the letters “age.” He’s uncovered more than 600 words formed from 370-word roots. Some have “age” at the beginning of the word, others in the middle and the rest at the end of the word.

Some — like “ageism”— have a negative value, Albans pointed out, while others, including “agelong” and “ageless,” are more affirming.

“Agent” was on the list because “enabling people to be the doer is at the heart of a lot of what we’re trying to achieve,” he said. “Agency” is also a “significant concept.” So is “agenda,” Latin for “the things that must be done,” which Albans called “a positive way of embracing the process of aging” because we “think about what’s important for me and us to do.”

“How important,” Albans asked, “is the notion of agency for your own hopes about aging or for someone you know? Many of today’s older people never expected to live to the age they have. Embracing aging means we can think in a wider and more proactive way.”

“Age” at the end of words is a much more common location. Albans divided them into six categories:

• Aggregate, such as “courage”
• Quantity or measure, such as “charge,” “vintage” and “sage”
• Process, such as “pilgrimage”
• Outcome, such as “foliage”
• A place of living or business, such as “cottage”
• Social standing or relationship, such as “heritage.”

There are negative examples for each category as well: “sewage,” “shortage,” “rampage” “wreckage,” “orphanage” and “bondage.”

Albans had about 45 examples of “age” found in the middle of words ranging, as he put it, “from the sublime to the ridiculous”: “cagey,” “magenta,” “pageant,” “dowager,” “wager” and “suffragette.”

Others included “eager,” “menagerie,” “outrageous,” “voyageur,” “tragedy” and “unmanageable.” Many have connections with aging. Eager is keen interest, which “a lot of older people lose without encouragement,” according to Albans. One definition of “menagerie” is “an unusual and varied group of people. I visited a lot of care homes” in his time with Methodist Homes, “and it’s a wonderful word.”

“What do we affirm and what do we reject thinking about how we speak about and depict ageism?” he asked. “Embracing aging means we can be agents of our own aging by having a plan or agenda. The choice is ours, and how we use it is up to us.”

After his talk, Albans was asked what people can do to combat language that’s ageist.

“If we look at ways society has addressed issues around racism, sexism and homophobia, change has only come by calling it out for what it is,” he said. “The difference, of course, is we are talking about ourselves.”

“Some ageism,” he said, “is actually a way of saying, ‘I’m not there yet.’ We have to be honest if we’re calling it out. We may be as guilty ourselves as other people are. That’s why talking about it is helpful. We can plot our own course into later life.”

Citing something she once heard, one person on the call said it this way: “Age is simply the number of years the world has been enjoying you.”

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service

Today’s Focus: Presbyterian Older Adult Ministry Network

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Tim Cargal, Associate Director for Ministry Leadership Development, Office of the General Assembly 
César Carhuachîn, Mission co-worker serving in Colombia, World Mission, Presbyterian Mission Agency 

Let us pray

Gracious God, may you bless the cooperative efforts of congregations so that all will celebrate your faithfulness. May all come to know that you alone are head of every congregation, regardless of its language or tribe. Amen.

Earth Care Devotion for Second Sunday in Lent

Second Sunday in Lent February 26, 2024 By Barbara Hassall   Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16 Over the eons of Mankind’s relationship with our Creator God, covenants have been made to further the bond and expand the prosperity, mercy, grace and joy experienced between the created and the Creator. When God created the world, God placed man and woman as the caretakers and protectors of all of Creation. But God saw that not all was cared for as expected, so another covenant was made with Noah to repopulate the earth after a great flood decimated it. Later, Abraham and Sarah were promised a son, Isaac, that would be the foundation of many nations.  Abraham already had a son by Sarah’s handmaiden. So, God blessed this other son as well. From this lineage and sibling rivalry came the foundations of Islam and Judaism and Christianity. This is a rivalry that continues into today, causing wars, death and devastation to innocent people and the earth itself. Lent is our time to reflect on where we are in our responsibility to protect not only the physical earth, but also all who live on it. We need to see how we got where we are and how we can move back to the expectations of God’s covenant. God has never moved away or broken the covenants; we have. God wants and desires the relationship with Mankind that we damaged by our actions or inactions so long ago. Take the steps to move closer to God by opening your heart to others, forgo profit over care for the world around us, look to the future consequences over current convenience in daily living. Consider the creatures that God created and give them places to live. They are also deserving of your love as one of God’s creation. Prayer: Creator God, who created all things, bless your creations and restore harmony for generations to come in all areas of the world. Help us to understand that those we battle with, those that we look down upon, those that we kill saying that only we have the one right way are all children of the same God, our Creator. Barbara Hassall is a Ruling Elder at The Sanctuary in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; the Interim Chair of the Florida Presbyterian Disaster Assistance Network, former Presbytery Moderator of Presbytery Tropical Florida and was a commissioner to the 225th General Assembly.   Traducción por:  Rvda. Neddy Astudillo Génesis 17:1-7, 15-16 A lo largo de los eones, de la relación de la Humanidad con nuestro Dios Creador, se han hecho pactos para fomentar el vínculo y ampliar la prosperidad, la misericordia, la gracia y la alegría experimentadas entre lo creado y el Creador. Cuando Dios creó el mundo, puso al hombre y a la mujer como cuidadores y protectores de toda la Creación. Pero Dios vio que no todo era cuidado como se esperaba, así que hizo otro pacto con Noé para repoblar la tierra después de que un gran diluvio la diezmara. Más tarde se prometió a Abraham y Sara un hijo, Isaac, que sería la base de muchas naciones.  Abraham ya tenía un hijo de la sierva de Sara. Así que Dios bendijo también a este otro hijo. De este linaje y de la rivalidad entre hermanos surgieron los fundamentos del islam, el judaísmo y el cristianismo. Es una rivalidad que continúa hasta hoy, causando guerras, muerte y devastación a personas inocentes y a la propia tierra. La Cuaresma es nuestro tiempo para reflexionar sobre dónde estamos en nuestra responsabilidad de proteger no sólo la tierra física, sino también a todos los que viven en ella. Tenemos que ver cómo hemos llegado a donde estamos y cómo podemos volver a las expectativas de la alianza de Dios. Dios nunca se ha alejado ni ha roto los pactos; nosotros sí. Dios quiere y desea la relación con la Humanidad que nosotros dañamos por nuestras acciones o inacciones hace tanto tiempo. Da los pasos necesarios para acercarte a Dios abriendo tu corazón a los demás, renuncia al beneficio en lugar de preocuparte por el mundo que nos rodea, mira las consecuencias futuras en lugar de la comodidad actual en la vida cotidiana.  Considera a las criaturas que Dios ha creado y dales un lugar donde vivir. Ellas también merecen tu amor como parte de la creación de Dios. Barbara Hassall es anciana gobernante en The Sanctuary en Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Presidenta Interina de la Red Presbiteriana de Asistencia en Casos de Desastre de Florida, ex Moderadora del Presbiterio Tropical de Florida y fue comisionada ante la 225ª Asamblea General.   Please consider promoting the PEC devotions in your church and consider using them in sermon preparation and teaching lectionary Bible groups. The Lenten Devotional was made possible by the volunteers contributing their devotions as well as financial donations that covered the cost of recruiting contributors, editing, laying out, web posting and promotion online, by email and social media.  Your donation towards our work is needed and appreciated.  You can give online through our secure website presbyearthcare.org/giving or by mail to PEC Treasurer, P.O. Box 8041, Prairie Village, KS 66208.

Copyright © 2024 Presbyterians for Earth Care, All rights reserved.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - A ‘merry band’ of Presbyterian believers in Rochester solve their ‘edifice complex’

South Presbyterian Church grows after members leave their building

February 25, 2024

“Ladies and gentlemen: Elvis has left the building!” announced the Rev. Sara Hayden, the host of the New Way podcast, invoking the famous phrase used to encourage adoring hangers-on to stop waiting to get a glimpse of “the King” inside.

“‘Nothing to see here!’ That famous phrase about Elvis has been adapted in recent years by religious congregations eager to mark their church’s departure from its so-called ‘edifice complex,’” Hayden told her audience. “For Jesus people, gathering in places where so few step inside, what might it be like when the church leaves the building?”

In the final two-part series of New Way’s 2023 season, Hayden interviewed the Rev. Deb Swift, pastor of South Presbyterian Church in Rochester, New York, which sold its building in 2014, a process that reinvigorated the ministry of the church and the faith of its members.

Swift was called to serve the church part-time after decades of the congregation contracting with supply preachers. When she arrived, the treasurer said, “You know we’re going to run out of money in seven years.” Swift led the congregation through a process of better understanding who they were as Presbyterians and how to live out their faith beyond the church walls.

They started with a “Bagels and Bible” study on Saturdays at a Rochester bagel shop and a book group on Fridays at a local diner. “By getting outside the building, people could see us laughing and having fun talking about God … and being excited by that, and one thing led to another,” Swift said.

Swift encouraged people to align their circles of family, friends, work and community so that they could spread good news. “Aligning-Circles-Together” became South’s ACTs of faith model, a way of doing ministry out in the open that invites others to witness and experience joy and connection when two or three are gathered intentionally and faithfully.

“We developed this whole model of ministry that’s really based on the first century church, I think, and it’s ‘Go where the people are. Don’t expect them to come to you,’” said Swift, who covers some of the difficult dynamics and decisions churches with under 50 members have to face as well as the new fruits of the spirit growing in their community in the last decade since they became peripatetic Presbyterians.

“There were 33, I think, voting members. One just had said to me, ‘I will never vote to sell my church,’” recalled Swift. “But the other 32, it was unanimous among them, and one of them made it a point to sign her ballot. She said it was ‘because I want everyone to know that it may be hard for me, but I support what we’re doing. This is where God is calling us.’”

The podcast and a book written by the congregation called “The Church Has Left the Building: A Case Study of One Church’s Story of Transformation, Redefinition and New Life” describe in greater detail the ACTs of Faith model. While the official membership of South Presbyterian Church is still under 50, the annual report shows the expanse of its reach.

“I can tell you that last year we had 32 official members, 15 acts of faith that reached 341 different people in the course of the year, and combined, it gave us over 6,000 contacts in the course of the year,” said Swift, reporting only on the ministry that happened outside of Sunday worship. “Then you add on to that our YouTube worship and videos, we had another 2,433 views with 79 subscribers, so that’s 8,500 opportunities for people to, as we say, ‘bump up against Jesus through us.’”

For this Rochester congregation, an ACT of faith is “defined as an organic grassroots ministry growing out of the needs or interest of the people,” said Swift, who explained the basic rubric that the ministry be community-based, not meet in a church building, and not be pastor-dependent.

“You can do the ACTs of faith model without selling your building. It’s a mindset for ministry,” said Swift.

Beth Waltemath, Communications Strategist, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Today’s Focus: Rev. Deb Swift, pastor of South Presbyterian Church, guest on the New Way Podcast

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
José Manuel Capella-Pratts  &  Vilmarie Cintrón-Olivieri, Regional Liaisons for Caribbean, Presbyterian Mission Agency 
James Carey, Director of Investments & Portfolio Management Services, Presbyterian Foundation 

Let us pray

Loving God, we ask for your guidance and wisdom for our denomination and the members of our congregations. Help us to discern where you are leading. May we continually be mindful of those who need us the most. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - PC(USA) pastor shares her experience with intentional pastoral transitions

The Rev. Shannon Johnson Kershner of Central Presbyterian Church in Atlanta is a guest on ‘Leading Theologically’

February 24, 2024

The Rev. Shannon Johnson Kershner

To learn more about what goes into successful intentional pastoral transitions, the Rev. Dr. Lee Hinson-Hasty turned to someone who’s recently undergone one: the Rev. Shannon Johnson Kershner, who left Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago last May and is now senior pastor and head of staff at Central Presbyterian Church in Atlanta. Listen to Hinson-Hasty’s 31-minute conversation with Kershner on his “Leading Theologically” broadcast here or here.

Kershner said she’s learning from just about everybody more than six months into her stay at Central, including the children. On the same Sunday, one boy came down front for children’s time sporting an icebag after bumping his head during Sunday school. He asked his new pastor to hold it atop his head while she spoke to the children. Another child couldn’t find her grandmother, and so she asked Kershner to help her.

“I’m so honored by their trust and their claiming me already,” Kershner told Hinson-Hasty. The congregation is “quick to ask questions, quick to love and quick to laugh,” she said. “You don’t have to be quiet in church. Baby and children noises are welcome. It’s a great ‘problem’ to have.”

Besides Central and Fourth, Kershner has served Woodhaven Presbyterian Church in Irving, Texas, The Woodlands Community Presbyterian Church in The Woodlands, Texas, and Black Mountain Presbyterian Church in Black Mountain, North Carolina. One lesson she’s learned interviewing with five pastor nominating committees “is to be your full self” in every interview and correspondence, “and not try to be who you think they are looking for.”

“I made some mistakes early on interviewing at a larger church. I was trying to act like I knew what I was doing, and it was not authentic,” she said. “I learned a lot through that and was grateful for that hard experience. I promised myself after that I would always be my full, strange, quirky, honest self in all the conversations I’ve had since then, and I think that has borne fruit. I always felt like the call was the call when I arrived.”

The Rev. Dr. Lee Hinson-Hasty

Hinson-Hasty, the senior director for Theological Education Funds Development for the Committee on Theological Education of the PC(USA) and the Presbyterian Foundation, noted that up to 800 PC(USA) faith communities are in some stage of searching for their new pastor. “So many pastor nominating committees are on the look. Fit is so, so very important. There’s no time to waste trying to be something you’re not, and that problem goes for both sides,” he said. “Congregations should be the same way.”

When she began her time at Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago — a church of nearly 5,400 members that Kershner served as senior pastor and head of staff — “what I needed to say to myself is, ‘Can administration be ministry, too?’ You have to have order and organization to be able to mobilize folks, take care of the operations and finances, and supervise staff. All of that takes time and energy,” she said. “It was something I said yes to nine years ago, and it’s something I spent a lot of time doing over nine years.”

She said she missed knowing the names of the preachers on youth Sunday, teaching the new member class, being able to spot a visitor and knowing who’s missing from their regular pew. Owing to the size of the congregation, “that was not something I was able to do, nor did I have the time,” she said. “I have come to the sense I am a redevelopment pastor at heart. I had this sense the ground had been tilled with that congregation and staff and others and with me for the next leader who would bring them into their next season of growth. I knew it was time.”

Leaving a congregation intentionally requires effort and candor on the part of the departing pastor, Kershner said.

“We pastor types don’t always do a great job receiving gratitude and celebration. Let folks show you your ministry meant something to them.”

Part of her focus in ministry has been “about bringing more chairs to the table,” she said. “If a door opens and I’m able to step through, I’m going to keep it open for someone else.”

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service

Today’s Focus: Rev. Shannon Johnson Kershner, guest on the ‘Leading Theologically’ Podcast

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Veronica Cannon, Coordinator, Vital Congregations, Presbyterian Mission Agency
Suzan Cantrell, World Mission HR Specialist, Administrative Services Group

Let us pray

O Lord, inspire us to make disciples of all nations and to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ no matter what he circumstances may be. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - Equipping Congo’s youth is goal of upcoming PC(USA) conference

Congo Mission Network conference set for March 14-16 is now open for registration

February 23, 2024

At the Congo Mission Network conference, several leaders of 

the Presbyterian Community of Congo (CPC) and the 

Presbyterian Community of Kinshasa (CPK) will explain their 

goals for their schools. Pictured here are students of CPC’s the 

Dipha dia Nzambe school in Kananga. (Contributed photo)

The Congo Mission Network (CMN) is hosting its annual conference on March 14–16 at the Charleston Atlantic Presbytery Conference Center in Charleston, South Carolina.

The conference theme, “Education for Transformation: Equipping Congolese Youth for the Future,” will unite partners in the U.S. and Congo to help strengthen Congo’s sparsely funded education programs.

Registration is free for online attendees outside the U.S.; otherwise, there is a $25 fee. Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) staff, mission co-workers, Congolese and college students can also register for free. The in-person attendee fee is $100.

To register, visit congopartners.org/register2024.

PC(USA) is the primary sponsor of the CMN and has been a partner for decades. This year’s conference participants include representatives of churches of the Presbyterian Community of Congo (CPC) and the Presbyterian Community of Kinshasa (CPK). The CPC and the CPK oversee about 1,200 Congolese public schools.

Increased technical and vocational training programs in middle 

and high schools are hoped to boost employment among young

Congolese adults. Classes in sewing, tailoring, welding, 

electrical work, and construction are planned. Here are students 

at the IT center at Institute Technique de Kamu. (Contributed 

photo)

According to a CMN press release, discussions to be held during the conference come at a pivotal time in history, as young adults in Africa are being pushed to a dizzying new world role. The birth rates of the already youthful African countries including the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are sharply rising while birth rates in most other countries, including the U.S., are falling. The population of sub-Saharan Africa is projected to nearly double to 2.5 billion, or one quarter of the Earth’s population, over the next 25 years, according to the U.N. World Population Prospects 2022.

American and Congolese partners’ goals are to increase employment prospects for youth and young adults in the DRC. They also want to greatly enhance public schools, leadership and entrepreneurship training, technical education and public health measures for them.

The Rev. Zacharie Mboyamba Kabala of Kananga, DRC, will be the keynote speaker. The legal representative of CPC and director of the Department of Evangelism and the Life of the Church, he is well-known for his skill in conflict resolution and community-building. PC(USA) mission co-workers Jeff and Christi Boyd, based in the DRC, and José LaMont Jones, mission co-worker in Kinshasa and educational specialist to the CPK, are also scheduled to participate in various capacities at the conference.

Other speakers include Dr. Larry Sthreshley, senior advisor for innovation, localization and partnerships with Corus International, a former PC(USA) mission co-worker, and Dr. Freddy Nsapu, head of education for CPK.

A full conference program will be posted on the CMN website when finalized.

Scott O’Neill, Communications Strategist, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Today’s Focus: Congo Mission Network conference

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Jackson Campbell, Communications Specialist, Presbyterian Association of Musicians
Jerry Cannon, Vice President, Ministry Innovation, Board of Pensions

Let us pray

Gracious God, we thank you for witness and ministry. We ask that you would give us courage and strength to respond in word and deed to all those who are in need. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.