Today in the Mission Yearbook - The church as community organizer

SDOP’s coordinator, the Rev. Dr. Alonzo Johnson, is a recent guest on ‘Between 2 Pulpits’

May 16, 2024

The Rev. Dr. Alonzo Johnson (Photo by Rich Copley)

Near the end of his time on a recent “Between 2 Pulpits” podcast with the Rev. Dr. John Wilkinson and Katie Snyder, the Rev. Dr. Alonzo Johnson waxed visionary when asked about his hope for the church.

“My hope for the church is that it finds its identity in losing some of the vestiges of its old one,” the coordinator of the Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People said. “Once again, people will look at churches and know they are places of possibility and hope, places of education and community, advocacy and transformation.”

“I feel this is God’s community organizing,” Johnson said of the church. “I think of our church as magnanimous in the use of its power but generous in its buildings, its people, its relationships, its money and its commitment to bringing about transformation, especially for those who are disenfranchised, who suffer, who know trauma, who are ignored and exploited … and for those who thirst for substantive change to happen in our world, our cities and our neighborhoods.”

The Rev. Dr. John Wilkinson

“I hope the church will find itself and figure out once again who it is even amidst all these changes as they understand God is doing something new and powerful,” Johnson said. “I just want to be part of that, because I have a lot of hope for the church. I’m here because of the church, because someone in the church cared enough to mentor me, to walk with me, to tell me education is important and to care about my family and community. I just hope the church will once again see itself as a beacon of hope.” Listen to Johnson’s 37-minute conversation with Wilkinson, director of Ministry Engagement and Support, and Snyder, MES’ project manager for digital fundraising and interpretation, here.

“SDOP is about justice. It’s about walking alongside our community partners,” Johnson said. People who serve on the national SDOP committee as well as members of committees in dozens of presbyteries “listen to what our community partners are saying so the church can learn more about engaging these issues of poverty,” Johnson said.

As one who grew up in poverty, “I’ve always been interested in the intersection between the church and the economically disenfranchised,” Johnson said. “I was a church kid, and I’ve asked questions all my life about what does the church have to say about poverty?”

He remembers seeing the SDOP logo and thinking, what is that all about? “It was an intriguing kind of logo,” he said, one that features flying figures representing people of different colors. “I thought, this ministry is really relevant to doing anti-poverty work.”

Katie Snyder

“There are a lot of Matthew 25 churches out there who definitely have a heart for what you’re talking about,” Snyder told Johnson. “People get trapped in these cycles, which is why we talk about poverty being a systemic thing.” Snyder asked Johnson to talk about “partners doing work you’re excited about.”

One is the Gullah Farmers Cooperative Association,  more than a dozen Black farming operations in the Low Country of South Carolina. Another is the Alliance for Community Services in Chicago, which Johnson said was formed about 10 years ago to “address issues disabled folks face. They do frontline services and advocate for people to stay in their homes.”

Formed by presbyteries, local SDOP committees “are really hands-on and engaged,” Johnson said. At one event hosted by the Presbytery of the James, Johnson and his SDOP colleague, Margaret Mwale, met representatives “of a few organizations that we funded” and participated in community-building and community relationship-building events. Johnson called that kind of experience “one of the most powerful pieces of what we do, when Presbyterians get an opportunity to meet and walk alongside communities and create relationships, which is not always the easiest thing. I think SDOP is a really good conduit for this.”

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service

Today’s Focus: Rev. Dr. Alonzo Johnson, guest on ‘Between 2 Pulpits’ podcast

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Courtney Hemmelgarn, Senior Administrative Assistant, Office of the General Assembly  
Jean Hemphill, Legal Counsel, Board of Pensions  

Let us pray

O God, you made all things through your Word. We thank you for creating us in your image. May we remain faithful to your creation, seeking to discern and to do your will, with love and patience, in pursuit of love and justice. Amen.

Minute for Mission: May 15 Palestinian Nakba Remembrance Day

My reflection to the Presbyterian Church

May 15, 2024

Zoughbi

Mahmoud Darkish once said, “Whenever they find the reality that doesn’t suit them, they alter it with a bulldozer.” It is the reality of the Palestinians facing the Nakba (catastrophe) of 1948. You know, the Nabka didn’t happen only in 1948; it has been happening since 1948, as the leveling of villages is still occurring. House demolitions are on the rise, confiscation of lands is still ongoing, children, young adults, and others continue to be imprisoned, ethnic cleansing still occurs and unemployment is skyrocketing. It was a shocking war of 1948, a war which led to “independence for Israel” but a Nakba for the Palestinian Arabs in which 750,000 at least were forced to leave their country, and where 600 villages were destroyed.

The whole story started with the Zionist idea that Jews are people without land and Palestine was a land without people — so why not have the people without a land settle in Palestine, a country without a people? In 1948, the dreams of Palestinians were shattered; their land was divided — 77.3% became Israel, and 22.7% became the West Bank, despite the populations reflecting the inverse. Jerusalem was under Jordan’s rules and Gaza Strip under Egyptian rule until 1967. In 1967, Israel occupied the remnant of Palestine, and all of the historical land came under Israel’s occupation. Palestinians were scattered into five groups. Those inside Israel have an Israeli Passport, those in the West Bank have Palestinian travel documents, those in Gaza have Egyptian travel documents, East Jerusalem Palestinians have Israeli laissez passes, and Palestinians in the diaspora have different Arab and foreign passports. The land is divided, and the people are scattered, but their dream is to be united despite their diversity in living situation. Half of Palestinians are refugees. They are scattered, too, and live in 60 refugee camps around the Middle East, including the motherland.

Zoughbi

“They divided my garments among them, and for my vesture they cast lots” (John 19:24).

Let me draw some lessons from the catastrophe:

The Palestinians will not disappear. There is a big difference between wishful thinking and reality; Israel would like to control all the land, and there is a demographic war between Israel and Palestine. The number of Palestinians is almost equal to the Israeli population. No one will disappear.

Israel will continue with its expansionism and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. In fact, Israel wants more geography and less Palestinian demography, but this will not work. (Another way of saying this is, “While Israel wants the land of the Palestinians, it refuses to accept the people who come with the land.”) Let us learn from the example of South Africa, Northern Ireland and the Civil Rights movement in the States. “No injustice will last forever.”

Stories are stronger than their devious scheme: “I will tell you something about stories,” Leslie Marmon Silko once said. “They are not just entertainment. Do not be fooled. They are all we have, you see, all we have fight off illness and death. You do not have anything if you do not have stories. Their evil is mighty, but it cannot stand up to our stories. So, they try to destroy the stories. Let the stories be confused or forgotten. They would like that. They would be happy. Because we would be defenseless then.”

Let us pray together for the steadfastness and the unity of our people, and for the integrity of the land, despite all the challenges, difficulties and hardships that we face. No doubt, we will celebrate life with the resurrected Savior. “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.”

Indeed, it is not the epoch of demise of the nation, but it is the rebirth of people’s dreams and hopes.

Zoughbi for Douglas Dicks, Associate for Ecumenical Partnerships — St. Andrew’s Scots Memorial Church, Jerusalem, Facilitator for Education for Peace and Justice in Israel and Palestine — Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Today’s Focus: May 15 Palestinian Nakba Remembrance Day

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Josh Heikkila, Mission co-worker serving in Ghana, World Mission, Presbyterian Mission Agency 
David Heilman, Director, Enterprise Applications, Information Technology, Board of Pensions  

Let us pray

Lord, so often we don’t think our ideas through. Please forgive us. Thank you for giving us life and opportunities to serve one another where you have called us to be in this moment. Bless all who mother others, those who have given birth and those who have given love. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - Presbyterian pastor preaches on a proverbial prototype

The Rev. Dr. Anita Wright speaks about Wonder Woman

May 14, 2024

Photo by Dale de Vera via Unsplash

From childhood, the Rev. Dr. Anita Wright, the pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Montclair, New Jersey, has thought Wonder Woman — especially Linda Carter’s version — was wonderful.

“She is beloved because she is strong and capable, always fighting for justice and freedom for others and for herself,” Wright said during a recent chapel service sermon, which can be viewed here, with Wright entering at the 12:03 mark. Wright’s written resources were at the center of the PC(USA)’s Celebrate the Gifts of Women observation and are available here.

Preaching via Zoom, Wright used Proverbs 31:10–31 — “Ode to a Woman of Strength” — as her text.

Wonder Woman’s theme song attests to her attributes, Wright said: “Make a hawk a dove/Stop a war with love/Make a liar tell the truth.”

“All our hopes are pinned on you,” people in need tell this superhero. “You’re a wonder, Wonder Woman.”

“The theme song celebrates all the powers she possesses, but it also puts a lot of pressure on her,” Wright noted. “It’s wonderful, and we’re excited about it, but it’s exhausting. It would take supernatural power to do all she does.”

The same may be said of the “capable wife” described in Proverbs 31, which Wright called “the prototype that every woman should be.” She’s celebrated for the way she cares for her children, guides her servants, purchases the best clothes, prepares for a rainy day, trades with the merchants, sets up a business — “oh, and supports her husband,” Wright said, calling it “exhausting” just to list some of the things that this more-than-capable woman does.

“I mean, who can do all of this?” Wright said. “Yes, she’s lovely as a concept, but she weighs heavy on women as someone to emulate.”

The reality is, “She’s a combination of a lot of women that were known to the author,” Wright said. While she’s an amalgam, “these verses have often been highlighted as some type of attainable, desirable woman for whom all women should aspire.” But “this woman is fictional. She did not exist as a single person.”

The Rev. Dr. Anita Wright

The question becomes, “Is there anything we can learn from this mythical Wonder Woman in Proverbs 31 in the celebration of living, breathing real women?” Wright said. “Absolutely there is.”

The first thing is to celebrate the gift of caring. This woman worked both in her house and in her community. She was “active in the local economy while using her resources to care for those who were less fortunate” than she was. While she cared for the poor, “she did not neglect herself in order to do it,” Wright said.

The next thing to celebrate is her creativity. She “perceives her merchandise is good, and she trades it with the merchants. She uses the profit to buy a field, clothes, and provisions, and to hire servants,” Wright said. “She uses her energy, intelligence, creativity, imagination and love to sustain herself, her family and her community.”

“Was this woman Presbyterian?” Wright asked with a smile.

“My ancestors knew how to stretch a dollar, to take a few items from the cupboard to feed their family and oftentimes those in the community as well,” Wright said. “In the same way, we look inward to discover the gifts we have and celebrate how we can use them to create something wonderful.”

“You rejoice in the fact that you took a seed of an idea and grew it into something marvelous.”

The third gift we celebrate from this amalgam of a woman is collaboration. “She collaborated and coordinated so she could achieve more,” Wright said. “She was the best of a whole bunch of women with a whole lot of great qualities.”

It’s through collaboration “we are freed from this idea we have to do it all ourselves” and released “from this notion you have to be a superwoman. No, you don’t have to do all of that. You are a wonder all on your own,” Wright said.

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service

Today’s Focus: Rev. Dr. Anita Wright speaks about Wonder Woman

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Crystal Heath, Administrator, Plan Operations, Board of Pensions  
Kaeli Hedges, Administrative Assistant, Operations, Presbyterian Foundation 

Let us pray

Gracious God, thank you for the blessings in abundance that allow for your gifts to overflow to those in need. Empower us, your servants, to share your good gifts, and in so doing, know the abundant love you have for all your children. In Christ’s service we pray. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - Columbia Theological Seminary awarded Climate Science in Theological Education grant

The grant by the American Association for the Advancement of Science will help the seminary further integrate science into its theological education

May 13, 2024

Photo by Beth Jnr via Unsplash

Columbia Theological Seminary has been awarded a Climate Science in Theological Education (CSTE) grant by the American Association for the Advancement of Science through its Dialogue on Science, Ethics and Religion program.

The CSTE project provides grants to seminaries to engage climate science and climate change in the context of theological education and ministry. Integrating science into seminary education and events will encourage interest within seminaries and surrounding communities about the relevance of science to theological education and will produce a growing number of religious leaders equipped to help their congregants find answers to science-related questions.

Columbia Theological Seminary Professor Dr. Mark Douglas, co-leader in administering the $15,000 grant with colleague Dr. Martha Moore-Keish, said Columbia is the perfect place for such a program with the success of initiatives such as last year’s Just Creation: Shalom for Our Common Home conference on climate justice. Read more about the conference here, here, here and here.

Dr. Mark Douglas

“I felt like they’d designed it for us,” Douglas said. “Not only does Columbia Theological Seminary have an established track record of including attention to science in our curricula (including through a grant we received from AAAS about a decade ago), and not only does Columbia have an established commitment of pursuing environmental sustainability (one that is visible in our two LEED Gold-certified buildings), but our blossoming focus on environmental justice is growing, increasingly, towards the concerns of climate justice.

“As with all grants, we were fortunate to receive this one,” he said. “It also, though, feels like getting it was an expression of providence. It moves us forward institutionally in the very ways we most want and need to go as the contemporary climate crises deepen and as CTS attempts to follow the will of God in response to those crises.”

Over the next two years, Columbia will engage constituents on and off campus with a variety of workshops and forums, culminating in a spring 2025 evening activity with the local community, co-hosted by local partnering organizations, focusing on the impact of climate change in the immediate area and the importance of pursing local climate justice initiatives.

Dr. Martha Moore-Keish

Four overlapping components will guide the work:

• Complicity — measuring Columbia’s current carbon footprint, and then inviting a scholar working at the intersection of the sciences and environmental justice to speak on campus.
• Communications — working with campus officials and alumni to promote and publicize climate justice in churches and nonprofits served by Columbia graduates.
• Curriculum — offering a workshop for Columbia faculty focused on climate justice and pedagogies and inserting the concerns of climate justice into syllabi.
• Community — ensuring that these efforts work in conjunction with Columbia’s local partners in climate justice.

“We are grateful to receive this generous grant from the AAAS,” said Dr. Christine Roy Yoder, Columbia’s Senior Vice President and Dean of Faculty. “Under the excellent leadership of Drs. Douglas and Moore-Keish, this project is an important and timely next step in Columbia’s commitments to be and educate stewards and repairers of creation.”

About the American Association for the Advancement of Science

The American Association for the Advancement of Science is the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the Science family of journals.  The nonprofit is open to all and fulfills its mission to “advance science and serve society” through initiatives in science policy, international programs, science education, public engagement, and more. Building upon its mission, AAAS established the Dialogue on Science, Ethics and Religion (DoSER) program in 1995 to facilitate communication between scientific and religious communities. For the latest information and news about AAAS DoSER and the Climate Science in Theological Education project, go here, here and here.

About Columbia Theological Seminary

Columbia Theological Seminary exists to educate and nurture faithful, imaginative, and effective leaders for the sake of the Church and the world. As an educational institution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Columbia Seminary is a community of theological inquiry, leadership development, and formation for ministry in the service of the Church of Jesus Christ. Columbia Seminary offers six graduate degree programs and dozens of courses and events as a resource for church professionals and lay people through The Center for Lifelong Learning. For more information, go here.

Columbia Theological Seminary,  Special to Presbyterian News Service

Today’s Focus: Columbia Theological Seminary awarded Climate Science in Theological Education grant

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Sara Hayden, Associate, 1001 New Worshiping Communities, Presbyterian Mission Agency  
Janet Hayes, Mission Specialist, Christian Formation, Presbyterian Mission Agency 

Let us pray

Gracious God, we give you thanks for opportunities to serve and care for those in need. Help us see the fertile ground all around us that you call us to tend and thus help bring forth fruit that meets the needs of our neighbors who you love. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - Mother's Day

Later we will understand

May 12, 2024

Mother’s Day, the second Sunday in May, dates to the 

late 1850s as a day to learn to cook better and clean house 

to protect the family from disease. Mothering is not limited 

to moms, though. Children need many positive role models 

in life’s journey.

I keep thinking about the mother of the disciples James and John, you know her as the wife of Zebedee.

Her name was Salome, which means peace. She may have been the sister of Jesus’ mother, which would have made her Jesus’ aunt, and James and John, Jesus’ cousins. Jesus gave them the name Boanerges, which means “Sons of Thunder” (Mark 3:17, Luke 9:54).

Salome was present at the crucifixion of Jesus and the empty tomb after Jesus’ resurrection. She is the mother who knelt before Jesus to ask if her two sons could sit next to Jesus in his kingdom, one on his right and the other on his left (Matthew 20:20–28).

I’d like to know if this was her idea or if her sons convinced her to ask Jesus for these places of honor. One thing is certain: It wasn’t their father Zebedee’s idea, since Salome refers to James and John as “these two sons of mine.”

Do you think Salome thought Jesus would say something like, “That’s a great idea, Salome. Should James be on my right and John on my left, or vice versa?”

Instead, Jesus basically said she didn’t really know what she was asking him to do. Turning his attention to James and John, Jesus asked them, “Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?”

They answered, “We are able.”

At this point in the story, I bet they got a little ahead of themselves. I bet they all three thought, ‘OK, we’ve got this.’

Then Jesus tells them they will indeed drink from the same cup, however, “to sit at my right hand and at my left, this is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”

Parents typically want the very best for their children. Yet, Salome had not one son — but two — called by Jesus himself. Why wasn’t this enough for her? For them? Why did they want more greatness than that?

Jesus told his disciples that he came to serve, not to be served. He came to give his life “as a ransom for many.” Greatness in the world is different than greatness in the kingdom.

What do you think James and John were thinking later, as Jesus knelt down to wash their feet? (John 13:1–17).

Tammy Warren is a former communications associate with the Presbyterian Mission Agency.

Today’s Focus: Mother’s Day

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Robert Hay, Senior Ministry Relations Officer, Presbyterian Foundation 
Ben Hayden, Senior Vice President, CFO & acting COO, Presbyterian Foundation 

Let us pray

Lord, so often we don’t think our ideas through. Please forgive us. Thank you for giving us life and opportunities to serve one another where you have called us to be in this moment. Bless all who mother others, those who have given birth and those who have given love. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - Presbyterian Peace Fellowship launches new Gun Violence Prevention Congregational Toolkit

The completely updated toolkit is available both online and in print form

May 10, 2024

The new Presbyterian Peace Fellowship Toolkit features 

a photo of a volunteer at the chop saw on Guns to Gardens

Day at La Mesa Presbyterian Church in Albuquerque, New

Mexico. (Photo courtesy of Presbyterian Peace Fellowship)

The Gun Violence Prevention Working Group of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship (PPF) has been hard at work. The team of 15 Working Group members has completely retooled its primary resource, the Gun Violence Prevention Congregational Toolkit. One of the few comprehensive resources for congregations on this issue, the prior toolkit editions have been accessed by more than 2,500 Presbyterians and others from all 50 states. It was time for an update!

“The Presbyterian Peace Fellowship offers this new toolkit,” says the PPF’s executive director, the Rev. Dr. Laurie Lyter Bright, “as an answer to our calling as Christians today. Our contribution to the Presbyterian Decade to End Gun Violence, PPF’s toolkit is unique in the landscape of gun violence prevention work. It empowers local congregations with the resources they need to learn and to take action to save lives, a task that is sacred and essential.”

The 2024 toolkit edition offers 80 pages of educational, pastoral, emergency and worship resources, and suggestions for action and advocacy. The Action section offers case studies and color photos of local congregations engaged in projects such as Guns to Gardens, the Be SMART for Kids Campaign, advocacy for gun sense regulation and more. More than 200 links take the reader to additional resources, including PC(USA) actions and gun violence prevention national groups and local contacts in all 50 states.

One highlight of the new toolkit edition is an all-new six-session study created by the PPF Working Group for Congregations, “Courageous Conversations on Gun Violence Prevention.” Designed to help a congregation move from initial concern about gun violence to in-depth learning to practical action, the Courageous Conversations study includes these topics for small groups: “The Citizen’s Test on Gun Violence in America”; “Getting Real about Suicide and Gun Violence”; “Guns and Domestic Violence — A Taboo Topic”; “Gun Violence, Race and Racism”; “Unmasking the Powers: Guns and Money”; and “Action: Creating a New World.”

In the toolkit’s introduction, PPF dedicated the new toolkit to the late Rev. Jim Atwood and the Rev. Deanna Hollas. Atwood was a prophetic voice for many decades, calling the church to take action to prevent gun violence and to balance the rights of responsible gun owners with the right to live free from an epidemic that takes over 43,000 lives in our country each year. Hollas was the first clergy in the United States ordained to the ministry of Gun Violence Prevention. She has recently stepped away from that work to attend to family medical needs. Also on the introduction page is a beautiful color photo of Niagara Falls on “Wear Orange Weekend.” It’s an image of healing waters and hope for a nation under the daily threat of gun violence.

The toolkit PDF is available as a free download to store on a computer desktop, or it can be ordered in the new print edition for $12 per copy, including postage. The Working Group encourages congregations to order both the print version for easy browsing and the online version for easy links and copying pages. Each toolkit order includes a free monthly Gun Violence Prevention Congregational E-News subscription with updates on education, pastoral care and action. Find the online and print toolkit here.

Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, Special to Presbyterian News Service

Today’s Focus: Presbyterian Peace Fellowship launches new Gun Violence Prevention Congregational Toolkit

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Tom Harvey, Long term volunteer serving in England, World Mission, Presbyterian Mission Agency  
Robert Hawkey, Director, IT Strategy & Transformation, Information Technology, Board of Pensions  

Let us pray

O God, how are you at work in the world? Show us today. Guide us to the ones you can reach through us. Not of our own doing, but through your grace, let us be a part of what you want to do next. We pray in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus. Amen.

The Voice of the Martyrs - Please pray for these three imprisoned Christians.

In Prison for Their Faithful Witness

In nations hostile to Christ, Christians are sentenced to prison for the activity of their faith, where they are often starved, beaten and treated inhumanely. We encourage you to lift up the following three Christians, who are representative of countless other imprisoned believers. Please pray that they will experience God’s presence, remain steadfast and full of Christ’s hope, and be released from prison soon. Pastor Li Juncai, in Henan province, China, is serving a five-and-a-half-year prison sentence after protesting government attempts to remove a cross from atop his church building in 2019. Zhang Wen Shi was kidnapped in November 2014 and locked in a North Korean prison. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison for his ministry to the North Korean people. The Rev. Gebremedhin Gebregergis, in Eritrea, has been in prison since November 2004 for his faith in Christ. His wife, the mother of his six children, passed away in 2022. “Who can separate us from the love of God in Christ? Nobody and nothing. Neither prison nor suffering. The sufferings that God sends us only strengthen us more and more in the faith in him.” —RICHARD WURMBRAND, THE VOICE OF THE MARTYRS’ FOUNDER AND FORMER PRISONER FOR CHRIST IN COMMUNIST ROMANIA You can also stand with the spouses and children of faithful believers like these three brothers, offering spiritual encouragement and practical assistance while being a voice for them among other members of the body of Christ. STAND WITH THEM

Please forward this email to Christian friends who will be inspired to pray for and support our persecuted Christian family.

Share this special opportunity with your friends and family.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - Embodying kindness on the streets of Las Vegas

One Great Hour of Sharing gifts helps Caridad Gardens restore houseless veterans and neighbors back into community

May 9, 2024

Former youth pastor Merideth Spriggs is the founder 

and chief kindness officer o Caridad Gardens in Las 

Vegas. (Image courtesy of Caridad Gardens)

For Shawn Duncan, it’s the little things — like getting a birthday card — that mean a lot.

Perhaps it’s because Duncan, a military veteran living in Las Vegas, hadn’t had a mailbox in years.

Or a home.

A native of Michigan with no strong family ties, Duncan had been struggling for years with homelessness and mental health issues — including PTSD — when a chance encounter on Facebook with his former youth pastor changed the direction of his life.

“I hadn’t talked to him in years, but after my old pastor and I got up on Facebook, he called me later that night and said, ‘Hey, let’s talk,’” Duncan recalled. “And we prayed. That’s when he introduced me to Caridad and Merideth.”

Duncan’s life-changing introduction was to Caridad Gardens, a Las Vegas-based nonprofit dedicated to helping and  “humanizing the homeless” —  through job skills training and mental, emotional and physical wellness programs — and its founder, Merideth Spriggs, a former youth pastor who was once homeless herself.

Spriggs started the organization in San Diego, where she was living at the time, not long after the university where she had been employed laid her off. As a result, she ultimately lost everything, including her unemployment benefits and her home.

“I realized if homelessness could happen to me, it could happen to anybody, and that I could be a unique voice,” said Spriggs, whose own work as a volunteer with the San Diego Rescue Mission proved transformational. “Even though I really felt God’s calling on my life to do this, most days I would not have picked this — and still don’t pick this — but I do not feel released from my calling.”

What began in San Diego in 2009 as an all-volunteer organization — which Spriggs said was “a mess to operate” — moved to Las Vegas in its “3.0 version” in 2013.

Spriggs, who has always been Caridad’s director, bears the unique title of “chief kindness officer.”

Caridad Gardens in Las Vegas serves the must vulnerable 

of God’s children. (Contributed photo)

“When I was doing street outreach in 2014, it was a police officer I was working with who inspired it,” she recalled. “When I gave him my card, he said, ‘That title, director, doesn’t fit you at all. You need to be the kindness officer or something.’ So, I Googled it and since there was no such title, I made it up.”

The unique, street-centered, V.I.P. “concierge approach” of Caridad Gardens is made possible, in part, through a grant from the Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People, which is in turn supported by Presbyterians’ generous gifts to One Great Hour of Sharing.

For 75 years, its purpose of helping neighbors in need around the world remains constant, giving the PC(USA) and other Christian denominations a tangible way to share God’s love. In addition to SDOP, One Great Hour of Sharing also benefits the ministries of the Presbyterian Hunger Program and Presbyterian Disaster Assistance.

Duncan agrees that the title suits Spriggs, not only because she dispenses kindness, but because she also embodies it.

“Merideth has been a big inspiration to me,” said Duncan. “She is not someone who is just talking about something, but she’s actually doing something. She’s not necessarily beating people over the head with the Bible, she’s actually living it — walking the walk and treating people with kindness and respect. It gives me something to be a part of. It tells me something that I want to be.”

“The work of Caridad Gardens, in many ways like Matthew 25, acknowledges that we find the plight of Jesus as well as hope in those who are directly impacted by poverty,” said the Rev. Dr. Alonzo Johnson, SDOP coordinator. “Caridad Gardens engages in the intersectional work of recognizing that poverty, race and class are intimately linked. As the Matthew 25 initiative in the PC(USA) focuses on God’s reconciling and transforming work, we see strong traces of this in Caridad Gardens and their ability to walk alongside, gently and lovingly, those who know well the power of trauma and destitution.”

Support Self-Development of People and help transform the lives of people through gifts to One Great Hour of Sharing.

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

Today’s Focus: One Great Hour of Sharing gifts

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Cheri Harper, Presbyterian Women, Program Manager, Presbyterian Women  
Ginger Harris,  Associate of Lending Services, Presbyterian Investment & Loan Program

Let us pray

Almighty God, thank you for your gifts of grace, ministers, new initiatives, and the challenge and opportunity to grow in the knowledge of God. In Jesus’ name. Amen.