Witness, Share and Evangelize: 2025

Wednesday, December 10, 2025

Minute for Mission: Human Rights Day

Proverbs 31:8–9:8 reads: “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.”

In 1948, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that all human beings are born free and equal, with inherent dignity and indisputable rights. As Christians, God tells us the same message; in Genesis 1, God proclaims that every person was created in God's image and have inherently dignity as God’s children.

However, looking around at the current state of the world, we see brokenness and oppression. Too many suffer from violence, discrimination and poverty. In Proverbs 31, we are called to speak up for our neighbors; to be a voice for the voiceless. In this call, we are reminded that the work to protect human rights becomes a form of discipleship. We must seek justice for those who cannot seek it for themselves to answer God’s call to love our neighbors.

The struggle for liberation is interconnected worldwide. Our neighbors, both near and far, join us to fight for the protection of human rights around the world. Jesus embodied this struggle during his ministry on earth, proclaiming freedom and dignity for all people. Our call is to walk in Jesus’ footsteps by welcoming the stranger, protecting the oppressed and raising our voices for those who cannot.

On Human Rights Day, we remember that as a church, that faith without action is not enough. We are not only called to pray for justice but to pursue it through advocacy and compassion. There are so many people suffering around the world: individuals struggling with food insecurity in the United States, refugees fleeing war, climate-affected populations, Indigenous people and so many others. We must answer God’s call to protect, love and uplift our neighbor.

May this Human Rights Day awaken us with a holy restlessness. We must refuse to accept injustice and oppression as inevitable. We must reflect God’s image in the way we interact with our neighbors, the community and the world.

Madeleine So, Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations Young Adult Volunteer for 2025–2026

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff:

John Matekovic, Vice President, Income Security, Benefits, The Board of Pensions
Karl Mattison, VP of Planned Giving Resources, Planned Giving, The Presbyterian Foundation

Let us pray:

God of justice and mercy, on Human Rights Day, we remember that we were all made in your image. Give us courage to speak up for those who cannot, and faith to believe in your work and will. Help us to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with you, Lord. In your name we pray. Amen.

Introducing our 2026 Lenten devotion ✝️

Dear friends,

As we prepare to enter Lent, many of us are carrying uncertainty, exhaustion, or concern for a world that feels increasingly fractured. This year, the Presbyterian Outlook is offering a new Lenten devotional — Discipleship in a Divided Age. Written by Outlook Publisher/Editor Teri McDowell Ott, this daily devotional helps to anchor us in Scripture and guide our spiritual practices during this sacred season.

This devotional follows the Gospel of Matthew and speaks directly into our moment. Through daily reflections, thoughtful questions and weekly visio divina practices, this resource invites us to live faithfully amid division and uncertainty.

Whether you read it on your own, bring it to your session or small group, or share it with your entire congregation, this devotional offers:

Six daily readings each week grounded in Scripture
Reflection questions to help integrate faith into everyday life
Closing prayers shaped for personal or communal use
Weekly visio divina
A pastoral voice that meets readers with honesty, clarity and hope

Begin your Lenten journey with us

What do you get with your order?

A digital, daily devotional that you can insert into your bulletin, email out to your congregation, or read like a book at home while drinking your morning coffee
Adaptable files that can be printed on a half page or full page
Basic printing instructions
All files sent to your inbox on January 8, 2026

Intrigued? View a sample of week one.

Pre-order today!

Maundy Thursday liturgy: A Service of communion and reflection by Carol Holbrook Prickett

Ash Wednesday Service: A season of unmasking by Anne Apple

Presbyterian Outlook Lenten devotions from previous years

Ash Wednesday reflections

Lenten hymns

Ash Wednesday Service: A call to repentance and renewal by Barbara Chaapel

Special Offerings - A Fresh Future for Special Offerings

A Fresh Future for Special Offerings

Exciting changes are coming!

For decades, Presbyterians have joined together through the Special Offerings for opportunities to support the mission and ministry of the PC(USA) while creating transformative change in the world.

Now we are excited to announce that the Special Offerings are getting a refresh for 2026 in line with changes approved by the 226th General Assembly (2024), transforming into three cause-based opportunities to create global impact through the PC(USA).

Aligned with causes that encapsulate the many ways the Church is at work in the world, the Special Offerings will continue to support initiatives that work to end inequality, feed the hungry, protect the vulnerable, and safeguard our shared future.

They will be:

One Great Hour of Sharing — Supporting ministries of compassion through causes addressing hunger, disaster, poverty, climate change, and immigration/migration and refugees.
World Communion Offering — Calling all God's people to cultivate forms of reconciliation through racial justice, gender justice, peacemaking, global witness and ecumenical and interfaith relations.
Christmas Joy Offering — Supporting causes and ministries that serve God's children, including youth and young adults, children at risk, leadership development for people of color, Presbyterian-related schools and colleges equipping communities of color and servants of the church in need.

Opportunities to Learn More

For more information on the Special Offerings, the causes and ministries they support, and a special Q&A session with Church leadership, register for one of our upcoming webinars!

Sign Up Now:

December 15, 2025 — 5:00-6:15 p.m. EST [REGISTER HERE]

January 15, 2026 — 4:00-5:15 p.m. EST [REGISTER HERE]

January 28, 2026 — 7:00-8:15 p.m. EST [REGISTER HERE]

February 10, 2026 — 4:00-5:15p.m. EST [REGISTER HERE]

Thank you for your generous support of Special Offerings. If you have any questions, reply to this email or call 800-728-7228, Ext. 5047.

Tuesday, December 9, 2025

Mission Yearbook: Southern Indiana church cares for its community in many ways

Mount Tabor Presbyterian Church — The founder of Use It Again Inc., Josh Rose, presents a donated walker to his father.

It began shortly before Covid when we shut the doors to our “Wee Care,” the longest-running nonprofit day care in our city. We just couldn’t adequately staff it any longer. Being good Presbyterians, we formed a committee to sort, clean and donate many items that were once used in the lower level of our church. Once we cleared the way, we spent time to pray and clear our minds to discern what God desired for this space. It was revealed that we needed to keep this space for nonprofits and community outreach. God is very wise and empowered us to do a massive renovation of the 50-year-old kids’ restrooms with the emphasis to make them universal and ADA-compliant. We were very fortunate and grateful to have benefited from the Frank L. and Laura L. Smock Foundation and Monroe City Congregational Mission Grant that supported our efforts.

We wrestled with how to reach outside our walls. We began earlier with a little food pantry and wow, has that been a hit (literally). We have a hard time keeping it stocked. This showed us how much need there continues to be in our community. We made phone calls to our local university, various people and organizations in the community and researched online to see who and what was out there that might be a fit for us.

At first it was a bit discouraging as some of the community leads required a lot of volunteers, lengthy training and youth. Being a smaller, more mature congregation where most everyone was already committing their time and resources made finding the right community partners for us challenging. We realized that what we could offer was space, and we started focusing harder on that and less on what we didn’t have to offer. It was also important to us that our community partners shared our beliefs to welcome and celebrate diversity, inclusion and respect for all people. We are happy to have found four nonprofit organizations whose needs match our resources. Please meet our Community Partners:

RSVP Retired Senior Volunteer Program is part of Hope Southern Indiana, which tackles hunger in southern Indiana with their food pantry program. They also provide emergency services to individuals and families in crisis and offer programs to help people live a more stable life.
Use It Again Inc. was founded by physical therapists whose goal is to provide free medical equipment such as crutches, wheelchairs and walkers to those in need so they may be safe in their homes.
Let Us Learn Inc. works with our community to increase access to healthy food. They work with about nine area schools to plant raised beds where the kids learn how to grow vegetables, plan and budget for meals. They also have a credit recovery program to help kids graduate high school.
Savannah Smiles Youth Services provides support services to those children in our community who experience the effects of addiction in the home or have lost someone due to addiction. They currently have 87 children actively enrolled in their program, and many times the family members participate. Workshops occur in our Community Room about once a week with about 22 kids participating at a time.

Today, our congregation participates alongside our partners. We not only turned iside out but are flipping out over God’s grace and how God answered our prayers.

Carol Traister; Mount Tabor Presbyterian Church Foundation Committee Leader/Elder; New Albany, Indiana

Let us join in prayer for:

Dina Martinez, Customer Service Representative, Operations, Presbyterian Publishing Corporation
Brad Masters, VP Business Dev. and Financial Advisor, Trust Services, The Presbyterian Foundation

Let us pray:

God, you always have the best plans for us if we keep knocking and don’t give up. Help us to realize our church extends beyond our walls, and help us to turn more outward to help others regardless of color, race or gender. In Christ’s Almighty name, we humbly pray. Amen.

Special Offerings - When we all do a little ...

As we always say — when we all do a little, it adds up to a lot!
Thank you for your generous support of the Churchwide Special Offerings.

Through gifts to One Great Hour of Sharing, the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance Program deployed 86 members of the National Response Team (NRT) for natural and human-caused disasters in 25 presbyteries. Seventy-five grants were disbursed, totaling $879,016 to support long-term recovery, disaster preparedness and capacity building. NRT members also responded to wildfires, tornadoes and hurricanes.

Your gifts to the Pentecost Offering enabled more than 2,000 youth and their leaders to attend the Presbyterian Youth Triennium in Louisville for four days of worship, recreation, Bible study, outreach and faith formation.

With the help of your gifts to the Christmas Joy Offering, the Board of Pensions was able to disburse more than $5.6 million in grants and supplements to help our siblings during times of financial crisis.

To support these vital ministries, click here.

Again, thank you for your support.
Your gifts make a difference!

If you have any questions, reply to this email
or call 800-728-7228, Ext. 5047.

Presbyterian Peace Fellowship - Holding Hope Together

Dear Peacemakers,

I’m glad to be back with you all as we move through this season of waiting, wondering, seeking, and hoping. These are holy things best done in good company.

It’s a slippery thing, hope. Maybe it always has been. It certainly is right now. It’s fragile.

We can be tempted to betray the hope we claim as peacemakers who follow Christ. We get drawn into the culture of treating hope as a sweet idea that is meaningless without our stridency, anger, even aggression to move the world toward justice. Certainly the work of justice requires much of us — our creativity, time, energy, attention, and work. And sometimes our anger is absolutely necessary. Yet I think we are denying ourselves something important when we set aside the power of hope itself, in all its unlikelihood and all its fragility.

Fragility is an incredible gift. It means we’ve stayed soft in a world that so often insists on malice and revenge. It means we are willing to let our hearts be broken for hope in what God has done, is doing, and will do. In a broken world, what a remarkable thing to acknowledge our brokenness and our hope in the same breath.

The thing is, the story of Jesus of Nazareth has always been under the rubble. He was born into a broken, violent world and died at the hands of that same broken, violent world. That didn’t diminish the hope His friends and followers lived by, and the rubble piled on their lives was unimaginably high. It was hope that carried them. That same fragile hope is what keeps Him alive in the world today.

And this is the hope we are choosing together this Advent. It’s the hope beneath our theme, Advent Under the Rubble, and the hope that sustains the work PPF is called to do in accompaniment, abolition, gun violence prevention, and building communities of care. This shared hope is made real through your prayers, your presence, and yes, your financial support.

I’m thankful to each of you for investing in hope with the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship in this season. You are a necessary part of this community of hope and we are glad to share the journey with you. If you are able, I invite you to make an Advent gift to help us continue this work into the year ahead.

With hope unbroken,

Laurie

This season our theme is Advent Under the Rubble. Each week you will hear reflections from members of our community on hope, peace, joy, and love in the places where they are most needed. My prayer is that these reflections help us see where Christ is being born right now and call us to respond with courage, imagination, and steadfast love in the face of empire.

We are entering this season with a real need. To keep grounding our work in accompaniment, gun violence prevention, abolition, and the daily labor of showing up where God already is, we need to raise $81,000 by the end of the year. If you are able, I invite you to make an Advent gift today.