Today in the Mission Yearbook - The PC(USA)’s Young Adult Advocacy Conference features a workshop on gender justice

The Rev. Denise Anderson, who leads Compassion, Peace & Justice ministries, takes young adults through differing biblical viewpoints on what’s just among genders

December 22, 2023

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

Justice ministries, was in high demand during the Young Adult 

Advocacy Conference. Here she leads a pairing workshop. 

(Photo by Nell Herring)

In a workshop on advocating for gender justice offered during “Jesus & Justice,” the recent Young Adult Advocacy Conference, the Rev. Denise Anderson turned to the biblical account to demonstrate how long and how difficult — even confusing — the struggle has been.

“We have some things to wrestle with here,” said Anderson, director of Compassion, Peace & Justice ministries in the Presbyterian Mission Agency and the Co-Moderator of the 222nd General Assembly (2016). She compared some of what biblical writers have had to say about women, including Genesis 1:27 versus Genesis 3:16 and Galatians 3:27–28 as against 1 Timothy 2:12–14.

“Why does one thing sound good and the other doesn’t?” Anderson asked young adults gathered for her workshop held at the Presbyterian Center in Louisville. “I think we need a broader ethic around gender justice than just cherry-picking Scriptures we like.”

Our “prime directive” is to love God and love our neighbor, Anderson pointed out. “If we take Jesus’ message to its logical conclusion, it leads to a radical inclusivity that challenges power structures as they exist. The constructions we create help us determine who can be commodified and who can’t. When these texts came to us, women were considered property.”

Anderson pointed out examples of more-than-capable leadership among women in biblical times, including Deborah; Mary, the mother of Jesus and herself a prophetess; and leaders of the early church whom Paul singled out for personal greetings.

There are also biblical figures outside the gender binary, most notably the Ethiopian eunuch, who is heard by Philip here and then baptized here.

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) “holds itself accountable to its commitments to actively work against sexism and for gender justice” through the work of such groups as the Advocacy Committee for Women and Gender Justice, Anderson noted. That committee “serves as a prophetic gender justice advocacy and monitoring body to and for the PC(USA),” Anderson said, and has, like mid councils and other organizations, the authority to develop overtures for consideration by the General Assembly.

Then Anderson briefly took the young adults in attendance through a framework designed to help groups organize for change.

Organizing for change includes these steps:

• Gathering around interests. This involves creating relationships, identifying common self-interests, and conducting power analyses, she said, including answering the question, “who has the power and who needs it?”
• Identifying potential wins. “Be clear about the space in which you want to effect change,” such as on campus, in the community or the state, Anderson said. Then “identify who and what you can influence and start with small wins to build capacity.”
• PUSH, both in terms of continued advocacy and the acronym “Pray Until Something Happens.” It’s also important for groups to monitor and provide accountability and to train successors, she said.

Anderson pointed out that on Maundy Thursday, Jesus adds to the prime directive,  commanding that his disciples “love each other as I have loved you.” Advocates also can’t neglect their obligation to pray without ceasing, she said.

“Those of us who care about justice, sometimes we forget to pray. Pray!” Anderson urged. “We might not be right about some things.”

“It’s not lost on me,” she said, “that the disciples prayed for boldness.”

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service

Today’s Focus: Rev. Denise Anderson leads a workshop on gender justice at the Jesus and Justice Young Adult Advocacy Conference

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Bryan Taylor, Administrative II, Operations, Presbyterian Foundation
Nancy Taylor, Executive Director, Presbyterian Historical Society

Let us pray

Loving God, you who gave us eternal life, you who shares the power of your love through others, you who amaze us when we expect the worst, help us love. You taught us to love, and we can do better. Please help us. Amen.

Minute for Mission: Week of Prayer for Christian Unity begins

January 18, 2021

The Presbyterian constitution directs believers “to manifest more visibly the unity of the body of Christ” (G-5.0101). Our daily reading from Ephesians suggests the way of Christian unity is made by speaking truth with love in a way that grows the body of Christ. Sunday’s readings included Paul’s writing to the church in Corinth where Paul is constantly challenging natural divisions with a greater goal of being the Body of Christ.

Paul recognized that division is a cancer, a deadly disease, that when allowed to spread wreaks havoc and destruction among the people of God. Paul makes one thing clear: Although we may be blessed and gifted in different ways, we share a common source. He wants the Corinthian church to understand the main point: God blesses us in a variety of ways not for ourselves and our glory but for the common good of the church.

There is equality in the kingdom of God. Regardless of the labels, categories and hierarchies outside of the church, within the church, we are all one body. It is this “oneness” that provides a space for difference. Paul points out that we are all different; not one member of the body has superiority or can claim that another member is less or more vital. This is the hope of our faith that, as we continue to appreciate the differences of others, we embrace our own differences. When we can embrace our differences, we can make a more joyful noise, a greater impact for the kingdom, and contribute more fully as our best selves. The work of Christian unity affirms that it is not our similarities, but our differences that make us vital in God’s economy!

Rev. Denise Anderson; Coordinator of Racial and Intercultural Justice; Compassion, Peace & Justice; Presbyterian Mission Agency

On behalf of the Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations:
The Rev. Mary Newbern-Williams, Calvin Presbyterian Church, Norfolk, Virginia
The Rev. Dr. Amariah McIntosh, Phillips Temple Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, Toledo, Ohio
The Rev. Brian R. Paulson, First Presbyterian Church of Libertyville, Illinois

Let us join in prayer for: 

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff

Kendra Bright Presbyterian Publishing Corporation
Christian Brooks, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us pray:

Loving God, you are the uniting force in a diverse world. Enrich us so that we model the value of being diverse people united by your Spirit. In Christ we pray. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - A prayer for mothers and those who wish to mother

Prayer also pays tribute to those ‘who contribute to our common life in other impactful ways’

September 19, 2020

Dulari Besra, right, helps mothers treat and prevent childhood malnutrition in rural northwest Bangladesh

Holy One, who gathers us as a mother bear gathers her cubs,

We give thanks for your goodness and mercy toward us. We are grateful for your loving kindness and care for your children through the ages. We thank you for your protection and correction. And we thank you that we of all genders, ethnicities and racialization bear the imprint of your caring nature.

In culture and in the church, we celebrate and give thanks for mothers — mothers who reflect your incessant care and teaching. We are grateful for their role in our lives and ask that you sustain in these difficult times all who mother. For those who try to keep their children safe, educated and engaged in new ways, we ask for energy and imagination to do that work. For those who have always had to mother in difficult circumstances, we ask for provision.

We also acknowledge that for many of us, the concept of “mothering” is painful to consider. Our mothers may have been absent physically or functionally. Some of us have experienced the untimely death of or abandonment by a mother, and we continue to grieve their absence. For some of us, the mothers in our lives were abusive or neglectful. We ask for your grace in grief and your care for hearts that are hurting.

We lift those mothers who have lost children. Some to perinatal loss. Some to illness. Some to violence. We ask for your arms of comfort to surround those mothers in their loss. We give thanks for the strength of mothers who continue to advocate and fight for their children and everyone else’s child. We ask for their prophetic voices to be lifted in the public square and that their continued labor not be in vain.

We remember those who wish to mother. We ask that you would soothe hearts that are in agony, longing to build the family for which they have dreamed and to which you have called them.

And God, we give thanks that not everyone wants to mother. Many instead chose to contribute to our common life in other impactful ways. We thank you for those who inspire, who give, who love, who teach, who nurture, who challenge and who make the world better in myriad ways. We thank you for those who step in as chosen family to people without access to their families of birth. We thank you for those who adopt others, whether formally or informally. We remember Jesus’ admonition that whoever does the will of God is his mother, brother, sister, sibling. Help us, O God, to be your family in all the ways you have imagined for us.

In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, brother to us all, Amen.

Rev. Denise Anderson; Coordinator of Racial Intercultural Justice; Compassion, Peace & Justice; Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us join in prayer for: 

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Teri Morrison, Presbyterian Foundation
Gad Mpoyo, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us pray:

Heavenly Father, thank you for all you have provided for us. Allow our lives to reflect the service and love you call us to share. In Christ’s name. Amen.

Sunday's Minute for Mission: Health Awareness and Day of Prayer for Healing and Wholeness

February 9, 2020

Surgery, complications from surgery, adverse reactions to medications, and more emergency room visits than I can remember have been an unfortunate fact of life for us as a family. When we’d go to the emergency room, I was always prepared for, yet staggered by, a question the triage nurses are required to ask of everyone: “Are you safe at home?”

Thankfully, my answer was “yes,” but the fact that they ask the question at all means that not everyone can answer the same way. The National Council on Aging estimates that 5 million seniors per year are victims of elder abuse. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, about 20 people experience physical violence from their intimate partners every minute in the United States. I always wonder how often triage nurses hear the more difficult answer to their question, and I’m led to pray for the times they do.

Bodies are beautiful, intricate and fragile things. Sometimes they get sick due to no one’s fault. Viruses invade our bloodstreams and wreak havoc on our systems. Cells divide and mutate, destroying the healthy cells around them. A miscalculated footstep can lead to broken bones and summer-ruining casts. But sometimes our health is impacted by forces outside of us. Racialized violence bludgeons bodies rich in melanin. Gender violence maims female and non-binary bodies. Sometimes cells mutate because of the toxic waste that was callously dumped on nearby land. And too often, bodies don’t get the support they need because they lack access to care.

The church is called to right relationships with God and neighbor, and the natural outcome of those relationships is good health. Sickness is an inevitability of life, but I believe God expects us to not exacerbate the inevitable.

Rev. Denise Anderson; Coordinator; Racial and Intercultural Justice; Compassion, Peace & Justice; Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us join in prayer for:  

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff

Martha Smyrski, Board of Pensions
Becca Snipp, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us pray:

Holy One, in whom we live and move and have our being, we ask for healing for those who are ill. Bless the professionals who treat them, and where their treatment stops, let your healing continue. Help us to eradicate illnesses caused by injustice, indifference, hatred and strife by making us agents of your peace and justice. In the name of Jesus, who healed the sick of body and spirit. Amen.