Today in the Mission Yearbook - Gelling too soon

Beloved Christian educator Lib Caldwell gives and gets during Facebook Live gathering

December 4, 2020

The Rev. Dr. Lib Caldwell

In Gail Godwin’s book “The Finishing School,” which features an older woman and a 14-year-old girl, the woman tells the girl she can tell by looking whether a person has congealed. That person will have no more surprises, the woman tells her young friend, and to avoid the trap she must constantly be on guard against gelling too soon. It’s a valued vignette in one of the Rev. Dr. Lib Caldwell’s favorite books.

Caldwell said during a recent Facebook Live interview with the Rev. Dr. Lee Hinson-Hasty that her soul also requires that kind of space for creativity. “I never planned my life,” said the professor emerita of McCormick Theological Seminary, who’s now a visiting faculty member in religious education at the Vanderbilt Divinity School. She began teaching at McCormick about 30 years ago with the agreement she’d begin working on her doctorate within two years of her start at the Chicago seminary.

“So that’s what I did,” said this year’s winner of the Excellence in Theological Education Award given by the Committee on Theological Education, which in non-pandemic years is awarded during General Assembly. “In 30 years of teaching, I’ve never done the same thing twice. I’ve wanted to be new every day.”

Hinson-Hasty, senior director of Theological Funds Development for the Committee on Theological Education and the Presbyterian Foundation, titled his interview with Caldwell “When Kids ask Hard Questions.” He had several examples: “Where is God? How do I talk to God? How do you know there is a God?”

The best advice Caldwell has for parents and educators — and during the pandemic, parents are increasingly finding themselves as their children’s primary educators — is to “first, take a breath.”

“If a question leaves us speechless, it means we haven’t thought about it,” Caldwell told Hinson-Hasty. If adults don’t ask the hard questions, “how can they answer them for their child?”

One possible answer to a hard question is, “What do you think?” That was the approach used by one famed Christian educator, Professor Sara P. Little, according to Caldwell, who studied under her. One day Caldwell heard Little speak to a group and then field questions afterward. “She would say, ‘I have some thoughts about that, but what about you?’ She refused to be the answer-giver,” Caldwell said. When a child asks a difficult question, she said, a good answer is often, “Let’s wonder about this together.”

Some questions posed by children come from personal experience. Caldwell said she once visited a museum with her sister and her two nephews. One of the boys saw a man asking for money, and so he asked his mother for money to give to the man. When he heard the man was homeless, Caldwell’s nephew asked his mother, logically, “Why is he homeless?”

Caldwell said she felt fortunate it was her job merely to teach budding clergy and educators how they might answer. Her sister, she noted, “has to live with it every day.”

For questions about the mystery of God, Caldwell said parents should first be comfortable with their own questions. “Are parents doing anything about their own spiritual formation? Do we talk about how our faith is lived in the world?” Our children watch us, she said. “They know everything we do.”

With her students, Caldwell asks them daily for their thorns and roses — their lows and their highs — but also their blossoms, the things they’re looking forward to. She said she advises families to find things they can do together even during a pandemic: walking around the neighborhood, taking an even longer hike or playing music together. Or, as one family she knows does, dress up in costumes and rehearse and then put on a short play together.

At the end of the 30-minute interview, Hinson-Hasty had a surprise for Caldwell: About 20 friends, colleagues and admirers had come together via Zoom to congratulate her on her award and to tell Caldwell how grateful they are for her many contributions. Watch the interview and a portion of the Zoom call that follows here.

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service

Let us join in prayer for: 

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Miguel Vargas, Office of the General Assembly
Kym Vaughn, Presbyterian Foundation

Let us pray:

God of grace, thank you for people who inspire us. Thank you also for those who are willing to serve you despite discomfort, hunger and struggle. Please help us to risk more, to give more and to sacrifice more as we seek to follow Jesus. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - Camps and conferences stay positive during pandemic

Social distance challenges require outside-the- box thinking to survive and thrive

December 3, 2020

Brian Frick

Like most organizations, PC(USA)- affiliated camp and retreat centers were blindsided by the COVID-19 pandemic. Stay-at-home and social distancing orders struck the very heart and infrastructure of summer camp and retreat resident ministries. But amid it all, associate for Christian Formation Brian Frick has continued to have hope.

“Camp leaders did an incredible job juggling the uncertainty during the pandemic’s early days,” said Frick. “They quickly developed plans that would ensure survival through 2020 and carry them through into what we hope is an even better 2021.”

Immediate concerns centered on establishing financial security, including but not limited to national aid from the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program and small business disaster assistance loans. But camp leaders quickly turned their attention to summer resident camp and retreat programs. And that’s when some creative thinking came into play.

Most PC(USA)-affiliated camps created either an online or a “camp-in-a-box” solution. Several offered modified resident camping following local health guidelines. Retreat leaders re-evaluated their ministries to meet local, state and national safety guidelines.

The camp-in-a-box program delivers materials to campers’ homes with directions that enable them to participate in normal camp activities. It includes games, Bible studies, adventures, camp recipes and songs. Distinct from online camp, the camp-in-a-box goal is to pull campers away from screens. Ferncliff Camp and Conference Center in Little Rock, Arkansas, had more than 1,300 campers sign up for its June program.

Online camp, on the other hand, helps participants stay true to the community aspect of camp by bringing campers together with counselors for campfires, crafts, and nature exploration. It does include some screen time, but Frick feels it is a fair tradeoff for the community-building aspect it provides.

“Both the online and camp-in-a-box offerings keep campers engaged in the outdoors even when they can’t be at camp,” said Frick. “This may not be a replacement for the faith community development found in person, but it ensures that our young congregations get a summer faith experience that brings them out of their regular routine.”

The Presbyterian Mission Agency’s (PMA) Office of Christian Formation partners with and supports the Presbyterian Church Camp and Conference Center Association, and thus far has engaged with the PCCCA on several key initiatives. One of them was a virtual, password-protected online camp portal that could be used alongside camp-in-a-box materials and engage young adults in leadership training. Others included respite retreats for pastors and church professionals created in partnership with Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, coaching and consulting around camp finances, and hosting a weekly mutual support gathering for camp and retreat professionals. That approach provided opportunities for networking and access to information on a variety of relevant topics.

Despite the creativity and resourcefulness displayed by camp leaders and partners, Frick expects continued pressure on camp and retreat center budgets.

Nevertheless, Frick has long-term faith in the camps and conferences ministry and has seen firsthand the response from his colleagues brought about by the viral pandemic.

“If there is any ministry that can adapt and respond, it is our camp and retreat centers. We will see innovation, deeper engagement with congregations and families, and an increased focus on authentic ministry. Faith community development across the generational spectrum will be the driver of success. It sounds crazy, but out of this crisis are going to come the best days for those who weather the storm.”

If you would like to help camp and retreats during this challenging time, you can give to your local camp and retreat center by finding it at BookARetreat.com or by supporting PCCCA in supporting camp leaders by donating at FundForCamp.org.

Scott O’Neill, Communications Strategist, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us join in prayer for: 

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Mienda Uriarte, Presbyterian Mission Agency
Kris Valerius, Office of the General Assembly

Let us pray:

Dear Lord, thank you for the energy and enthusiasm of your children of faith. Lead them by your Spirit, that they will be faithful ambassadors for your grace and truth. Amen.

Mission with both hands

While doing mission, justice is every bit as important as mercy

by Hunter Farrell, director of the World Mission Initiative at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary | Special to Presbyterian News Service

the Rev. Dr. Hunter Farrell

“Has the Church merely to gather up those whom the wheel has crushed or has she to prevent the wheel from crushing them?”

— Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “Ethics”

PITTSBURGH — “Beginning in 1984, the world was confronted with horrendous televised images of starving children and their weeping mothers, victims of the now-infamous Ethiopian famine that eventually claimed more than one million lives. Christian churches responded generously, including Ethiopian famine relief as a mission priority. Together with a wide array of governments and nonprofit organizations, the international community quickly generated more than $100 million to provide direct food aid.

“But as media attention moved elsewhere, some troubling facts began to emerge. Although the humanitarian crisis had been framed as a famine, throughout the 1980s there actually was enough food produced in Ethiopia to feed its entire population. But in the national context of the rebellion of the Tigray, Eritrea, and Wollo regions against the brutal Derg regime in Addis Ababa, the root problem was one of food distribution: the government, after engineering widespread starvation to punish the rebels, adeptly diverted the donated food aid from the needy to feed its own army. The end result was chilling: ‘The humanitarian effort prolonged the war and, with it, human suffering,’ concluded renowned British researcher Alex de Waal after his exhaustive study of the international response to the famine. Because sincere Christian mission efforts had ignored the underlying structural injustices, well-intended help was misdirected and tens of thousands more Ethiopians died. Mission without justice ceased to be God’s mission at all.”

God’s mission clearly includes charity: a cup of cold water given in Jesus’ name; the Samaritan’s extraordinary care for the victim of highway robbery; the traditional “alms for the poor” that has characterized the institutional church through the millennia. Charity is clearly biblical and a hallmark of Christian faithfulness. After 35 years of working with Presbyterian congregations engaged in local and global mission, I have found that the overwhelming majority of congregations dedicate nearly 100% of their mission attention and budget to charity work. But as the story from the Ethiopian famine reminds us, a singular focus on charity can blind us to the larger issues behind the suffering we seek to alleviate. A Congolese proverb says, “It takes two hands to wash”: God’s mission consists of both charity to stop our neighbor’s bleeding and justice to prevent the wound in the first place.

This fact has caused me to reflect on the reasons behind this curiously singular focus. I know, for myself, charity work is highly satisfying. I am almost always thanked for my service. When I offer a hot meal to a homeless family at the city shelter, I generally stand behind the counter. My position as benefactor shields me from the uncertainties and insecurity of a deeper relationship with a person forced to live on the street in conditions I would not tolerate for my own family. Charity can even anesthetize me into thinking I’ve done my part when in fact my neighbor is being exploited in ways that benefit me: when my insistence on lower taxes results in my neighbor not having access to desperately needed mental health services. If the “unbelievable price” I paid for my new shirt was only possible because of the unjust wages and dangerous working conditions of my global neighbor, I am profiting from my neighbor’s suffering. If my stock portfolio includes investments in companies that abuse their workers to extract greater profit and enhance dividends, I am a direct beneficiary of injustice and am literally funding the wheel that is crushing my neighbor’s life. And so, I’m tempted to turn a blind eye, claiming “it’s just too complicated.” Mere charity can divert our attention from the other hand of mission: the struggle for justice to prevent the suffering before it begins to crush the life of our neighbors.

Confronted by the complexities of global poverty, maybe I feel better about myself and my own relative wealth when I gaze upon the smiling picture of the sponsored child on my refrigerator or share on my Facebook page the story of my church’s clothes closet for the poor. Now, I know for a fact that unjust structures condemn the poor to inadequate housing, education, health care, and jobs. But I’m certain that to work with the oppressed in identifying and addressing the root causes of their plight would require something more costly to me. It would require me to heed Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s call to stop ignoring the wheel that is crushing so many people. It would require a commitment to justice to prevent their suffering, rather than merely tending their wounds. Because changing the unjust laws and structures that keep the poor down would require a long-term relationship of accompaniment with the poor. And I’m certain that relationship would be very costly, because it would change me, too. It would change the products I buy, how I invest my money, how I vote. It would force me to choose between the worship of Mammon (my investment income) and Jesus (who overturned the money changers’ tables in his anger with injustice).

So I have to wonder, has the American church’s almost singular focus on charity, as opposed to justice, become an idol that keeps us feeling good about ourselves, but ignorant of the causes of our neighbor’s suffering? Can I fully love my neighbors unless I’m willing to keep the wheel from crushing them?

I think these questions were in my mind 20 years ago when the Presbyterian Hunger Program’s former international coordinator, Lionel Derenoncourt, first explained to me a new model of mission, the Joining Hands against Hunger initiative. The effort wisely saw that the American church was using only one hand of mission — charity — and invited our church into the slow, hard work of solidarity for justice — to creating spaces where mission partners from the churches and civil societies of the Global South could share their analyses of the root causes of injustice with partners from the Global North and work together to overcome them.

Because “mission in solidarity” is woven through innumerable human relationships, tangible fruits of the Joining Hands model have taken some time to be seen. But laws in Egypt have been changed in favor of children with special needs; a highly polluting, U.S.-owned metal smelter in Peru with a legacy of thousands of lead-poisoned children was forced to decrease toxic emissions; and Cameroonian families displaced by the Exxon pipeline have found the encouragement to organize and advocate — these are the results of the global solidarity woven together by the Joining Hands initiative.

So take a look at your own congregation’s mission work: what portion of your time, your budget, your prayer and your attention is dedicated to the important work of charity? And how much to justice — the preventive work of identifying and addressing the root causes of our neighbors’ suffering? Could it be that our need for the instant gratification that charity work generates has become an idol that keeps us from joining God and neighbor in the deeper work of justice? Maybe it’s time to use both hands in mission.

The first two paragraphs are from the author’s “Justice and Mission Embrace” in “That They May All Be One: Celebrating the World Communion of Reformed Churches: Essays in Honor of Clifton Kirkpatrick,” Neal Presa, editor (Westminster John Knox Press, 2010), p. 32.

WCC NEWS: New publication invites people to rediscover mission as “a matter of the heart”

The 2 December debut of a new publication, Mission Rediscovered: Transforming Disciples, by Ken Ross, drew the interest of webinar participants eager to interpret more deeply the Arusha Call to Discipleship

Book cover photo: WCC/Globethics

2 December 2020

The author spoke about the significance of unpacking the meaning of the 12-part summons of the Arusha Call. With an up-to-date theological and missiological view, the book also offers a personal reflection on the state of a world desperately in need of change and transformation. “For anyone who wants to think about the meaning of Christian faith in today’s world, the 2018 Arusha Call to Discipleship is a text they should not miss,” said Ross. “The book offers a commentary on this seminal text, teasing out the significance of each phrase in the 12-part Call.” Ross added that interpreting the Arusha Call is both an individual and collective act. “Reading it is deeply personal, a matter of the heart, but it also opens up broad horizons: the whole of humanity and the whole of creation,” said Ross. “I hope that the book will help readers to rediscover mission by embracing the Christ-connected way of life evoked by the Arusha Call.” The book is co-published by the World Council of Churches and Globethics.net Publications. Prof. Dr Obiora Ike, executive director, Globethics.net, said that Mission Rediscovered: Transforming Disciples, shows how Christian discipleship can be brought about, particularly in a world that seems to be in a state of perpetual crises. He commented that this sense of crisis, “is magnified at every level through the tools of the social, print and mass media so that people are wondering whether there is meaning at all in life. This is why Ken’s book—Mission Rediscovered—comes into focus because there is a meaning in life”. The discussion has been moderated by Rev. Dr Karen Georgia A. Thompson, associate general minister for Wider Church Ministries and Operations, United Church of Christ.   Download the book Mission Rediscovered: Transforming Disciples Arusha Call to Discipleship WCC publications Globethics

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Today in the Mission Yearbook - Former street child in Kenya looks forward to college

Presbyterian Church of East Africa helps transform lives — one child at a time

December 2, 2020

Brian Odhiambo, a former street child in Nairobi, Kenya, will soon begin his college studies in business and entrepreneurship. (Photo Mary Njambi)

About three years ago, Brian Odhiambo lived a life of “survival of the fittest” on the streets of Nairobi, Kenya. He was rescued from his street boy existence and taken to Eastleigh Community Center (ECC), a vocational skills training primary and secondary school of the Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA) that promotes peacebuilding at every grade level.

“They did something great to my life,” Odhiambo remembered. “They took me back to secondary school and paid for my school fees and education essentials.”

Today Odhiambo looks forward to beginning his studies in business and entrepreneurship at Maseno University in Kenya. He is excited to pursue his goals in life and gives God all the glory, he said.

Phares Mithamo Nyaga, an ordained elder of the PCEA’s Nairobi Central Presbytery and director of ECC, served as an international peacemaker with the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program in 2017. He and the center’s staff believe education is effective in keeping street children from being exploited and radicalized by terrorists and traffickers of drugs and ammunition.

ECC, a ministry of Eastleigh parish and church, has been providing access to faith-based educational opportunities and vocational skills development since 1959. Nyaga and the center’s staff believe education is an effective tool in sustaining peace through economic and political empowerment of vulnerable people, such as refugees, women and children.

In addition to Kenyan street children, ECC helps “street families” and others affected by war and famine in neighboring Somalia, Sudan and Ethiopia.

“In my opinion, Eastleigh Community Center and the Presbyterian Church of East Africa are revealing, through their work and ministries to those on the margins, the quintessence of what it means to be a Matthew 25 church,” said the Rev. Paula Cooper, World Mission’s regional liaison for East Central Africa. Cooper said the center is feeding, teaching, clothing and sharing God’s love with children, youth and families experiencing hopelessness within their current circumstances.

“They offer a holistic approach to their ministries,” Cooper said. “On that great day, when they are asked, ‘Who did you feed?’ ‘Who did you clothe?’ ‘Who did you visit?’ They will have responses.”

Eastleigh is called “Little Mogadishu” because of its large Somali population. It is considered a place of opportunity and a major East African commercial zone. Through educational support of children, basic literacy skills for adults, psychosocial support, livelihood skills training for youth, women’s microenterprise development and promotion of health and sanitation, ECC’s primary and secondary school programs emphasize attitudes of respect, harmony and co-existence between students of different religious backgrounds while equipping the youth with skills that will give them a competitive edge in the market, Nyaga said.

Government policy in Kenya allows a child to be in a rescue center for a maximum of three years.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, all except 10 of the rescued street children have been returned to live with their families. The 10 students at the center are waiting to take their primary education examination, scheduled for October. These students are under the supervision of four staff members who are helping them prepare for the examination.

Nyaga said the main challenge has been providing food and essentials for the students, as well as paying staff salaries and utilities with no incoming revenue since February. “We remain in prayer that all these hard experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic will come to an end,” Nyaga said.

If you are interested in learning more about the work of Eastleigh Community Center, contact Cooper at paula.cooper@pcusa.org.

The Rev. Paula Cooper, World  Mission’s regional liaison for East Central Africa, facilitates PC(USA) relationships with partner churches and institutions in Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda and Zambia. She also provides support for PC(USA) mission personnel and Young Adult Volunteers (YAVs) in the region. She assists PC(USA) congregations and presbyteries that are or who want to be in relationship with partners in East Central Africa. Contact her here. Subscribe to her letters. Consider supporting her work in East Central Africa.

 Tammy Warren, Communications Associate, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us join in prayer for: 

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Teresa Turek, Board of Pensions
Dan and Elizabeth Turk, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us pray:

Loving God, we pray for all those who find themselves in desperate situations. May your love prevail as they try to be faithful to you in difficult times — filling them with hope to persevere. Amen.

Pray, Praise and Worship: WCC NEWS: Gathering of Advent songs from across the world will unite people in hope

Pray, Praise and Worship: WCC NEWS: Gathering of Advent songs from across the world will unite people in hope: As a new liturgical cycle begins, the World Council of Churches (WCC), in partnership with Red Crearte, a Latin American network that produc...

Today in the Mission Yearbook - Giving Tuesday is an opportunity to celebrate the work of the Church

There is a lot to celebrate this year

December 1, 2020

On the heels of the commercial events of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, a third post-Thanksgiving tradition has emerged that redirects our priorities. Giving Tuesday, which is being observed today in more than 150 countries, exists for one purpose: to celebrate and encourage giving.

As followers of Christ, Giving Tuesday is a wonderful way to begin the Advent season and celebrate the coming of Christ by moving our focus from materialism to something deeper. It provides us the opportunity to come together to celebrate Presbyterian generosity as well as all that we have accomplished over the past year.

Given all that is going on in our world, it may feel like we don’t have much to celebrate, but the opposite is true. We celebrate millions of dollars being granted in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic to congregations and mid councils across the country. We celebrate the continued efforts to eliminate structural racism in our society, including the Presbyterian Week of Action where we proudly proclaimed, “Presbyterians affirm Black Lives Matter.” We celebrate the ability to come together for a virtual General Assembly and all the hard work that made such a gathering possible. We celebrate the resources that have been created, the connections that have been made, and the grace that has been shared as we have all navigated through these past 11 months the best we can.

This year’s Giving Tuesday celebration will look different than years’ past. In collaboration with all the ministry areas of the Presbyterian Mission Agency as well as the Office of the General Assembly, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) will be hosting a 12-hour livestream on Giving Tuesday that will be sure to entertain, inform and inspire. The event will include worship, moments of prayer and reflection, highlights from our ministry areas, mental health breaks, and even a game show featuring our current General Assembly Co-Moderators, Elona Street-Stewart and the Rev. Gregory Bentley, as contestants.

During the virtual event, we will be provided the opportunity to express our gratitude to God for all God has done for us and the household of faith. Through our gifts, we can continue to be a healing presence to a world in need, being a church of action and reaching out to our siblings who are most marginalized. Gifts made on Giving Tuesday will support Shared Mission (unrestricted giving), Per Capita and the Special Offerings, lifting up the work of the entire Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

As we reflect on our blessings and are inspired to respond to God’s generosity, let us remember that we have been called to be a Matthew 25 Church, to live out God’s call to be an active presence in the world. Today on Giving Tuesday, join with Presbyterians from near and far as we profess by our actions — and with our gifts — that we are the Church, together!

Lauren Rogers, Project Manager for Digital Fundraising for Special Offerings and the Presbyterian Giving Catalog

Let us join in prayer for: 

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Becky Trinkle, Presbyterian Mission Agency
Mel Tubb, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us pray:

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