It began, as so much seems to begin these days, with an email.
“The mission committee of Mid Kentucky Presbytery is ready to again collect Hygiene Kits for Presbyterian Disaster Assistance,” wrote Ruth Welch, coordinator of the project for the presbytery. “We hope the Presbyterian Center will join in collecting, sorting, and assembling these kits.” Read more »
May 24, 2023
Presbyterian Center staff joins with Mid-Kentucky Presbytery to gather hygiene kits
It began, as so much seems to begin these days, with an email.
“The mission committee of Mid Kentucky Presbytery is ready to again collect Hygiene Kits for Presbyterian Disaster Assistance,” wrote Ruth Welch, coordinator of the project for the presbytery. “We hope the Presbyterian Center will join in collecting, sorting, and assembling these kits.” Read more »
I retired from a 40-year career in ministry and moved from Middle Tennessee to Canton, North Carolina, on a whim. Also known as “Papertown,” Canton is a quaint mountain town on the headwaters of the Pigeon River. Its bustling industrial center is the Evergreen Paper Mill, which has been in operation for over 100 years. The mill has faced down chestnut blights, wrestled with forest management and water regulations since its inception, and defied a hostile buyout in the 1990s when nearly 2,000 employees paid $200 million to purchase it themselves. 
You cannot turn on the news these days without hearing about violence and displacement. We live in turbulent times. According to the United Nations, we are witnessing record high numbers of forced displacement and migration — over 100 million globally. The causes are many — civil wars, the rise in autocratic governments who violate human rights with impunity, drug wars and even domestic violence. Natural disasters, too, such as hurricanes, droughts and flooding. And when asked, most migrants will tell you that they have left home for a combination of these factors. Their destinations are often determined by where they have family or friends and the financial resources to get there. 
Juneteenth, the official freeing of enslaved people on June 19, 1865, in Texas, is one of the most important events in American history — but most students haven’t even been taught it. Maybe that will change now that Juneteenth is a national holiday. 
Radical welcome, defined as “the spiritual practice of embracing and being changed by the gifts, presence, voices and power of The Other: the people systemically cast out or marginalized within a church, denomination and/or society,” was the focus of a recent webinar put on by the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s Office of Gender, Racial & Intercultural Justice. Watch the hourlong webinar hosted by Samantha Davis, Associate for Gender, Racial & Intercultural Justice, by going here. 
Interfaith Power & Light, a partner of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), recently held a webinar exploring both the political and the faith-based aspects of the Farm Bill, which expires Sept. 30 and is reauthorized every five years. 
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) now has its first Earth Care Congregation in Puerto Rico. 
Throughout the year, the Presbyterian Mission Agency offers more than 20 grants and scholarships ranging from $100 to $50,000 awarded to individuals, communities and mid councils. 
The Governing Board of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA (NCC) is pleased to announce that Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie has been elected to serve as President and General Secretary of the ecumenical organization. She is the first African American woman to serve as both President and General Secretary of the organization. 
Yuriko Beltran doesn’t ask for much — just an opportunity to change the world.
Which is exactly why the 23-year-old entered the PC(USA)’s Young Adult Volunteer program.