Presbyterians want abundance of life for all. We want to help those living in poverty. We like to get our hands dirty to make a difference. We run food programs and build houses on mission trips. We partner with other agencies working to address poverty and hunger in our communities and around the world. The Matthew 25 vision embraces all these ways — and many more — in which we use our time, talents and treasure to feed the hungry and walk alongside the vulnerable. Read more »
October 25, 2021
Making good use of the Mission Toolkit
Presbyterians want abundance of life for all. We want to help those living in poverty. We like to get our hands dirty to make a difference. We run food programs and build houses on mission trips. We partner with other agencies working to address poverty and hunger in our communities and around the world. The Matthew 25 vision embraces all these ways — and many more — in which we use our time, talents and treasure to feed the hungry and walk alongside the vulnerable. Read more »
This week, the Washington office of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) stressed the need to reauthorize federal domestic violence legislation during a panel discussion about how to eradicate gender-based violence, violence against women and domestic violence in Puerto Rico. 
The Rev. Dr. Anna Case-Winters, who has taught theology at McCormick Theological Seminary for 35 years, wasn’t all gloom and doom Wednesday during the Leading Theologically podcast hosted twice each month by the Rev. Dr. Lee Hinson-Hasty of the Presbyterian Foundation. 
When Dr. Seuss’s iconic Grinch famously declared that he must stop Christmas from coming, Sue Powers would hear nothing of it.
Pandemic or not, Oak Grove Presbyterian Church’s annual Alternative Christmas Marketplace would go on last year as usual.
Just not in the usual way. 
What do a cookbook, a blueprint, a trail map and the Bible have in common?
According to the Rev. Dr. Tod Bolsinger, associate professor of a leadership formation at Fuller Theological Seminary, they are all performative documents. 
I looked at my Amazon orders last week to gauge the depth of my complicity with economic injustice: 90 orders since January 2020. Do I struggle with this? Yes. Has that struggle led me to disentangle myself from the economic system that allows me to have what I want when I want it, and the cheapest price? No. I do always choose Amazon day — meaning that I choose to wait longer and group my orders to minimize the impact my comfort has on the workers, drivers and the planet. Do I struggle with this? Yes. How about you? 
Scripture is full of human desire for a sense of home, belonging, security: a mother lovingly placing a basket in the reeds to protect her infant son, a faith community’s journey through wilderness to find a promised homeland, a place to lay a baby’s head when there’s no room at the inn. 
For church and worshiping community leaders, the Way of Spiritual Fortitude is apparently paved with good intentions, including intending to regularly practice self-care in the midst of long hours doing ministry that can be as demanding as it is draining. 
Maryland’s Takoma Park Presbyterian Church was getting ready to celebrate Christmas Eve, but leadership wasn’t quite sure what to do. 
Transgender Day of Remembrance is a day to name and mourn the many transgender, nonbinary and gender-nonconforming people murdered each year because of their gender identity. On this day, we raise awareness of the extreme violence committed against transgender people simply for existing as they are. On this day, we commit to the work of creating a healed world where all gender identities and gender presentations are met with not only respect but celebration.