Amanda Craft differentiates between small-a advocacy and big-A Advocacy.
Small-a advocacy, she said during a workshop during the Presbyterian Border Region Outreach conference, is articulated every day. It’s about standing up for ourselves and others. It’s about making the system work for us, said Craft, manager for Advocacy in the Office of the General Assembly’s Office of Immigration Issues. Read more »
May 17, 2021
The next step: To love our neighbor
Amanda Craft differentiates between small-a advocacy and big-A Advocacy.
Small-a advocacy, she said during a workshop during the Presbyterian Border Region Outreach conference, is articulated every day. It’s about standing up for ourselves and others. It’s about making the system work for us, said Craft, manager for Advocacy in the Office of the General Assembly’s Office of Immigration Issues. Read more »
For two decades, June 20th’s designation as “World Refugee Day” has drawn global attention to both the plight of refugees living on the edge of survival and their strength and courage. It is also a day to remember the promise made by 146 countries, including the U.S., to provide safe haven and long-term recovery to those forced to flee their homelands. 
Every year since 1865, there has been one day that most Black people have held as a celebratory occurrence. On June 19, 1865, the last of the Black Americans who were in the condition of chattel servitude were freed. Texas, the last state to hold out on the edict of the Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln more than two years prior, had finally been forced into compliance. And so, it is this date in June that many Black Americans consider to be Independence Day and thus a cause for annual jubilation that we have titled Juneteenth. 
Three weeks ago, the Rev. Jimmie Hawkins’ 17-year-old daughter announced to her father she wouldn’t be attending seminary.
“Every time I ask you a question,” she told her father the seminary graduate, “you don’t have the answer.” 
In 2000, eight retirees led an effort to plant a new Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) congregation in the mountains of north Georgia. Today, Faith Presbyterian Church – Blue Ridge has 159 members and is one of the fastest-growing congregations in Cherokee Presbytery and the Synod of the South Atlantic. In 2019, Sunday morning worship attendance averaged 109. 
In what is believed to be a first, “Call to Worship: Liturgy, Music, Preaching, and the Arts” a quarterly journal produced by the Office of Theology & Worship, has focused an entire issue on poverty. 
The Sacramento Homeless Organizing Committee (SHOC) knows what it’s like to live on the margins.
The organizing committee, which has a longstanding relationship with the Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People, is made up of people who are formerly or currently homeless as well as supporters. 
Those attending the recent online Presbyterian Border Region Outreach conference enjoyed a 90-minute respite during a workshop given by the Rev. John Cheek and the Rev. Suzanne Malloy. 
I’m almost finished setting up my new place after moving to the Detroit area. I’ve left one task to the end, though: rebuilding the elaborate cat playground that Salsa and Queso climb when they tire of peering out onto the patio or spilling water on my desk. I’ve left it to last because the assembly instructions got thrown away a long time ago. Trying to make the right moves that will connect the pieces together, without guidance, is going to be challenging. 
Six years ago, Nohemi Cuéllar and her husband, the Rev. Dr. Gregory Cuéllar, used a tried-and-true method to launch a ministry that helps young immigrants entering the U.S. through South Texas to express their stories, their fears and even the faith that’s sustained them.