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Mission Yearbook
On the morning of August 6, 1945, at 8:15 a.m. above the city of Hiroshima, Japan, the unthinkable happened. A B-29 aircraft flew overhead, a parachute opened and then a flash, an enormous blast and then a deafening silence as a mushroom cloud of smoke, flame and destruction blotted out the sun and engulfed the landscape. The United States had deployed the world’s first atomic bomb, instantly killing over 80,000 people. Three days later, we did it again over the city of Nagasaki, killing another 40,000. These two bombings, arguably the most violent and destructive wartime acts in the course of human history, effectively ended the second World War. They also completely destroyed two cities and ended a multitude of predominantly civilian lives, tens of thousands of whom succumbed to radiation-related injuries and illness in the aftermath of the devastation.
Did you know that UKirk stands for University-Church (or kirk, a reference to our Scottish roots)? It is the name adopted in 2012 for the 200-plus PC(USA) and Cumberland Presbyterian-related collegiate ministries across the nation. The names of each ministry are as varied as the colleges that are their mission fields — UKirk or Presbyterian Campus Ministry or Presby Student Ministry or United Campus Ministry — yet what unites all of our network ministries is their passion for welcoming young adults into Christian communities of faith and practice where they can explore their faith and discern God’s call upon their lives.
One of the high points so far in my ministry within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has been participation in the development of “Glory to God: The Presbyterian Hymnal.” Although I came on board near the end of the hymn selection process, I had the honor of being involved in the preparation and introduction of this major resource of congregational song for the church.
As the Rev. Jacoba Vermaak — people call her Pastor Kobie — talks with people who have begun lining up for a week of free groceries at 5 o’clock each Monday morning, she spends a few moments listening to each person describe how they never imagined they would be standing in line for a handout. Simply put, it was beyond what they expected for themselves.
Behind the admittedly corny saying that graces many a collectable coffee mug, “Ministers never retire, but are simply put out to pastor,” there lies a grain of truth — retiring church workers face some very real challenges.
Or so the Rev. Dennis Davenport and his Christian educator wife, Emma Sue, recently discovered.
Meaningful worship doesn’t necessarily rely on the traditional Presbyterian Sunday morning centerpiece — a well-crafted and carefully-exegeted 20-minute sermon.
The Rev. Dr. Whitney and Amy Dempsey have a decorative wooden sign hanging in the hallway of their home in Colorado. It’s a Japanese proverb that they both feel summarizes the essence of the work they do: “The sun setting is no less beautiful than the sun rising.”
On a cool Arizona Sunday afternoon, mission co-workers Miriam Maldonado Escobar and the Rev. Mark Adams gathered with group of Christians on the border between Agua Prieta, Mexico, and Douglas, Arizona, for a prayer pilgrimage in solidarity with the “Not Another Foot” movement to call for an end of the massive border wall spanning the entire Southern border of the United States.
Over the past year amid a pandemic, protests and politics, I often heard many pastors, elders and mid council staff say that they are having a particularly hard time making ends meet. People aren’t giving the way they used to give. These churches and presbyteries are struggling to do more with less, and it’s the same way at the place where I currently serve, the Presbyterian Mission Agency — which has had a 40% reduction of our workforce over the past 10 years. In the end, the need is becoming greater and greater.
What started off as an initiative of the adult Sunday school class at First Presbyterian Church in Morgantown, West Virginia, has grown to a wider community-based effort now called Dismantling Racism Together.
