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Mission Yearbook
In 2004, members of Second Congregational United Church, known as SecondFirst Church since federating with First Presbyterian Church, dreamed of building a gymnasium for the community of Rockford, Illinois — and they did it.
During the Gathering as One online conference of the Presbyterian Church Camp and Conference Association (PCCCA), leaders from around the United States and Canada explored how to enhance intergenerational connections in their outdoor ministries, where everyone — young participants, adults, families and entire church communities — could learn together through a shared faith experience.
How to put an end to the killing of schoolchildren and thousands of others in Cameroon — and ways to support Cameroonians seeking asylum in other countries, including the United States — was the topic of a recent webinar attended by more than 300 people.
Beautiful wildflowers are blooming all over the place with warning signs of land mines. It speaks the reality of the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) and the Korean Peninsula. Since my wife, Jieun, and I came to Seoul, Korea, as Regional Liaisons for East Asia in 2020, we have visited the DMZ area twice: inside the Civilian Control Line and inside the DMZ.
Add the Presbytery of Milwaukee to the list of Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) mid councils and churches to help heal people by wiping away their medical debt.
In college, the Revs. Layne Bailey Brubaker and Abigail Spears Velázquez wore matching hats embroidered with the words ‘Sick & hAlarious.’ These expressions are endearing reminders of their visits with Abi’s grandmother and great aunt, who would frequently exclaim “sick” or “hAlarious” in response to one another’s stories about life in their retirement. “Abi and I picked this up from them,” Brubaker said. We always imagined ourselves in the last days of our lives, living in a retirement community, laughing, and saying everything is ‘sick’ and ‘hAlarious.’” Abi’s grandmother passed away recently, so “it is with loving gratitude that we honor her in the name of our podcast: Sick & hAlarious: A Podcast Where We Encounter God In It All.”
The Rev. Stacy Smith says she has been “surprised by joy” as she looks back at the last five years of her life.
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.
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.
