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Mission Yearbook
How would you celebrate your 50th anniversary? Last year, the Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar (FJKM), a PC(USA) partner church, promoted free HIV testing at all of the events celebrating its 50th anniversary. FJKM President Irako Andriamahazosoa Ammi was tested publicly last August. Over 40,000 people were educated about HIV and AIDS, and 2,000 were tested during six events.
In 2012, the General Assembly made a bold commitment — to create an environment within the denomination that would lead to the flourishing of the existing church and the birth of at least 1001 new communities of worship and witness. The Presbyterian Mission Agency went to work creating a system of resources to support this call to equip presbyteries, help potential leaders discern God’s call, develop a system of grants, build leadership capacity and create a network of coaches prepared to accompany a new worshiping community through all the stages of development. As a result of establishing partnerships and collaboration with other North American denominations, the reach of these resources extends far beyond the PC(USA).
With Presbyterians among its earliest and most passionate customers, the Café Justo coffee cooperative just across the border from Douglas, Arizona, grows, roasts, packages, markets, sells and ships nearly 60,000 pounds of coffee annually.
The growers themselves determine the prices they need to keep their organic coffee operations robust. While other farmers get up to 90 cents per pound currently, the 110 or so Café Justo farming families decided this year they’d receive $2.73 per pound — as well as a safety net that includes retirement pay and health care for their entire family.
He looked no more than 14 as he came forward to welcome me with a hearty handshake. Assuming he was a primary school pupil, I asked about his teacher. He responded, “Hello, ma’am. I am the teacher.” Still skeptical, I began a full-scale inquisition: How old are you? How long have you been a teacher? Which class do you teach? And finally: Are you really the teacher?
Tucson’s Southside Presbyterian Church is known for being a sanctuary church and for its joyous Sunday worship.
But its pastor, Alison Harrington, recently told a Presbyterian Mission Agency delegation that the other six days of the week are important for members and friends, too — as well as their pastor.
Three small Presbyterian congregations have combined the spirited competition of a fishing derby and the iconic One Great Hour of Sharing (OGHS) fish banks to promote giving to the churchwide offering.
Rocio Calderon kept a Presbyterian Mission Agency delegation spellbound recently just by telling her story.
Calderon, who grew up in Bolivia, was locked away in a U.S. detention center for two years even after being economically exploited by an employer. One thing that kept her going, she said, was the compassion of the Casa Mariposa Detention Visitation Program, which encouraged her through cards and visits.
As a college student, Lytisha Wyatt became greatly concerned when she learned about health inequalities in the United States.
She was especially troubled by data that showed that people of color die from illnesses linked to poor nutrition at a much higher rate than white people. Yet she was not at all surprised. People of color and people in lower-income communities are disproportionately impacted by a lack of access to healthier foods. “Nutritious food sources were not present in the community where I grew up, but they were in more affluent communities,” Wyatt said.
Drawn to the ruggedness, remoteness and greenness of rural Guatemala, Richard and Debbie Welch have, for the past six years, worked with that country’s indigenous population to build literacy and educational attainment in a country increasingly in the news because of the Trump administration’s concerns over the number of immigrants entering the United States from Central America.
We are bombarded by news in our nation and around the world of the manifold ways the rich prey on the poor, the strong oppress the weak, and racism and religious intolerance erupt in horrific acts of violence. Moreover, the leaders of nations continually conspire to create international conflict in their reach for power.
