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Mission Yearbook
Satoe Soga was 11 and miserable.
She’d just moved from Taiwan to Japan with her parents, who were ordained Presbyterian ministers. Her father had been called to a Taiwanese congregation there.
Saying Palestinians have a right to demonstrate peacefully and with dignity in their decades-long conflict with Israel, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has joined more than a dozen other Christian denominations and organizations in a joint statement calling for an end to violence in the region.
The Rev. Dr. Niles Reimer is an unassuming presence in any setting, and that’s the way he likes it. For 90-year-old Reimer, a return visit in January to a town in Ethiopia was the chance to see dear friends and make new memories with generations of young Christians. His many contributions include translating the Anywaa Bible, which made it possible for the Anywaa people to read the Scriptures in their own language.
In just a few months, Presbyterian churches across the U.S. will be hosting the 2018 International Peacemakers.
This year, 10 peacemakers are expected to take part in the annual event, sponsored by the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program.
Stewardship season was in full swing at Healdsburg (California) Community Church last fall when tragedy struck. Raging wildfires in Sonoma County wiped out vast residential areas within 20 miles of the church. Every church member — even those whose own homes were safe — knew people affected by the fires.
Every March, goats hold a place of honor at Sherrill’s Ford Presbyterian Church.
Inspired by the Presbyterian Giving Catalog, the North Carolina congregation highlights how goats improve people’s lives in the developing world. Then members are invited to give toward the congregation’s collective purchase of goats through the catalog.
Presbyterian Youth Triennium (PYT) director Gina Yeager-Buckley loves the juxtaposition of the recently unveiled “Here’s my Heart” 2019 PYT theme.
The battle had begun just over a month before, on Feb. 19, 1945. In the intervening 29 days, combat had raged 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In one particularly bloody battle, the Meat Grinder, 850 Marines had lost their lives. On March 21, the time had come to commemorate the more than 6,800 who had given their lives on the American side. Nearly 20,000 Japanese draftees had defended the rough rock island of Iwo Jima. Most of them had perished.
As congregations change and traditional church buildings age, the question of what to do about buildings and property becomes paramount. Older congregations wonder if they should continue allowing the building to provide a sanctuary for the members who had sustained it. And new church development leaders must decide whether to commit to bricks and mortar or continue renting space even though the weekly setup and cleanup can siphon off energy that could be used in other ways.
Done right, service to God is not an easy task. From the beginning, the people of God struggled with the issue of faithfulness; and those who were chosen to lead them, especially the prophets, were often confounded by the worldly challenges around them and the inner challenges of disobedience within the community of God’s people.
