Make A Donation
Click Here >
Mission Yearbook
Mark Hinds remembers the effect that confirmation had on both himself and his brothers.
“In our family, it had a 30 percent success rate,” Hinds told a room full of Christian educators at the 2016 Association of Presbyterian Church Educators gathering in Chicago. “I’m still in the church; my brothers aren’t.”
As heads nodded in response to Hinds’s admission, the room hummed with questions about the efficacy and future direction of the confirmation process in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
Around 40 people, half of whom were homeless, spent a recent afternoon fishing on Monterey Bay aboard a luxury yacht.
The trip was organized by Sweaty Sheep, a PC(USA)-affiliated ministry that uses sports and games to build relationships across socioeconomic groups. The Santa Cruz chapter organized the fishing excursion.
A four-church collaboration in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, recently gave roughly 200 children an opportunity to learn about arts and science. Tippecanoe, Grace, and North Shore Presbyterian Churches joined with Hephatha Lutheran Church to sponsor Arts and Science Literacy Camp specifically for low- and middle-income families.
For the third year in a row, a group of avid cyclists between 30 and 70 years of age will take to the California roads this month to combat hunger. The Pedal for Protein ride is scheduled for September 18–22. The Presbyter of the Redwoods launched the ride two years ago to help community food pantries provide protein-rich foods to families in need.
It all began in Pittsburgh over a sandwich.
When Rev. Dr. Clinton “Clint” Cottrell, pastor and head of staff at Cypress Lake Presbyterian Church in Fort Myers, Florida, sat down in a sandwich shop during the 220th General Assembly (2012) to break bread with his Peace River Presbytery colleague, Rev. Miguel Estrada, their long-held dream took shape.
If Jessica Fitzgerald asks your church to get involved in hunger and poverty issues in your community, be prepared to say yes. No is not an answer she will accept. Fitzgerald is the Hunger Action Advocate for the Presbytery of Eastern Virginia. It’s one of many hats she wears for the presbytery.
Do churches care about working people? The Social Creed for the 21st Century says yes. Right after its adoption in 2008, for example, it was invoked to support ballot initiatives to raise the minimum wage. So how did the 33 churches in the National Council of Churches reach agreement to update the original Social Creed of 1908? The answer is threefold and gives us hope for ecumenical cooperation to advocate for working people.
Philadelphia Presbytery has hosted International Peacemakers for two consecutive years, and the impact of these visits has been profound. In 2014 the peacemaker was James Ninrew from the Presbyterian Church of South Sudan. Last year the peacemaker was Rami Al Maqdasi from Iraq. These two countries, though continents apart, have both suffered the burdens of war.
Despite its history of civil war and its current challenges with poverty and the refugee crisis, the city of Beirut remains fertile ground for those seeking wealth, status, and power. For Muslims and Christians, the cultural ethos of pride/shame places a high value on education, success, and providing for one’s family.
September 2, 2016 The pair of shiny, ankle-high boy’s boots sat in my kitchen most of that day. I’d seen Paul Sinette standing outside the gate when I left my… Read more »
