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Mission Yearbook
Building a church without owning a building
Congregation from historic church transforms to new worshiping community
What could your congregation do if it didn’t have to worry about keeping up a building?
Minute for Mission: Youth in the Church and World
Vikita Sihali was a “young” young adult at the 2013 Presbyterian Youth Triennium. She serves her home presbytery, Amatola, in the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa and her home congregation as a youth leader. She shared the following words with the presbyteries of Northern New England and Boston after the Triennium:
Education changes a boy’s world
Nelson Mandela famously said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” John Matlosa, and all those who know him, would be among the first to agree.
Fostering community in an urban setting
Seven years ago, I started using the local Starbucks as a workspace to foster community through the café and arts culture in northeastern Los Angeles. This ministry, called the Coop, recently received a seed grant for 1001 New Worshiping Communities. I’m grateful for that and for what God has done to connect people to each other and to God. Over time, purposely making myself interruptible, I’ve built friendships with regulars of every age, wage and life stage. One of these people was “Selma.” Selma and her two young children had just moved into a studio apartment around the corner to escape domestic violence. Originally from Mexico and raised in the Catholic Church, Selma was now in a new neighborhood without support from family, friends or a local church. While believing in God, she was not interested in participating in any kind of religious institution. But she trusted me. And the coffee chats and neighborhood walks helped her connect to God, to a local friend and to a larger network of support.
Farminary combines theological education and sustainable agriculture
The way Nathan Stucky sees it, our journey to God begins and ends with the dirt under our feet.
Stucky, a former farmer from Kansas, is director of Princeton Theological Seminary’s 21-acre Farminary Project in Princeton, New Jersey, a place where seminarians dig deep to cultivate lessons of faith.
World Mission Café attendees extol the virtues of collaboration
At the recent World Mission Café, an event at the 222nd General Assembly (2016), mission co-workers and staff, ecumenical partners, mid council leaders and congregational representatives gathered to share stories of the joys and struggles of day-to-day mission partnership around the world.
Community Health Evangelism helps transform communities
A Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) global partner, the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus, is using Community Health Evangelism (CHE) to help transform communities in two of its 17 synods.
Church partners show strong commitment to education
Zimbabwe’s once formidable education system has been hit hard by spending cuts and economic contractions in the 21st century. Yet the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s global partners in Zimbabwe maintain a strong commitment to education as a mechanism for tackling poverty and enabling all Zimbabweans to know life in fullness.
The Lord’s Day
“So, what exactly does a chaplain do?”
It’s a question I’m often asked when I tell people that I’m a college chaplain. I don’t really have “typical” days. Like most pastors, chaplains do a little of everything. We put together programs, organize and lead worship (weddings and memorials included) and counsel students.
Unglued Church: a faithful response to church decline
When Sarah Robbins accepted her first call, at Dormont Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, she knew it would be a challenge. The church had been experiencing declining membership, deteriorating facilities and dwindling finances. While she hoped that she might bring new life to the congregation, she realized that couldn’t happen unless she talked about death and resurrection.
