The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has requested that all mission co-workers with the United States as home-base (United States citizens and U.S. permanent residents) return to the U.S. as recommended by the State Department. World Mission’s crisis management team is meeting seven days a week to coordinate individually with each mission co-worker in each country to determine the best course of action.
With support provided by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP)’s Synod of Zambia created a Health Department in 2016. During its first three years, the CCAP’s Health Department has focused on building and improving infrastructure, strengthening the health of women and girls and ensuring availability of preventative medicine and personnel.
Living in intentional Christian community looks different this year for Young Adult Volunteers (YAVs) in South Korea. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s two Korea YAVs — Susannah Stubbs and Amanda Kirkscey — are living in a school dormitory and a church guest house instead of the previous site model where they lived together, next door to the YAV site coordinator.
In January, we met with a representative from Faith in Community Scotland (FiCS), an organization giving refugees and asylum seekers a platform to speak about their challenges and the treatment they’ve received from the United Kingdom’s Home Office. As newcomers representing the Young Adult Volunteer program in Scotland, we were excited to learn more about migration in Glasgow and the UK. The representative began our meeting with this sobering truth: All of the invited migrants refused the invitation because of their vulnerable status. In the parishes where we accompany the Church of Scotland, we are privileged to work with organizations attempting to bridge race, class and citizenship status.
During Food Waste Weekend Sept. 6–8, clergy of all faiths are encouraged share a sermon about the growing problem of food waste and hunger in America. If this weekend is not convenient, congregations can choose any Sunday of the year to focus a sermon on food waste and hunger.
For three days, I joined other Young Adult Volunteers and a diverse group of Christians as we walked from Ghost Ranch to the Sanctuario de Chimayo, a historic church in northern New Mexico. The tiring, trying and transformative 50-mile journey through the beautiful countryside continues to color my spiritual growth. Reflecting now, more than a year later, I smile, remembering a poignant moment of the trek: when we held others in intercessional prayer.
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s ecumenical, faith-based Young Adult Volunteers (YAV) program is taking steps to embrace equity and inclusion in its recruitment and programming. As part of this endeavor, YAV teamed up with World Mission from April 30-May 3 to hold a consultation with people of color at the Ghost Ranch Education & Retreat Center in New Mexico.
While serving as a Presbyterian Young Adult Volunteer (YAV), Cherokee Adams learned about the heavy toll that human trafficking exacts from women caught in its clutches.
