Launched in April 2019, Matthew 25 is a bold vision and invitation to actively engage congregations in the world around them. The invitation was launched before the COVID-19 pandemic, before the social unrest in the fight for justice and before many churches realized how important they were without their buildings.
The killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, recent attacks and ridicule of people of Asian descent during the pandemic and many other horrifying examples all point out why the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) must be a Matthew 25 church, even as the coronavirus still keeps many Christians from worshiping and doing ministry in person.
The Presbyterian Women of the Presbytery of Geneva in New York’s Finger Lakes region has become the 400th congregation or group to accept the Matthew 25 invitation.
The Rev. Dr. Mark Snelling, a lifelong Presbyterian and pastor in the Seattle Presbytery, wants to see impoverished children in Mexico break out of the cycle of poverty in a wholistic and sustainable way. He is confident this is possible through education, specifically Christian education.
At a recent worship service, we read from the end of the book of Revelation. It described the beautiful vision of the New Jerusalem descending from heaven to Earth, and God coming to dwell among the people and the world God created. Listening to it read, I was struck again by the image of the tree of life on the banks of the river, producing new fruit for each of the 12 months of the year.
With roots in a historic family farm in rural Appalachia with an old-growth forest, the Rev. Dennis Testerman is deeply connected to the natural environment and the need to care for it.
The Rev. Dr. Mark Snelling, a lifelong Presbyterian and pastor in the Seattle Presbytery, wants to see impoverished children in Mexico break out of the cycle of poverty in a wholistic and sustainable way. He is confident this is possible through education, specifically Christian education.
Two men on the Mission Committee of First Presbyterian Church of Monroe, Mich., took the 2000-01 Presbyterian Planning Calendar’s “Year of the Child” theme to heart. “We ought to do something for children this year,” they said.
As Brian Frick, an associate for Christian Formation working with camp and conference ministries in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), began planning a retreat with Ghost Ranch leaders to see how they might learn from and align their work with mission initiatives of the Presbyterian Mission Agency, he began to ask questions.
