As the plates were being cleared after dinner, we remained seated in the living room of the senator who was hosting us for the night. We were at his home in eastern Equatorial Guinea after having visited several congregations of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Equatorial Guinea and the first of three community health centers built by the church’s Women’s Association with gracious assistance from a Presbyterian Women Thank Offering.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, a struggling economy along with the deteriorating effects of time and tropical weather make even basic healthcare inaccessible to the vast majority its citizens.
The Board of Pensions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is significantly expanding its commitment to environmentally responsible investing by retaining Impax Asset Management Group, a London-based investment manager that specializes in resource efficiency markets.
At a time in her life when Joan Hurlock especially needed spiritual and emotional support, she found herself drifting away from her faith community.
Hurlock, a member of Carmichael Presbyterian Church near Sacramento, California, had spent years caring for others as a public health nurse and educator. When Paul, her husband of more than 50 years, became chronically ill, she gradually shifted her focus to caring for him at home. Although well prepared for her role as caregiver, Hurlock felt overwhelmed and overburdened. But not wanting to leave her husband alone, she spent less and less time at church.
As technology and medicine keep us alive longer and longer, we face challenging questions: How do we glorify God in our last few years of life? How can we respond faithfully with failing bodies?
The second Sunday of Advent is Presbyterian AIDS Awareness Sunday and PC(USA) mission co-worker the Rev. Janet Guyer believes, as many others do, we are at a crossroads.
Since 1988, December 1 has been designated by the World Health Organization (WHO) as World AIDS Day, a time to raise awareness of the pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection. The 2016 theme is “Leadership. Commitment. Impact.”
When a mobile medical clinic arrived in the tiny village, offering free health screenings to women, they found Karine Petrosyan. Day and night, pain gripped her abdomen. Massive fibroids were silently consuming her uterus. Karine needed emergency surgery. In this remote corner of Armenia, there was little to no access to basic health care until Jinishian began the reproductive health program in 2016. Without early screenings, breast cancer is deadly, making mortality in Armenia is among the highest in the world—a devastating toll that Jinishian is determined to reverse one village at a time.
Wonderful things can happen when the church listens to its neighbors. That, according to the Rev. Dr. Melvin Lowry, was the genesis of the Belle Terrace Health and Wellness Center, now known as Medical Associates Plus, in Augusta, Georgia.
The Board of Directors for the Board of Pensions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) gathered here last week (October 26-29) for its fall meeting. New board members, approved by the 222nd General Assembly (2016) of the PC(USA), received orientation prior to committee and business sessions.
