On the day PC(USA) member Francis Ntowe’s sister was buried, there were six other funerals in her small community in Cameroon. “One of them was a pastor, and all of them had died from HIV/AIDS,” he said. “Every single one.”
Phares Nyaga Mithamo, an ordained Elder of the Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA), will speak to U.S. congregations and organizations this fall as part of the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program’s 2017 International Peacemakers series.
The chickens were definitely “free range,” wandering all over the small yard around the modest home of one of our orphan children in the PCEA Njoro/New York Avenue Church Partnership. There were more chickens in two separate chicken coops too! How exciting that this auntie with five children in the household, including HIV-positive orphan Dennis, has income outside the 200 shillings, or $2, for a day’s work of baking and selling mandazi!
As a professor of music and worship at the Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC) in Atlanta, she shared the music of the world with future pastors and others. Melva, now retired, brought this passion to her work as a member of the committee that produced the first hymnal of the newly reunited Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
The 2016 International Peacemakers are finishing up their visits to U.S. churches, colleges and communities. Seven of the speakers gathered this week at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary to debrief with staff. During its day-long gathering, the group shared their experiences, hopes and recommendations for future meetings.
Something is calling you, but you cannot see it. It leads you to a path and you follow it, until you come across a forest. You step to the edge and see nothing inside. It is neither dark nor light, but simply foggy. It is neither menacing nor inviting, simply mysterious. It is a path into the unknown. But something is pulling you toward it—something inside you that wants to keep going. And as you try to see where the path leads, you realize that the only way to know is to follow the trail and see where it goes.
As the organizer and secretary of the Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA) National Woman’s Guild, she’s working to change the perception about women in East Africa.
Presbyterian mission co-worker Leisa Wagstaff has been safely evacuated from South Sudan. Wagstaff left early Wednesday morning (EDT) on a Mission Aviation Fellowship flight to Kenya. There is no timeframe for her return to South Sudan, but she has made clear her desire to go back and finish the important work with the Presbyterian Church of South Sudan she started nearly three years ago.
While state and national government leaders debate on the acceptance of refugee families, Weisiger says it didn’t take long for her church and five others to begin work to resettle families in their community. Community connections were made as a result of peacemaker visits that have enabled the church to continue engaging in the work of peacemaking in their own backyard. The Peacemaking Program connected the church not just to the wider church, but to refugee resettlement agencies and interfaith organizations engaged in peacemaking in the heart of Philadelphia.
The Presbytery of the Northern Plains encourages connection, mission and input from our congregations. Activities within each region have been as varied as the people in our presbytery. We have had educational and training sessions, family camping weekends, ice skating outings and many other activities to cover a multitude of interests.
