“Just Talk Live” kicked off Black History Month this week with an appearance by the Rev. Dr. Thomas H. Priest, Jr., president of the National Black Presbyterian Caucus.
As yet another Christmas has come and gone — and, along with it, the Magi from the East bearing their unique gifts — the spirit of giving that so characterizes this holy season lives on in these ever-lengthening days through the continued generosity of faithful Presbyterians.
As the Rev. Jacoba Vermaak — people call her Pastor Kobie — talks with people who have begun lining up for a week of free groceries at 5 o’clock each Monday morning, she spends a few moments listening to each person describe how they never imagined they would be standing in line for a handout. Simply put, it was beyond what they expected for themselves.
The Presbyterian Mission Agency Board spent most its six-hour meeting Friday discussing how the Matthew 25 vision will inform the work of the Mission Agency in the coming years. The PMA has begun a Vision Implementation Process to align its work with the three foci of the Matthew 25 invitation: building congregational vitality, dismantling structural racism and eradicating systemic poverty.
A few years after its creation, the Together We Grow Mission Garden of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Fort Myers, Florida, continues to bring a bountiful harvest to families in the Immokalee farming community.
In an ongoing effort to build gender equity, the Women’s Leadership Development and Young Women’s Ministries of the Racial Equity & Women’s Intercultural Ministries has awarded women’s ministries leadership development grants to two congregations: St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church in Beechwood, Ohio, where the Rev. Carmen Harwell is pastor, and the Seigle Avenue Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, now known as The Avenue Presbyterian Church.
Headed into next week’s Presbyterian Mission Agency Board meeting on Jan. 22, the board’s Coordinating Committee met Wednesday to learn more about a plan to better align the agency to more effectively bring about the Matthew 25 invitation with its three foci: building congregational vitality, dismantling structural racism and eradicating systemic poverty.
By way of photo submission, Presbyterians are invited to tell the world the ways their church, mid council or organization is carrying out the Matthew 25 invitation.
Matthew 25 tells us to feed the hungry, provide water to the thirsty, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, care for the sick and welcome the stranger. These basic tenants of Christianity aren’t limited to adults, though. Start with the children.
As the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for work and life became clear, it was obvious they would fundamentally change the way the Compassion, Peace & Justice (CPJ) ministries of the Presbyterian Mission Agency operated.
