New Castle Presbytery’s mission statement condenses the Matthew 25 invitation into 13 words: “Sparked by grace to transform the church for the good of the world.”
Meeting jointly all day Thursday in Baltimore, the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board and the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly will also meet separately Wednesday and Friday as both bodies take care of business items leading up to the 224th General Assembly set for June 20-27, also in Baltimore.
As she pursues a second graduate degree, Beth Truett of suburban Chicago is keen on convincing faith communities that they should partner with the United States Census Bureau as it fulfills its constitutional mandate during 2020 of counting every single resident of the United States.
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.
The Fiangonan’i Jesoa Kristy eto Madagasikara (FJKM), PC(USA)’s partner denomination in Madagascar, believes strongly in spreading the gospel and helping people improve their lives. The FJKM also believes that Christians have a responsibility to help preserve Creation. Church leaders often quote Genesis 2:15, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it” (NIV). Helping people improve their lives while helping to preserve Madagascar’s unique biodiversity is especially challenging given the extent of hunger and poverty in Madagascar and the environmental degradation threatening many species with extinction. The climate crisis is intensifying these challenges.
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 and the Hands and Feet initiative.
One of Lisa Sharon Harper’s favorite talks is her take on Matthew 25, which she shared Friday morning with the approximately 650 people attending the national gathering of the Association of Presbyterian Church Educators.
Subtly and quietly, Wednesday’s worship service in the Chapel at the Presbyterian Center took shape from a resource designed to allow Presbyterians to spend a year with Matthew’s Gospel.
As we enter the 2020s, the United States finds itself frequently looking back to the early 1970s — a similar time of harsh political polarization, with issues of race and poverty a prominent part of our conversations and a church wondering how to address them.
