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minute for mission

Minute for Mission: Peace & Global Witness Offering/World Communion Sunday

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It was a daring prayer, all things considered, to ask the Thessalonians to pray — and it is also a daring one for us, I imagine. The second letter to the Thessalonians arrived at a time of turmoil, strife and confusion. The Christian community was experiencing persecutions so severe that some believed the time of judgment had come, while others took advantage of their doubt, spreading misinformation and sowing dissent. The letter ends with a benedictory prayer: for God’s peace to be granted at all times in all ways. It might have been daring enough to consider asking them to imagine peace at “any time,” much less at “all times,” or to imagine peace in some sort of way at all, much less in all of them. Have you ever felt so far from God’s peace that you couldn’t even imagine it?

Minute for Mission: Gifts of New Immigrants

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Rola Al Ashkar is a Presbyterian Christian from Lebanon. She grew up in a non-religious family, in a culture drenched in religion. Her parents took her and her brothers to church and Sunday school on occasions. When she had her confirmation class, she received her first Bible, and even as a teenager, she read the Bible with critical eyes, questioning parts of it and searching for answers. Her curiosity led her to regularly attend Sunday services, youth meetings and church summer camps, and through those experiences her faith grew and she found a community in the Presbyterian Synod of Syria and Lebanon.

Minute for Mission: Labor Day; A Social Creed for the 21st Century

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It seems that everywhere we turn there are “help wanted” signs displayed in merchant windows. Employers are offering enticements like higher wages, better benefits and flexible work hours, all with the hope of attracting workers to fill needed jobs. As our country moves away from COVID-19-related lockdowns and opens up again for business, many employers seem to be having a labor problem.

Minute for Mission: Native American Day

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Jesus was asked, “… And who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29) America’s history with Indigenous peoples hasn’t always been neighborly. In the past five years, the General Assembly has taken actions to change that legacy, and to be neighbors not conquerors.

Minute for Mission: Evangelism Sunday

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Rendall Memorial Presbyterian Church is a small-in-numbers yet large-in-mission, Christ-centered, aging, progressive congregation in central (Black) Harlem. Its mission is to serve those in the community through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Evangelism happens at Rendall as a “by-product” of intentional, gospel-focused ministry that is relational, personal, spiritual and missional.

Minute for Mission: Christian Formation Celebration Week

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Heading into the 2021/2022 church program year holds many questions, anxieties and hopes for new beginnings and new ways of gathering. Faith formation is the heart of our communities, and we are beginning to live into exploring how formation happens in a variety of contexts.

Minute for Mission: Presbyterian Higher Education

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These are troubling times for higher education. With the COVID-19 pandemic and racial unrest further eroding an already fragile ecosystem, the challenges facing U.S. colleges and universities continue to multiply. In times like these, alliances that help institutions of higher education understand and manage these challenges are more valuable than ever.

Minute for Mission: Day of Prayer for All Creation

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From Sept. 1 to Oct. 4, the Christian family celebrates the good gift of Creation. This global celebration began in 1989 with recognition of the Day of Prayer for Creation and is now embraced by the wide ecumenical community.

Minute for Mission: Hiroshima Day

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On the morning of August 6, 1945, at 8:15 a.m. above the city of Hiroshima, Japan, the unthinkable happened. A B-29 aircraft flew overhead, a parachute opened and then a flash, an enormous blast and then a deafening silence as a mushroom cloud of smoke, flame and destruction blotted out the sun and engulfed the landscape. The United States had deployed the world’s first atomic bomb, instantly killing over 80,000 people. Three days later, we did it again over the city of Nagasaki, killing another 40,000. These two bombings, arguably the most violent and destructive wartime acts in the course of human history, effectively ended the second World War. They also completely destroyed two cities and ended a multitude of predominantly civilian lives, tens of thousands of whom succumbed to radiation-related injuries and illness in the aftermath of the devastation.

“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” — Luke 23:42

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