Leaders from across the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) representing intercultural congregations, and the Presbyterian Intercultural Network, gathered at the Presbyterian Center in Louisville, Kentucky, last fall to talk about their call, passion and best practices for intercultural ministries. Ideas for possible initiatives were shared on how the Presbyterian Church may become an intercultural church that is truly welcoming and inclusive, and that genuinely appreciates each other’s distinctiveness and values differences.
Kristen Young will never forget the face of Diana. The expectant teen was scared and refused to smile when she came to the shelter in Peru where Young worked last year as a Presbyterian Young Adult Volunteer (YAV). As the days passed, Diana felt the warm embrace of the center staff and her somber countenance began to brighten. Young was especially moved when she saw the delight Diana took in her newborn son.
Haiti Education and Production Initiatives (HEPI) is a nonprofit organization begun in 2010 by members of the Charleston Atlantic Presbytery in South Carolina. Haiti had been a focus of the presbytery for a few years prior to 2010. HEPI’s foci are education for children and adults, and production. Creations of Hope is the production arm of HEPI.
The men were taken first, then the women and children were brutalized. Witnesses saw the Euphrates run with blood, and women plunged into the river to escape the terrors of the desert march. Armenian villages throughout the Ottoman territories of 1915 were emptied out in a systematic campaign to demean and destroy innocent victims. Although modern-day Turkey denies this genocide, historians have gathered undisputable evidence of at least a million Armenians killed and a million more dispersed from their ancient homeland.
The West End Belt-Line Farmers Market is a project by the Georgia Women in Agriculture, an Atlanta based cooperative owned network of local growers and support staff farmers. In addition to providing locally grown produce, The Georgia Women in Agriculture help facilitate an environment where community members can learn agricultural skills, food security, food production and sustainability. With a $15,000.00 grant from the National Self Development of People Committee, the group was able to create the WEB public farmers market which promotes community and capacity building as well as provide greater community access to locally grown fresh food.
Earth Care Congregation Certification is one of the many ways that the Presbyterian Hunger Program seeks to be faithful to our responsibility to care for creation. The goal of the ECC program is to inspire churches to care for God’s earth in a holistic way, through integrating earth care into all of church life.
We remember the Holocaust more than 70 years after that horror. International Holocaust Remembrance Day commemorates the Warsaw ghetto uprising, when Jewish people put up the single largest resistance of World War II as German troops entered the ghetto to deport the last of the inhabitants.
May the joy of the risen Christ be yours on this Easter Sunday! As we celebrate Christ’s victory over death, we can take delight in the hope it gives and in the new humanity that has been created. We are blessed to participate in this new way of living and bear witness to its life-changing reality.
Jesus’ concern and respect for women is evident in Scripture — and quite astonishing for the day. He healed a very ill woman on the Sabbath (Luke 13:10–17); stood by a woman accused of adultery (John 8:1–11); raised from the dead the only son of a grieving mother and widow (Luke 7:11–15); publicly recognized the extravagant gifts of the poor widow (Mark 12:41–44) and the “sinful woman” (Luke 7:36–50); gave permission to set aside domestic chores for more important matters (Luke 10:38–42); shared the message of living water with a Samaritan woman at a well (John 4:7–30); and even appeared first to women after his resurrection (Matthew 28:1–10). Despite his radical care and consideration for women in his day, in our day many girls and women struggle to find a way to thrive in a world that often disregards (sometimes violently) their right to live into God’s intended abundance.
World Day of Prayer is a global ecumenical movement led by Christian women who welcome all to join in prayer and action for peace and justice. This year, World Day of Prayer is celebrated Friday, March 2. The annual worship service is created by an invited writer country. The 2018 service was created by the World Day of Prayer Committee of Suriname. With Genesis 1:1–31 as their guiding Scripture, the women of Suriname remind us that we are all caretakers of God’s good creation. They write, “What God creates is always good! In the first five days, all that is needed is made ready until humankind is created. We are created in God’s image. We are worthy just because God loves us, but the creator holds us accountable for how we care for the environment and all the beings on earth. We can’t be careless or wasteful. It is time to seriously think about what we have done to God’s creation.”
