Together with the Rev. S. Balajiedlang Khyllep, a colleague at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary’s World Mission Initiative, the Rev. Dr. Hunter Farrell has written a book to help congregations decolonize their mission outreach. Farrell, the former director of Presbyterian World Mission, was the recent guest of the Presbyterian Foundation’s the Rev. Dr. Lee Hinson-Hasty on the broadcast “Leading Theologically.” Listen to their half-hour conversation here or here.
To the psalmist’s question “How can we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?” the Rev. Ron McKinney had a ready answer during a recent online Chapel service for the national staff of the PC(USA): “How can we as Native Americans not sing our song? We are not in a foreign land. We are in our own land.”
Fourth-year medical student Akilah Hyrams isn’t a doctor quite yet. Once she does start practicing, she’ll no doubt have a long line of willing patients following her recent appearance on “A Matter of Faith: A Presby Podcast.” Listen here. Hyrams, a former Young Adult Volunteer and the daughter of a Presbyterian pastor, enters the conversation with hosts Simon Doong and the Rev. Lee Catoe at 27:25.
In 2018, commissioners to the 223rd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) voted to create a Native American & Native Alaskan Fund to take in donations. Its sole purpose is to help pay for the then-$5.2 million in needed repairs to the denomination’s 97 Native American churches.
For decades, Black Mountain Presbyterian Church in the southern end of North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains has been addressing need in its community. “It’s a place where you expect to be in service in some way or another,” says Margo Smith, a member of the church, which is one of the Presbyterian Hunger Program‘s Hunger Action Congregations.
First Presbyterian Church near Ely, Iowa, recently installed a solar array. The 26 panels will benefit the church for the next generation and beyond for the standard purpose of converting sunlight into electricity.
The story of the wise men in Matthew 2 offers us some important lessons. One lesson I glean is that God will step outside of tradition and will use anyone to accomplish God’s purposes. These men according to historical sources were of Persian descent and were highly respected people who studied the stars. They could have been either astronomers or astrologers. What is important is that they were not Jewish. They may have had some knowledge of Judaism, but they were not observers of the Jewish faith.
The Damayan Migrant Workers Association Baklas project is an organized effort to rescue Filipina women from labor trafficking and involuntary servitude. The Damayan group consists of about 800 Filipina women. They experienced labor trafficking upon immigrating to the U.S. and they wanted to help themselves and other women like them. The organization was founded in 2002 and has grown since then. The Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People awarded Damayan $85,000 for three years in 2002. In 2003, Damayan (a Filipino word that means “helping each other”) became a grassroots nonprofit organization.
“Who are humans that you are mindful of them,” the psalmist asks of the Almighty. “Mortals that you care for them?”
It’s something to think about this New Year’s Day. I too wonder why God continues to cast God’s lot with us, and with me personally. Of late, with wars and climate change and gun violence, we haven’t given God much to be excited about.
A 1001 new worshiping community is bringing new life into Woodhaven Presbyterian Church in Irving, Texas. The leader of the Ghanaian immigrant community worshiping at Woodhaven is Martin Osae, a bi-vocational pastor who works full time as an educator in Dallas. Osae is heavily involved in the community, ministering to people outside the walls of the church — so much so that he is known as the community’s pastor.
