As in the U.S., COVID-19 has caused a huge disruption in the lives of families in Guatemala, resulting in lives lost, jobs vanished and plans put on hold. The Western Highlands, where the Association of Mam Christian Women for Development is headquartered, has been hit especially hard because of widespread poverty and nearly nonexistent health systems. As a result, high levels of chronic malnutrition and food insecurity in rural Guatemala persist.
New Castle Presbytery has created NCPtechtalk, a new Google Group to collaborate on issues of a technical nature during this time of virtual church and beyond. The presbytery consists of 49 Presbyterian communities in Delaware and the Eastern Shore of Maryland, some fairly new and others well into their fourth century.
The mission to build a more just world is a clear one for longtime Presbyterian Mission Agency (PMA) global partner CEDEPCA (the Protestant Center for Pastoral Studies in Central America). The building blocks CEDEPCA uses include biblical and theological formation, women’s ministry, disaster assistance and intercultural encounters.
As in the U.S., COVID-19 has caused a huge disruption in the lives of families in Guatemala, resulting in lives lost, jobs vanished and plans put on hold. The Western Highlands, where the Association of Mam Christian Women for Development is headquartered, has been hit especially hard because of widespread poverty and nearly nonexistent health systems. As a result, high levels of chronic malnutrition and food insecurity in rural Guatemala persist.
The ministry of presence is important in God’s mission. Yet even when a global pandemic causes cancellation of short-term mission trips, congregations and presbyteries in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) are showing care and compassion in creative and urgently needed ways from afar.
As a scientist and science lover since he was a child, Fred Hanna has always found the disconnect between science and religion to be odd, if not utterly horrifying. Once in his early 30s he was having a conversation about dinosaurs with a Christian who told him, “Dinosaurs aren’t real. They were made up. Science made them up.”
It has been a week of mission at Manokin Presbyterian Church in Princess Anne, Maryland, along the state’s Eastern Shore. That’s because the 30-some members of this congregation, first organized in 1672, continue to stay in touch with each other, even though they have not gathered for worship since March 8 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
He drives up the Philadelphia Turnpike for his semi-annual appointment with the allergist, and sneezes. Not unusual for this time of year. Should he, a senior, be nervous? He’s not anxiety-prone, but with the advancing virus constantly in the news, how can he not have dying at the back of his mind?
“Am I as ready as I can be for whatever comes?” he ponders.
