Jim Ferguson of Calvary Presbyterian Church in Newburgh, New York was recently checking out a do-it-yourself project on YouTube. Nothing unusual for him, since he is a long-time volunteer with the Habitat for Humanity PresbyBuild group in Hudson River Presbytery. The group is currently working on its 10th house and has raised almost enough funds for house 11.
In a year like no other, five faith communities in southeastern Minnesota have worked together to clear more than $2 million in medical debt for 1,057 households in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
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.
On World Communion Sunday (Oct. 6), members of Temple Terrace Presbyterian Church (TTPC) in Florida will lift a loaf of bread from a country where they have lived and recite the words of institution in the language of that country — Arabic, German, Spanish, Greek, Tamil and others.
While many 21-year olds are escaping the pressure of college courses on a beach during spring break, Kathryn Urban decided to head for the United Nations and the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) as part of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) delegation. During the day she is learning about the challenges women face around the world and she’s spending her nights in a hostel several blocks away.
Today’s heroes don’t wear power suits, fly in on fancy jets or have superpowers. The real heroes of today are the people on the street helping people who are poor, connecting communities, and risking arrest in protest of oppressive systems. Oftentimes these heroes are women who work every day to make the world a better place for themselves and their children. That was the message Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis brought to the Commission on the Status of Women at the United Nations.
There is a farm in New York state with a goal to feed people living in “Food Apartheid” neighborhoods, a term they use to describe areas with little or no access to fresh, healthy food. Soul Fire Farm was started in 2011 thanks to a group of committed individuals who believe everyone, regardless of race or background, should eat healthily.
In an age of tightened budgets and limited financial resources, congregations are understandably counting the cost to engage in mission. Supporting the work of African partner churches in areas like evangelism, poverty reduction and reconciliation does, after all, take money.
Simon Doong has always had an interest in international life. The Beltsville, Maryland native graduated from the College of Wooster with a major in International Relations and a focus on economics, minoring in Spanish and Latin American studies.
On Thursday, April 20, at noon EDT on the PC(USA)’s Facebook page, as part of its “Third Thursdays” series, ruling elder Rick Ufford-Chase, the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s associate for interfaith formation and co-director of the PC(USA)’s Stony Point Center, welcomed as his dialogue partners Chief Dwaine Perry and Two Clouds, both of the Ramapough Lunaape Nation, which is located about thirty miles northwest of New York City in the Ramapough Mountains.
