Amira Barham, a Palestinian Christian social worker, will serve as one of the PC(USA)’s 2023 International Peacemakers. She hopes to enlighten American Christians on the plight of Palestinians living under occupation.
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Office of Public Witness (OPW) says the United States and its allies are right in their resolve to hold the Russian government of Vladimir Putin accountable for violating international human rights and humanitarian law in its invasion of Ukraine.
A travel study seminar to the Philippines and Hong Kong — May 1–15, 2020 — will focus on the root causes and current challenges of forced migration and labor trafficking. The trip includes two days of travel, seven days in the Philippines and five days in Hong Kong.
Many people say a trip to the Holy Land is definitely on their “bucket list.” It’s something they want to do, plan to do, hope to do — one of these days.
The Presbyterian Peacemaking Program and World Mission have collaborated to lead a spiritual pilgrimage to the Holy Land every other year since 2014. The 2020 Mosaic of Peace Conference: Witnessing for Peace and Wholeness in a Land Called Holy is scheduled for March 15–28. Applications are being accepted online through Oct. 15, or after that should space allow.
The Presbyterian delegation visiting Israel-Palestine in March took a unique tour of Jerusalem — one that most who visit one of the most holy cities in the world seldom see.
The Stated Clerk of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has spoken out against a bill which would allow state and municipal governments to punish entities that boycott, divest or sanction Israel in support of Palestinian rights. The bill passed the United States Senate 77-23, Tuesday.
Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” Very rarely, though, do we stop and think of who these men and women are, let alone the challenges that they face, as they work to bring peace to the most turbulent places around the world. Presbyterians Today takes a look at today’s peacemakers.
While they come from different generations and different continents, Ravo Vonialiosa and Lucy Janjigian are both shaped by histories of hardship that nurture their passion for peace and justice.
They say their commitment was strengthened last year after they encountered one another through a travel study seminar sponsored by the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program, a ministry supported through gifts to the Peace & Global Witness Offering. Participants in the seminar visited Madagascar, an island nation 250 miles off Africa’s eastern coast. Due to years of unsustainable development practices and government instability, the Malagasy people suffer from poverty and malnutrition.
For Christians worldwide, a trip to the Holy Land has often been regarded as “the trip of a lifetime” — and it usually is. All too often, however, visitors and pilgrims end up running in the land where Jesus walked!
