As the world struggled to recover from the ravages of a global war, churches across America bore witness to their faith in a united act of generosity that helped relieve human suffering.
The crisis demands attention.
In war-torn Yemen, 75 percent of the population lives in poverty, with 60 percent food insecure and 8.4 million people unsure of where their next meal will come from, according to United Nations statistics. By any measure the crisis is escalating quickly, with a 61 percent decline in gross domestic product per capita over the past three years and 1.25 million civil servants not being paid in the past 18 months.
When Mother Nature rages, Eden Roberts knows her phone is going to start ringing.
“They want to go to the place they saw on the news,” says the mission specialist for hosting and volunteer management for Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA). “After (Hurricane) Sandy, they all wanted to go to New Jersey where the boardwalk got torn down. Now, Mexico Beach (the Florida town where Hurricane Michael made landfall in October) — everybody wants to go to Mexico Beach.”
We’ve become accustomed to the same cycle every time a shooting makes national headlines: the shock and horror, the offers of thoughts and prayers, the demands for legislative action, and the media uproar. As Christians, how do we meaningfully engage those with whom we disagree in the debate on gun violence?
You probably wouldn’t expect to see people throwing mulch in a modern dance performance any more than you’d expect to see a modern dance performance at a migration conference.
Somewhere in the swirl of movie stars, auteurs, paparazzi and snow at this year’s Sundance Film Festival you could find the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
The almost two-century-old sanctuary of First Presbyterian Church in Wetumpka, Alabama was destroyed Saturday when a tornado struck the town, which is northeast of Montgomery.
