Presbyterian Mission Agency religion Archives

Minute for Mission: Gifts of New Immigrants

Posted August 25th, 2021

Rola Al Ashkar is a Presbyterian Christian from Lebanon. She grew up in a non-religious family, in a culture drenched in religion. Her parents took her and her brothers to church and Sunday school on occasions. When she had her confirmation class, she received her first Bible, and even as a teenager, she read the Bible with critical eyes, questioning parts of it and searching for answers. Her curiosity led her to regularly attend Sunday services, youth meetings and church summer camps, and through those experiences her faith grew and she found a community in the Presbyterian Synod of Syria and Lebanon.

When Americans say they believe in God, what do they mean?

Posted April 26th, 2018

A new Pew Research Center survey of more than 4,700 U.S. adults finds that one-third of Americans say they do not believe in the God of the Bible, but that they do believe there is some other higher power or spiritual force in the universe. A slim majority of Americans (56 percent) say they believe in God “as described in the Bible.” And one-in-ten do not believe in any higher power or spiritual force.

In Christ’s birthplace, olive wood artisans carry on a Holy Land tradition

Posted December 20th, 2017

Thirty years ago Bassem Giacaman, whose large extended family has lived in this town for generations, immigrated to New Zealand with his parents and siblings in search of a life far away from the turmoil of the Middle East.

International Peacemaker from Vietnam faces significant challenges

Posted October 17th, 2017

Building a church and its membership from the ground up is no small feat. Doing it in a country that persecutes members of your faith makes it doubly difficult. But the Rev. Manh Nguyen, pastor of Evangelical Community Church in Hanoi, Vietnam, continues to grow his church despite a government that frowns upon religion.