At Wednesday’s PC(USA) chapel service, the Rev. Dr. Diane Givens Moffett offered her final sermon as president and executive director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency. She offered an honest, invigorating, and hopeful message calling on listeners to receive and bear witness to the light of Jesus, even and especially in the face of an uncertain future.
Tributes poured out, tears flowed freely and song filled the virtual and physical space as the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board (PMAB) convened in hybrid fashion on Wednesday for the second and final day of its last meeting.
“Since this is the last and final report that I will give to you,” said the Rev. Dr. Diane Givens Moffett at the opening of the final meeting of the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board on Tuesday. Moffett referenced the dissolution of her position as president and executive director and the board of the Presbyterian Mission Agency before taking “a moment to go down memory lane” and “to engage some of the work that God has accomplished through us and through the power of the Spirit at work in us as we have done this work.”
Answering the question “Who needs a heart?” was the Rev. Cindy Kohlmann’s task Thursday during the opening plenary of the 2024 Presbyterian Women Churchwide Gathering, going on through Sunday in St. Louis.
Next week’s Congo Mission Network conference, hosted by Charleston Atlantic Presbytery, finalized its schedule earlier this week and features several current and former PC(USA) mission co-workers hosting or presiding over topics important to the long-term health of education for the Congolese people. The conference’s theme is “Education for Transformation: Equipping Congolese Youth for the Future.”
Participants from across the country, representing 15 of the 16 synods of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), traveled to the Atlanta area the week of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday for the first Matthew 25 Summit. The Presbytery of Greater Atlanta, Presbytery of Baltimore and Denver Presbytery drew the greatest number of participants, but 93 of the 166 presbyteries of the PC(USA) — 56% — were represented at the Summit. The event was fully booked with a waiting list of 30 by the time it commenced on the campus of New Life Presbyterian Church in South Fulton and online.
Drawing an insightful and inspirational Matthew 25 Summit to a close with worship, the Rev. Dr. Diane Givens Moffett asked those gathered at New Life Presbyterian Church in South Fulton, Georgia, and online to “consider with me” the thrust of her sermon, “Dream Driven.”
Evaluations, next steps and planned regional gatherings following last month’s first-ever Matthew 25 Summit were among the topics for members of the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board during the second and final day of their two-day online gathering Wednesday.
“So much that was said went straight to my heart, and I am left inspired and dedicated to the work of Matthew 25 for months to come,” said Jennifer Morgan, ruling elder at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Madison, Wisconsin. “This Summit has strengthened my faith in other people, the Presbyterian Church as a whole, and our gracious, loving God!” said Morgan, who attended the Matthew 25 Summit with two other church members and a member of the staff at Covenant.
