The Presbyterian Mission Agency Board took care of a bit of business Friday. But mostly board members stuck to the important business of telling those members rotating off the board after years of faithful and sometimes difficult service how much their hard work has meant to the Agency, the Church and God’s kin-dom.
From the sub-freezing temperatures of the Asheville, N.C., mountains, to the balmy streets of downtown Los Angeles, Presbyterians from coast to coast united in a spirit of extraordinary generosity to raise $149,100 toward the PC(USA)’s mission and ministry on #GivingTuesday, Nov. 30.
Against a spectacular backdrop that has inspired the likes of renowned painter Georgia O’Keeffe as well as generations of Presbyterians, the Association of Stated Clerks (ASC) and the Association of Mid Council Leaders (AMCL) gathered from Oct. 25-28 at the Ghost Ranch Education and Retreat Center for a time of refreshment, rest and renewal.
As the Church continues to adjust to the ever-changing habits and practices of pandemic life — online and hybrid worship, virtual offering plates, Zoom and “drive-by” fellowship — one thing has remained constant.
Presbyterian generosity.
“The Protestant foreign missionary project expected to make the world look more like the United States. Instead, it made the United States look more like the world.”
It is with those provocative words that David A. Hollinger opens his latest work, “Protestants Abroad: How Missionaries Tried to Change the World but Changed America,” a very interesting book that provided me with new insights into a historical role of missionaries.
Crowdsourcing existed long before the internet.
Of course, we didn’t call it that. In some instances, we called it a miracle. Consider this: What was, for you, the miracle of the Feeding of the 5,000? Was it that Jesus single-handedly fed 5,000 people with two fish and five loaves? Or was the miracle that the message of Jesus inspired an unexpected outpouring of generosity, the likes of which no one had ever seen? A level of generosity that was miraculous?
Early in my ministry, I started the practice of writing thank you notes to those church members who had fulfilled a leadership position or served in some special way. I’ll never forget the time I received a call from a member who expressed to me how surprised she was to receive a “thank you” from the church. To this day, I wish I had asked her more about why she was surprised.
As yet another Christmas has come and gone — and, along with it, the Magi from the East bearing their unique gifts — the spirit of giving that so characterizes this holy season lives on in these ever-lengthening days through the continued generosity of faithful Presbyterians.
The PC(USA)’s clarion call to be a Matthew 25 church united Presbyterians during this unrelenting season of COVID-19 and racial unrest in raising an unprecedented $150,031 toward the PC(USA)’s mission and ministry on #GivingTuesday, Dec. 1.
While tummies are still full from Thanksgiving and hearts have just begun to glow with the first candlelight of Advent, the secular calendar offers yet another important observance — #GivingTuesday.
