Ministers of all Christian denominations can tell you about the challenges of sharing the gospel in today’s world. For those who serve God in other countries, that challenge can be even more difficult. Samuel Akhtar knows firsthand, having grown up in Pakistan.
Presbyterian churches and institutions will have the opportunity to hear firsthand accounts of what it is like to be a hometown refugee. Nora Arsenian Carmi is one of at least 15 individuals who will be visiting Presbyterian churches, mid-councils and other institutions this fall as part of the 2017 International Peacemakers.
Although she never planned it as her life’s vocation, Alla Soroka has been actively working with at-risk children since 2005. She found her passion, and her trust in God, working with teenage prisoners, children and orphans living in the streets of her native Odessa, Ukraine. She will be sharing some of her experiences this fall as a 2017 International Peacemaker.
As people around the globe observe World Water Day today, Presbyterian Mission Agency (PMA) ministries are working at home and abroad to help bring safe drinking water to the 663 million people who lack it.
While violence and fear continue to pervade war-torn Syria, Presbyterians across the United States are helping those displaced by the conflict rebuild their lives. Since the war began in 2011, at least 13.5 million people have been forced to leave their homes and seek safety in Lebanon, Jordan, Europe and the United States. The United Nations estimates 400,000 others have been killed in the conflict.
In a newly published video message, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Stated Clerk, J. Herbert Nelson II says the mission of PC(USA) related racial-ethnic schools and colleges “are more critical now, than they’ve ever been.”
As a young teenager, Monika Ruiz made a life-altering decision. The village she’d grown up in, San Fernando in the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico, was being destroyed by drug wars that included killings, violence and corruption.
When seventh grader La Brandon Spillman heard the news he was going to be able to go to Menaul School (grades 6-12), he was overjoyed. His mother, Ella Spillman, started crying.
Retired Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) pastor the Rev. Rex Wentzel wanted to stay active in the church after he left full time parish ministry. So, like many other retired clergy, he offered his service as a supply preacher for congregations when pastors were ill, on leave or on vacation. But Wentzel wasn’t in it for the money, rather he thought it was an ideal way to promote mission in the congregations he visited.
This annual special offering assists past and present church workers in need, and it provides for the education and leadership development of the PC(USA)’s future racial-ethnic leaders.
