“Mama O” is a survivor, a healer. Her moment of greatest need led her to Black Women’s Blueprint, a civil and human rights organization headquartered in Brooklyn, New York. Since 2008, Black Women’s Blueprint is specifically focused on the needs of Black women and girls. At 65 years of age, Mama O is among the… Read more »
March 11, 2021
OGHS: Because Healing Empowers
“Mama O” is a survivor, a healer. Her moment of greatest need led her to Black Women’s Blueprint, a civil and human rights organization headquartered in Brooklyn, New York. Since 2008, Black Women’s Blueprint is specifically focused on the needs of Black women and girls. At 65 years of age, Mama O is among the… Read more » 
By Emily Enders Odom In preparing for this year’s wildly successful Piglet Challenge, sponsored by the Presbyterian Giving Catalog in celebration of National Pig Day, March 1, I really did my homework. While it’s true that pigs get little to no respect in the Bible, they are my new heroes when it comes both to… 
Reclaiming ancestral wisdom Trinity White Plume just turned 13. Like the gardens she has newly learned to plant and tend, she is growing in extraordinary ways. Where Trinity lives on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota — roughly the size of the state of Connecticut — there is but one grocery store. Moreover,… 
By Jon Moore The secret to successful fundraising for nonprofits — including the Church — is that our work is never about funds development per se, but rather about people development. A church fundraiser’s goal is not just to generate funds, but also to help in the formation of generous disciples who give out of… 
The pandemic has stretched the Church in many ways — but we are still very much … here. Although it was surely hard at first, we have expanded our thinking, and our doing, in new and innovative ways to close the distance, and be together. We have continued to worship. We have continued to build… 
By Jessica Maudlin Phelps The Presbyterian Hunger Program strives to walk with people in moving toward sustainable personal life choices that restore and protect all of God’s children and Creation. We believe that “God’s Economy” is one of abundance for all, but in order to live within this kind of economy, our relationship to those… 
By René Myers There is a growing awareness across the PC(USA) that racism and poverty are crises that must be addressed. Thanks, in large part, to the Matthew 25 initiative, many of us are taking intentional steps to address our own complicity in perpetuating the systems that advantage some people while disadvantaging others. For that… 
Engaging the children of your congregation with the four churchwide Special Offerings has never been easier or more important, whether you are engaging them in-person or virtually. There are numerous ways children can connect with One Great Hour of Sharing (OGHS), including the engagement placemat and fish coin banks that often arrive in your standing… 
By William McConnell One of the high points so far in my ministry within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has been participation in the development of Glory to God: The Presbyterian Hymnal. Although I came on board near the end of the hymn selection process, I had the honor of being involved in the preparation and… 
By Chris Roseland Over the past year amid a pandemic, protests and politics, I often heard many pastors, elders and mid council staff say that they are having a particularly hard time making ends meet. People aren’t giving the way they used to give. These churches and presbyteries are struggling to do more with less,…