Iona, an island off the coast of Scotland, was home to a medieval monastic community. By the early 1900s, the community was long gone, and the buildings were in ruins. George MacLeod, a pastor in a working-class dockside congregation, was frustrated by the men being sent to him for internships from the seminary. They had head smarts but were unable to connect with the men on the docks and the families in his community. So he devised a plan. During the crushing years of the Depression, MacLeod brought together unemployed tradesmen and young seminarians and sent them to rebuild the monastic quarters and the abbey chapel. Working, praying and sharing in everyday life, they rebuilt not only a historical landmark but also a spiritual community that continues to have global influence today.
The soup at Heritage Presbyterian Church in Glendale, Arizona, is a recipe for encouraging mission support. A Sunday school class composed of elementary and middle-school students generated mission interest earlier this year through a soup-making venture aimed at helping Presbyterian Mission. They assembled the ingredients, put them in jars they had labeled, and sold the mixture to the congregation. The children used the proceeds to give a pair of goats, a family of chickens, a piglet and six refugee food baskets through the Presbyterian Giving Catalog.
Four organizations working to provide leadership development for Native Americans have been selected to receive the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s 2018 Native American Leadership Fund Award. The one-time award for Native American leadership development was created by action of the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board. In total, $151,000 will be awarded to the selected organizations.
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) sent three National Response Teams (NRT) into North Carolina and South Carolina in the wake of severe flooding caused by Hurricane Florence. The teams deployed into the presbyteries of Coastal Carolina, New Harmony and New Hope to make initial damage assessments, meet with presbytery staff and pastors in the affected areas, and be a presence for those affected by the storm’s extreme rainfall amounts and wind damage. Flooding and loss of housing, particularly for those most vulnerable, are the biggest short-term concerns for residents of the impacted areas.
Many churches preach about poverty and hunger a few times a year, but Tippecanoe Presbyterian Church in Milwaukee lives out its ministries with the poor 365 days a year.
In response to the news of broad devastation by Tropical Storm Florence in North Carolina and South Carolina, Super Typhon Mangkhut in the Philippines and China along with the continuing recovery in Puerto Rico and other areas by past hurricanes, the annual meeting of Presbyterians for Earth Care (PEC)’s Steering Committee took on a renewed sense of urgency.
