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Matthew 25
In Durham, N.C., downtown revitalization will soon get a collaborative kickstart through the construction of hundreds of units of affordable housing, which city and county officials agree is a growing need in the community.
The Vision 2020 Team is using every tool and upcoming event at its disposal to remind Presbyterians that the team’s guiding statement for the denomination matches the PC(USA) acronym: God calls the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to be Prayerful, Courageous, United, Serving and Alive.
A few years back, the 130 or so members of First Presbyterian Church of South Lyon, Michigan, decided to turn their focus outward into their community about 40 miles west of Detroit.
Nearly 30 years ago, 25 residents of North Scottsdale, Ariz., attended a worship service at what would grow to become Pinnacle Presbyterian Church, a congregation of more than 1,400 in the Presbytery of Grand Canyon.
Next week, First Presbyterian Church of Succasunna is putting on a mission trip for the youth of the church without leaving the cozy confines of this unincorporated community in northern New Jersey.
Ft. Caroline Presbyterian Church, which I serve as interim pastor, is 60 years old and has long passed its “glory days.” It’s in the Arlington area in Jacksonville, Florida, a neighborhood in the midst of transition. When I arrived nearly four years ago as the part-time ecumenical pastor, we were worshiping alongside about 20 people. We have only two couples in their 50s; most worshipers are 70-98 years of age.
Second Presbyterian Church in Albuquerque, N.M., the 100th church to accept the Matthew 25 invitation, is a bilingual and multicultural church that, among many other outreach services, provides transitional housing to transgender women seeking asylum in the U.S.
Theologian Emil Brunner famously stated, “The church exists by mission, just as fire exists by burning.” This didn’t quite sink in until I heard Darrell Guder, former dean and missiologist at Princeton Theological Seminary, put it more clearly for me: “The church does not exist primarily for the benefit of its own members. Instead, it exists for the benefit of those outside its walls.”
John Etheredge has answered God’s call to become a long-term volunteer serving with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Ghana.
Last summer, I received a call to join Olympia Presbytery in planting a new worshiping community, Hagar’s Community Church, at the Washington Corrections Center for Women (WCCW) — the largest women’s prison in Washington state.
