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Mission Yearbook
When discussing the issue of forced migration, we see images in the U.S. of violence and economic inequality in Central America, South America and parts of the Middle East.
Urgency filled the room. On Jan. 19, the Rev. Jacqueline Troncoso had just been elected as moderator of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Chile (IEPCh), the first woman to hold this post. The synod assembly had just approved a powerful pastoral letter calling on all Chilean Presbyterians to support the drafting of a new national Constitution.
In recent months, the world’s attention has focused on the Amazon rainforest, widely considered to be one of the most important lungs of planet Earth. Covering parts of nine countries in South America, this vast and incredibly diverse region both traps carbon dioxide that leads to global warming and creates the oxygen vital to many forms of life.
The men were taken first, and then the women and children were brutalized. Witnesses saw the Euphrates run with blood, and women plunged into the river to escape the terrors of the desert march.
The Fiangonan’i Jesoa Kristy eto Madagasikara (FJKM), the PC(USA)’s partner denomination in Madagascar, believes strongly in spreading the gospel and helping people improve their lives. The FJKM also believes that Christians have a responsibility to help preserve Creation. Church leaders often quote Genesis 2:15, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it” (NIV). Helping people improve their lives while helping to preserve Madagascar’s unique biodiversity is especially challenging given the extent of hunger and poverty in Madagascar and the environmental degradation threatening many species with extinction. The climate crisis is intensifying these challenges.
On April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans — 10% of the U.S. population at the time — took to the streets, college campuses and hundreds of cities to protest environmental ignorance and demand a new way forward for our planet. That first Earth Day is credited with launching the modern environmental movement and is now recognized as the planet’s largest civic event.
Another hot and dry summer last year caused many heat-related issues and stresses for farmers in Central Europe. Plants had to be watered around the clock, just to keep them alive.
Thirty years ago, I remember we had to clean smashed insects from our car windshield practically every other day. Now we hardly have to do it at all because our insects are fewer in number, and even our bees are in danger.
Now retired after serving First Presbyterian Church of Libertyville, Illinois, the Rev. Roberta Dodds Ingersoll described during a recent workshop how congregants at First Church became more comfortable talking about their death, or that of a loved one.
Over the past few months, a group of knitters called Charity Knitters has gathered at our church each week to knit. Some knitters belong to our church and others come because they love to knit and love being part of a group that shares their common passion.
Could an elderly neighbor who can no longer drive to the grocery store be hungry? Could the family who lost everything in a fire be poor? Could the adolescent yearning to make sense of his life be thirsty for God?
