A declining economy, including a possible downturn in tourism. Threats to water, agriculture, infrastructure and health — and a half-dozen other potential near-term calamities.
“Inbox zero.”
It’s a funny term, often used in professional circles to denote when one’s email inbox has zero messages. As the social media strategist for the Presbyterian Mission Agency, this is one of my most treasured dreams, but not necessarily my reality.
One of the first Presbytery of San Jose meetings the Rev. Sammie Evans attended as the new pastor at Stone Church of Willow Glen was to hear a presentation from the Rev. Dr. Kathryn Threadgill on Presbyterian Mission Agency’s Vital Congregations Initiative, which is designed to help churches live more faithfully as disciples of Jesus Christ.
She arrived in Italy on Feb. 4, 2016. Of the flight that brought her and her husband and their two small children from Beirut to Rome, she remembers only the emotions she felt on the plane, and the flowers and hugs they got when they landed.
The Rev. Paula Cooper describes her leadership style as one that “deliberately works toward developing a culture that values a collaboration of God’s people and their gifts for ministry.” And now she has answered God’s call to help the people of East Central Africa do just that.
In 2017, when representatives from the United Nations toured the Black Belt of Alabama, one commented that the poverty there was unlike any he had seen in the First World. This area across the southern half of Alabama, once famous for its antebellum cotton production, is now well known for its difficult living conditions. These conditions disproportionately affect the African-American descendants of enslaved labor. Yet, many of these black residents also inherited an indomitable work ethic and have made incredible strides for themselves and their children.
For most of last year, I had a lot of health challenges. Surgery, complications from surgery, adverse reactions to medications, and more emergency room visits than I can remember had been an unfortunate fact of life for us as a family. When we’d go to the emergency room, I was always prepared for, yet staggered by, a question the triage nurses are required to ask of everyone: “Are you safe at home?”
Members of the group Knitting for Mission at Sewickley Presbyterian Church outside Pittsburgh meet Thursday afternoons to transform leftover yarn into personal medicine bags and dolls, which a member personally delivers each summer to a medical mission in Honduras.
Individuals and organizations whose written materials and photos can help tell the historical stories of LGBTQIA+ advocates in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) are invited to consider contributing those materials to the Pam Byers Memorial Collecting Initiative, sponsored by the Presbyterian Historical Society (PHS). In October the PHS announced the public phase of the initiative. Financial support for the project has been raised through the Pam Byers Memorial Fund.
How do you preach stewardship to a congregation that’s about to leave the church? In a nutshell, that’s what the writer of Hebrews is trying to do. Hebrews is a long way from the initial excitement, enthusiasm, and the explosive birth and growth of the church recorded in the first chapters of Acts.
