Twenty-seven years of Saturdays, approximately 1,400 consecutive weekends of serving the “best meal in town,” is a pretty good track record of commitment. That’s how long Third Presbyterian Church in Rochester, New York, has been running its dining room ministry, a program that serves approximately 80 people each week. But that’s not enough for this 1,200-member congregation in north central New York. Their emergency food program has been similarly active for more than 20 years, and another hunger initiative, the East Avenue Grocery Run, a mere child at 9 years old, might be the most impactful program of all three.
The story of a father and mother and the sextuplets baptized at First Presbyterian Church in Richmond, Virginia, was told one Sunday morning by the Rev. Mary Kay Collins.
After planting four churches while he was a refugee living in Uganda, Prince Mundeke Mushunju naturally had an eye toward establishing a Swahili- and English-language service when he arrived in Greensboro, North Carolina, three years ago.
The Rancho Bernardo Community Presbyterian Church is one church with two identities.
Located in San Diego, the church is home to both an English- and an Arabic-speaking Middle Eastern congregation. The Rev. Dr. Mofid Wasef serves on the staff of both congregations.
Tomorrow marks the six-year anniversary of the Sandy Hook tragedy, when 26 people, including 20 first-graders, were shot and killed in their elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. Many people thought that inconceivable event would be the tipping point in our public and legislative complacency following mass shooting incidents in this country. Sadly, since then we have instead grown increasingly numb, as these events have become the “new normal” and 600,000 Americans have been killed or injured by guns in the subsequent years.
During the recent one-year anniversary celebration of On The Way Church, the Rev. Rafael Viana began to see a convergence of many things.
“Each one was necessary for us to reach this moment of great blessing,” he said. Viana arrived in Atlanta with his wife, Ivette, and their two children in February 2016.
“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” That’s how the first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights begins. The declaration was drafted in response to the calamities and barbarous acts experiences by people all over the world during World War II. This year marks the 70th anniversary of this historic document in moral consciousness that has been a beacon of hope and purpose throughout the world. The United States was instrumental in this effort, and Eleanor Roosevelt was the driving force in the drafting the document that would become the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Today marks the 30th anniversary of World AIDS Day, and Presbyterians are encouraged to participate as part of Presbyterian HIV/AIDS Awareness. This year’s theme is “Know your status.”
The Rev. Gordon Gartrell, a Presbyterian World Mission co-worker, recently received a prestigious award from the town council of Governador Mangabeira, Bahi, in northwestern Brazil, where he serves with his wife, Dorothy. Gartrell was nominated for the honor by Cronor da Costa Silva, president of the city council and a noted Roman Catholic lay leader.
Referenced in sermons from pulpits across the world, printed in fine script within Christmas cards mailed to friends and family, and exclaimed at key moments in holiday movies, the word “miracle” is heard frequently this time of year.
