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Mission Yearbook
Kathryn Urban spent her spring break with the United Nations and the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) as part of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) delegation. She learned about the challenges women face around the world and spent her nights in a hostel several blocks away.
Giving generously is something the Rev. Kerry Slinkard makes a point of practicing as well as preaching. “It’s a response to
God’s blessing,” he says, “an acknowledgment of our responsibility to those around us.”
Mangos taste so good that many consider them the world’s best fruit. But they have more qualities than flavor alone. The mango is one of the few tropical fruits that grows well on low-fertility soils and where there is a long dry season. Mangos are sold in local markets throughout the tropical world but can also be processed into dried fruit, drinks, pickles and chutney. Mango wood burns well and makes good charcoal.
Two years ago, I collaborated with colleagues and friends to develop an experimental, art-making, spirit-stirring, imagination space called Creation Lab. We believed that the church needed spaces set aside for creativity and trying new things — a research and design space, if you will.
My husband and I had been married for three years when we had our first child. We learned quickly that even though we loved our daughter deeply, kids are disruptive and expensive. The change to our family meant learning to live on less sleep and smaller income. It meant figuring out who would do midnight feedings and make sure there were clean diapers. Once our daughter started crawling, it meant rearranging everything so that it wouldn’t be destroyed by a curious, free-range toddler.
Members of the Fumbisi congregation of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana recently expressed their generosity in big bundles: two large farm sacks filled with fresh peanuts.
They sold the peanuts in the local marketplace and donated the $65 they received to the sending and support of Presbyterian mission co-worker Josh Heikkila.
Webster Presbyterian Church, just a few miles southeast of Houston on NASA Parkway, has been called “the astronauts’ church.” Just a stone’s throw from the Johnson Space Center, the church has become the preferred house of worship for astronauts, engineers and other employees at the center.
Today marks three years since the first of two powerful earthquakes rocked the country of Nepal, leaving thousands dead or homeless and millions in need of humanitarian assistance. Recently, Luke Asikoye, international associate with Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA), traveled to the country to assess recovery efforts and talk with survivors.
The men were taken first, 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. Armenian villages throughout the Ottoman territories of 1915 were emptied out in a systematic campaign to demean and destroy innocent victims. Although modern-day Turkey denies this genocide, historians have gathered undisputable evidence of at least a million Armenians killed and a million more dispersed from their ancient homeland.
The questions come in the darkness, usually around 3 a.m.
“What will my children’s lives be like without me?” wonders Farm Church co-founder Ben Johnston-Krase.
