It was so loud.
Sometime in the midst of shouting to a volunteer about what was next, I realized, it’s so loud.
The music was blasting from speakers that hadn’t been used for some time. The projector was purring with images of life. The kitchen was clanging with volunteers trying to get food to the table. Children were squealing as they ran around balloons and new friends. And the adults were laughing, and laughing, and laughing.
One modern form of human trafficking is the recruitment and use of child soldiers. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates that 300,000 children under age 18 are forced to engage in armed conflicts around the world. The United Nations and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) have taken strong stances against the use of child soldiers. In 2002, the UN adopted the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which aims to keep children from being recruited and used in hostilities. Countries ratifying the Protocol commit to not recruiting children under 18 for military service and to taking all possible measures to prevent such recruitment. To support the Protocol, the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations coordinates a Red Hands Campaign, in which more than 300,000 red hands have been made and delivered to world leaders to proclaim that children should not be used as soldiers.
Simon Doong has always had an interest in international life. The Beltsville, Maryland, native graduated from the College of Wooster with a major in international relations and a focus on economics, minoring in Spanish and Latin American studies.
Westminster Presbyterian Church in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is a little church with a big heart. It recently applied to be and was recognized as a Hunger Action Congregation by the Presbyterian Hunger Program. One of its hunger advocacy programs, titled Imagine No Hunger, approaches the hunger issue in a unique way — by fasting. Church members pledge to fast one meal each week and to contribute $5 to a fund affiliated with the program. Since 2009, Westminster has donated more than $56,000 to local, national and international food-related projects as a result of Imagine No Hunger.
Nobody rocked a cardigan sweater better than TV personality Fred Rogers. The beloved Presbyterian pastor hosted the nationally syndicated TV show Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood for 33 years on PBS. He began each episode by changing into his sneakers and putting on a cardigan before teaching children lessons of unconditional love and empathy as he interacted with his neighbors.
I am an immigrant and a former refugee. I came from Cuba to the United States via Spain in the late ’60s. I belong to that group of people from the “Global South’’ who began migrating to this country by the millions after the liberalization of immigration laws in 1965.
The heads of Christian churches in Zimbabwe issued a pastoral message to the nation in November, urging calm, prayer and national dialogue. The ecumenical statement was released just hours after four armored personnel carriers rolled into Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, and military officers reportedly seized control of the state broadcaster and placed 93-year-old President Robert Mugabe under house arrest.
In early 2017, Melanie Rodenbough, a lifelong Presbyterian who lives in North Carolina, learned that the FBI was beginning an investigation after an audio recording of a meeting of conservative activists near Winston-Salem revealed death threats against Muslims living in the area.
Presbyterians are known as belonging to a “thinking” denomination. Our Reformed theology emphasizes the importance of having an educated clergy and an informed laity, and we have a long tradition of involvement in education, with more than 50 Presbyterian colleges and universities.
On “Day One” of their “Hands & Feet” mission trip to St. Louis, 13 Presbyterians from southeastern Iowa spent the morning shoveling compost at an urban garden.
