Aware that educational mission played a key role in their native land’s development, members of the Korean Presbyterian Church in Fresno, California, want to strengthen Presbyterian education in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
In Zambia, most people are farmers, regardless of whether they have another profession — and this includes pastors. For the majority, the thought of zinja, or hunger season, is never far away. Many people in Zambia are smallholder, or subsistence, farmers who grow the staple crop, maize (corn), with which the mainstay of the Zambian diet, nshima, is prepared.
Having first visited South Africa in 1984, when the struggle against apartheid was reaching a crescendo, I was overjoyed to be present at the 222nd General Assembly (2016) when, after nearly a decade of study and debate, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) formally embraced the Confession of Belhar and acknowledged its profound capacity to illuminate our calling as followers of Christ.
What began as the St. Charles Avenue Branch of the First Presbyterian Church, renamed St. Charles Avenue Presbyterian Church (SCAPC) in 1920, has had a strong commitment to global ministries for more than a century.
In September, the church held a month-long celebration and produced a commemorative book to focus on past and present mission work to inspire SCAPC members to even greater efforts to serve Jesus Christ worldwide. Photographs and documents from the Presbyterian Historical Society and SCAPC’s own collection appeared on display at the church, highlighting international mission activities and projects over the years.
The National Council of Churches (NCC) will hold its 2017 Christian Unity Gathering on Nov. 8–9 at the Sheraton Hotel in Silver Spring, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C. This year’s theme is “Resilience, Resistance and Persistence.”
In many ways, the world has changed since last year’s gathering. In other ways, the same challenges face us as before. Still, the central question is: What does it mean to live as a follower of Jesus today?
Weeks after Hurricane Harvey pounded the Houston area, many emergency response teams were packing up and preparing to leave the area. But Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) was setting its sights on the long haul.
In an age of tightened budgets and more limited financial resources, congregations are understandably counting the cost to engage in mission. Supporting the work of African partner churches in areas like evangelism, poverty reduction and reconciliation does, after all, take money.
I am Veronica Soto-Feliciano, 37 years old, born and raised on a small island in the Caribbean, Puerto Rico. I come from a family that has been serving God in the PC(USA) for over 35 years. I’m one of three children in a family that loves to celebrate their happiness and failures with all the extended family.
This year Presbyterians celebrate the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s 95 Theses. The theses, which criticized the sale of indulgences by church officials, are considered the opening salvo in the Protestant Reformation — a movement that emphasized individual relationships with God and salvation through faith alone.
“If you ask people, ‘What are your problems?’ they’ll immediately expect you’re going to come in and fix them,” Attahiru told me. Facing village expectations of handouts was his No. 1 concern in moving forward with Community Health Evangelism (CHE). Attahiru is from a village of 300 in Niger, where he is a lay pastor and youth leader. He recently finished the church’s regional CHE training, which introduced 25 pastors to how they can use the CHE strategy to help their communities increase overall health, development and exposure to the gospel.
