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Mission Yearbook
Humble beginnings yield impressive results for Earth Care Congregation
Nearly three years ago, Fellowship Presbyterian Church (FPC) in Huntsville, Alabama, launched its witness for environmental conservation by simply changing its lightbulbs. Since then, FPC has greatly expanded its environmental ministries, becoming a PC(USA) Earth Care Congregation and organizing a food distribution community program to complement its environmental commitment. As PC(USA) Associate for Environmental Ministries Rebecca Barnes says, “We recognize that earth care ministries do well to encompass issues of poverty and hunger alleviation, peacemaking, and more. Caring for all in God’s creation includes social justice.”
Shoe Drive Helps Congregation Make Strides to End Hunger
How can shoes help fight hunger? After participating in a Stop Hunger Now meal-packing event at the New Wilmington Mission Conference, Judy Koontz wanted to host an event like that in Redstone Presbytery. But to do that, $10,000 was needed. So the question arose: How do you raise that much money when so many churches are struggling to meet their own budgets?
First Thai-Laotian Church receives 2016 Walton Award for new church excellence
First Thai-Laotian Presbyterian Church is the sole recipient of the 2016 Sam and Helen R. Walton Award of $50,000. First Thai-Laotian began in 2002 with 15 people who wanted to reach the estimated 15,000 Thai and Laotian persons living in Las Vegas. The majority of the first generation of the immigrants attended Buddhist temples, but due to the language barrier the younger generations had begun to drift from the faith of their parents.
Women’s Space: ministry for the marginalized
In Minneapolis, Kwanzaa Community Church’s Northside Women’s Space is reaching some of the most marginalized people in the community—women and children who are facing homelessness and precarious housing, poverty and unemployment, and those struggling to break the chains of sexual exploitation, prostitution and sex trafficking.
Congregation, partners seek to meet multifaceted needs of the homeless
Serving those living outside is nothing new for Calvary Presbyterian Church in Riverside, California. The church has a history of feeding homeless guests since 1985. For more than 30 years the congregation of Calvary, with support from the community, has provided a healthy and balanced meal every Sunday night to people living outside and others in need. And volunteers from Victoria Presbyterian Church in Riverside bake fresh desserts for Calvary’s guests. In 2015, the church served over 7,000 meals and has served more than 35,000 since 2011.
Milwaukee church addresses homelessness with ‘Divine Intervention’
“Once you open the door of possibility, things happen,” says Karen Hagen, pastor of Tippecanoe Presbyterian Church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Things really began to happen for this 51-member congregation when they decided to open their church doors in response to the needs of homeless people in their city.
Active Life
In 2006, Wayne Presbyterian Church, a midsized church in Wooster, Ohio, started looking at how we could make ourselves more inviting for other members of the community. To start, we did a needs survey of the congregation. One of the top five priorities, according to the survey, was to increase accessibility for those with disabilities. The last major renovation, in 1957, had not provided such accessibility to the sanctuary; there were steps at every entrance.
Church partnership leads to successful tutoring program in Kentucky community
Yvonne and José moved with their parents to Shelbyville, Kentucky, from Central America when they were second graders. Their parents were looking for work in the agricultural and horse industry but wanted to ensure that their children received a quality education, recognizing that the language barrier could present challenges.
Congregation inspired by peacemaker visits
For Ivyland Presbyterian Church, the Middle East was something many members had simply read about or seen on the news. There were no personal connections to the refugee crisis or to displacement of Christians overseas. Members weren’t connected to the trials and tribulations facing people in war-torn regions.
Muslims and Christians commit to living ‘together in peace’
At a time when Christian-Muslim relations are discussed daily in nearly every corner of the world, Niger in West Africa remains one of the best examples of mutual respect and peaceful coexistence between the two faiths.
