A current area coordinator and a former regional liaison with Presbyterian World Mission are among the four people recently named to the board of the American Waldensian Society.
Presbyterian mission co-workers who serve 40 countries around the world are either back in the United States or are sheltering in place in their country of service.
But their work has not stopped — far from it.
Urgency filled the room. On January 19, the Rev. Jacqueline Troncoso had just been elected as moderator of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Chile (IEPCh), the first woman to hold this post. The Synod assembly had just approved a powerful pastoral letter calling on all Chilean Presbyterians to support the drafting of a new national Constitution.
In recent months, the world’s attention has focused on the Amazon rainforest, widely considered to be one of the most important lungs of planet Earth. Covering parts of nine countries in South America, this vast and incredibly diverse region both traps carbon dioxide that leads to global warming and creates the oxygen vital to many forms of life.
Over 160 years ago, Presbyterians established their first churches in Colombia. All these years later, the Presbyterian Church of Colombia is still doing important and impactful work.
Chile, considered one of the most stable countries in South America, erupted into violence this week and the Rev. Dr. Robert Brashear got an up-close view and an experience he wasn’t expecting.
A Latin America/Caribbean partner consultation held in Cartagena, Colombia, late last month marked the end of a cycle of four international consultations with global partners that will provide input for mission strategy for the 21st century.
It happens quickly, often in a single generation. Yours is the big church on the town square, the church that your family has attended for generations. Once, this church was the spiritual heart of the community. This is where people supported one another in times of crisis, remembered their roots and celebrated their joys. Once there were jobs in the town, but today young people leave to study and work in the big city. Now, on a good Sunday, 25 or 30 people gather for worship; your church struggles to survive.
El Rev. Dr. Benjamín F. Gutiérrez, quien sirvió a la Iglesia Presbiteriana como compañero de misión, junto con su esposa, Ernestina “Tina”, en Ecuador; ejerciendo como secretario asociado para el diseño de la misión, como enlace con América Latina y el Caribe, y como coordinador de área para Sudamérica, falleció el 2 de noviembre en Texas a los 87 años.
