“We were blessed with a $100,000 gift from a donor who wished to remain anonymous,” said Rachel Yates, executive presbyter of the Presbytery of Milwaukee. “The donor wanted every congregation — no matter its size — to have $2,000 for mission.”
The online Matthew 25 series continues in 2021 with the next event scheduled for 2p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, March 24. The topic is how all three areas of the Matthew 25 vision — building congregational vitality, dismantling structural racism and eradicating systemic poverty — intersect around the subject of housing.
As the Rev. Jacoba Vermaak — people call her Pastor Kobie — talks with people who have begun lining up for a week of free groceries at 5 o’clock each Monday morning, she spends a few moments listening to each person describe how they never imagined they would be standing in line for a handout. Simply put, it was beyond what they expected for themselves.
As June turned to July, Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles needed a place to store food.
Its direct food service to people in need had skyrocketed from 120 households a week before the COVID-19 pandemic to more than 2,000 a week as the virus staged a resurgence in California that has resulted in it being the state with the most coronavirus infections in the country. Immanuel, in L.A.’s Mid-Wilshire/Koreatown area, was running out of space to keep food – at one point jerry-rigging cooling ducts in a hallway to create improvised, temporary cold storage. Then church leaders cast their eyes on its Westminster Chapel.
The Rev. Dr. Mindy Douglas had her heart set on studying biology followed by a career as a geneticist when she entered college. But, as she says, “God did a little God thing,” and she was called into ministry.
Evelyn Baker and her husband, Gareth, decided that they’d worked long enough. At age 62, Gareth Baker retired from his job as a Presbyterian pastor and the two of them set off on an adventurous retirement, camping around the country and living in their RV full time. However, after four years they were ready to settle down again. The question was, where?
Next to the entrance of Lucy Janjigian’s apartment is a drawing that her granddaughter made. It depicts Janjigian, her granddaughter and the words “My grandmother helps orphans in Armenia. She inspires me to help other people.” Her granddaughter has pigtails. Janjigian has a superhero cape. In real life, Janjigian is a bit of a superhero.
