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madison mckinney
Wednesday, the first of three days of online meetings for the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board, began with worship and ended with a devotion. In between, board members heard reports, held fearless dialogues with the Rev. Dr. Gregory Ellison and team, and celebrated the work and ministry of James Rissler, the president and CEO of the Presbyterian Investment and Loan Program (PILP), who is retiring at the end of the year.
Each year as May 5 approaches, which is the National Day of Awareness & Action for Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls & Two-Spirit People, Madison McKinney feels what she called on Wednesday “a heavy burden in my heart.”
The Rev. Jeromey Howard, who serves First Presbyterian Church in Montgomery, New York, started the third and final day of Presbyterian Mission Agency Board meetings Friday with a brief devotion taken from Micah 6:8.
Four out of five indigenous women experience violence in their lifetimes. Indigenous women face the highest rates of going missing or being murdered. In some areas, the rate is 10 times the national average.
Since 2017, grassroots actions on May 5 to honor and call for justice for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls (MMIWG) have increasingly grown at the local, regional, national and international level.
Young adults with a desire to see the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) move forward say they’re running up against a wall when they try to approach older members about sensitive issues, such as institutional racism and bias against queer people.
The Rev. Michelle Hwang has been out to protest against police brutality and systemic racism in the Chicago area, been inspired by the diversity she sees in the crowd, and comes back home thinking about the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
For the Presbyterian Mission Agency, 2019 will go down as the year the Matthew 25 invitation was extended and embraced by dozens of mid councils and thousands of congregations.
Women are playing increasingly pivotal roles at every level in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). From moderators, to heads of agencies, stated clerks at the middle governing body level to synod and presbytery executives and pastors, women are at the forefront. And not to be excluded from this wave of women leadership are Native American women.
For Madison McKinney, attending the 63rd session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women was an “incredible experience.”
“To hear all of the different languages and to meet people from all over the world was a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” she said.
