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matthew 25 church
The Office of Public Witness is calling on Presbyterians to speak against a proposed administrative rule revision that will eliminate food assistance benefits to nearly 3 million Americans.
In a country where people are traumatized by poverty, political instability and economic decline, Rev. Lydia Neshangwe is a leader in bringing healing to those around her.
Nancy Wind, the leader of the new worshiping community Isaiah’s Table in Syracuse, New York, She recently partnered with the Matthew 25 Farm in Central New York. Its mission is to give away fresh vegetables and fruit to those in need in their neighborhood.
During her nearly nine years as pastor of Washington Shores Presbyterian Church in Orlando, Fla., the Rev. Erika Rembert Smith has placed the Great Commission at the front and center of her vision for the congregation.
Now that the church has joined the more than 70 congregations and mid councils to embrace the Matthew 25 invitation, Smith sees efforts to “make disciples of all nations” bearing fruit.
“I see Matthew 25 and the Great Commission going hand in hand,” she said. “We are trying to move beyond the walls of the church and engage the community around us — because when we do, we see the needs of the people.”
LOUISVILLE — Traci Canterbury has found a spiritual home and a willing and able partner in The Fellowship Place in Charlotte, N.C. The Fellowship Place is one of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s 1001 New Worshiping Communities and recently accepted the Matthew 25 invitation.
For 15 years, Canterbury has managed the Southern Comfort Inn, an extended-stay residence for about 300 people, including 80 children. Residents are low-income or are on a fixed income.
“They have been doing a lot of work here for the past few years, but this year they have stepped it up. They’re such a blessing to the residents here,” Canterbury said of The Fellowship Place, which has about 70 members. “They are the most generous church I have seen. They are so loving that you feel right at home.”
The Fellowship Place is in fact so welcoming, she said, that she started worshiping there in April.
“There’s a reason we have that name,” said Patricia Franks, clerk of session at The Fellowship Place. The ministry’s logo features a lower-case “t” and “p” but a capital “f.”
“That’s intentional,” she said. “It’s the fellowship and the hospitality. That’s what people always say about us.”
The Fellowship Place was a ministry placed in Charlotte’s West Corridor. But it had to move when the building it was renting was no longer available, Franks said. Now The Fellowship Place nests in another church in what Franks called “a more affluent section” of the community, but “we come back to the west side again and again for mission work.”
The partnership began four years ago when members of The Fellowship Place delivered Thanksgiving meals to Southern Comfort Inn residents. That’s grown to include drives to collect food and personal care items and help navigating the school system as well as guidance with resume preparation and help styling the hair of Southern Comfort Inn’s younger residents. That final outreach is one of the most popular services offered.
“It’s things we don’t even think about,” Franks said, adding that church members partner with stylists to offer residents haircare services. “A hairdo is way down on people’s list.”
Soon church members plan on putting on a Bible study at the Southern Comfort Inn.
“We are big on not imposing what we think people need,” Franks said. “We’ve learned we have to ask people what their needs are.” Services that came out of that ask-first approach include resume writing and help navigating the local school system for people experiencing homelessness. The Fellowship Place is also scouting out a van to purchase to transport residents who want to worship over to the church.
The Bible study will be on “a subject of interest” to residents, Franks predicted.
“Where they take you, you have to go,” she said. “I imagine they will say, ‘You know, Lord, I worked hard. I had a little bad luck and look where it has landed me. Why me, God?”
Outreach efforts made to residents of the Southern Comfort Inn come about “because we are built that way,” says The Fellowship Place pastor the Rev. Dr. Michael Robinson.
“It’s mandated by Jesus Christ, and doing mission beyond the walls of the church excites people,” he said. “It brings together the church and the community, and it introduces people to something they couldn’t do without Jesus Christ.”
“We go out of our way to welcome strangers,” he added. “People come here and tell us they can’t believe the hospitality, from the parking lot to the pew. We sow the love of Christ no matter who you are or what you’ve done. We have found the sweet spot (at the Southern Comfort Inn) because we are all the Lord’s children. We embrace that.”
When Nancy Wind, the leader of the new worshiping community Isaiah’s Table in Syracuse, N.Y., first saw the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s invitation for congregations to become Matthew 25 churches on this website, she was intrigued.
When the Rev. Kirk Perucca of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Kansas City heard Presbyterian Mission Agency president and executive director the Rev. Dr. Dianne Moffett speak about the PMA’s new Matthew 25 invitation, he got excited.
At its recent spring meeting, the Presbyterian Mission Agency board unanimously voted to increase the impact of Presbyterian Mission Agency’s Student Loan Debt Forgiveness program.
Once the website went live Monday, Olivet Presbyterian Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, a church of about 65 members, became the first church to officially accept the Matthew 25 Invitation.
“We have seen a vision for what can happen,” the Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II told the Presbyterian Mission Agency board last week, “and we are beginning to live into that possibility.”
