One Lord, one faith, one baptism (Eph. 4) — God calls us to join hands with one another, regardless of the continent or country or context in which we live.
I began reforming my understanding of mission work when I participated in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Young Adult Volunteer program after I graduated from college in 2002. I served in England, where the PC(USA)’s church partner was running an after-school program for at-risk youth. I received the most profound impression that year from the YAV orientation and all that I learned from global partners in the community in which I was immersed — namely, that I had so much more to learn about the world around me.
Mission Presbytery — 134 congregations in the southern fifth of Texas — has a lot in common with your presbytery. We’ve had some congregations merge as a way to seek survival, and others close if no other options seemed available. Also like you, we’ve lost some congregations to other denominations. We’re convinced, however, that God’s presence among us is not lessened. We believe that God still has plenty to do among the saints in South Texas. So we as a presbytery are choosing instead to “make lemonade out of our lemons” — or in more theological terms, to practice resurrection.
One of the marks of Presbyterianism is that we are a “connectional” church — that is, our congregations are connected through presbyteries that are connected to synods and to our General Assembly. In some profound ways, our “being connectional” is a way of practicing “being church” — sharing our gifts, talents and resources as well as our sorrows and pain.
Is mission a one-way street? Not to people in Denver Presbytery or the Presbytery of Zimbabwe of the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa (UPCSA). These two presbyteries have been faithful witnesses to the unity of the body of Christ for more than a decade, despite the nearly 10,000 miles between them.
Reconciliation is a sacred space where weary bodies are refreshed and troubled souls are soothed, where the roar of oppression is silenced and the calm of compassion resounds.
Today, African-American mission co-workers continue the transforming work of God’s mission, answering the call to service through Presbyterian World Mission. Leisa Wagstaff, currently serving in South Sudan, shares her personal reflection on this irresistible call. Like the mission workers who served a century before her, Leisa has found herself personally transformed. That is the essence of God’s mission.
Jesus is calling all of us to be his witnesses at home, work and every place we visit—to be his change agents and for the gospel to transform us and transform the people we are working with.
Darius and Vera Swann used their skills as educators to spread the gospel in Asia and become an important part of the Presbyterian mission legacy. Growing up in the segregated South, the Swanns’ mission service was shaped by inequities they knew firsthand. That perspective would lead them to show respect and tolerance for their interfaith students and eventually would call them back to the U.S. to seek change in the midst of our own racial division.
