The national staff of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) recently heard a sermon by one of the church’s most committed and innovative practitioners of the Matthew 25 movement, the Rev. Heidi Worthen Gamble.
Panelists from the Presbytery of Giddings-Lovejoy and the Presbytery of the Pacific regaled those attending the Polity, Benefits and Mission Conference with the innovative Matthew 25 work going on in their jurisdictions — one related to affordable housing and the other to racial justice.
As well traveled and as fully versed in Presbyterian mission as he is, Tom Elander was still surprised by what he witnessed and learned at the U.S.-Mexico border last winter.
Last week I mentioned that Steve Wiebe, executive pastor of Pasadena Presbyterian Church (PPC) and I were on our way to Adelanto Detention Center to be at a court hearing for our Cameroonian friend Bertrand. We met Bertrand in November 2019, during a group visit coordinated by our Immigrant Accompaniment Organizer, Kristi van Nostran.
The root causes of migration are many. The answers are sometimes elusive. But Presbyterian World Mission, its mission co-workers and global partners are working together to find those answers.
The Reformed Calvinist Church of El Salvador (IRCES) is a unique church partner. Though small in number, it is big in vision and commitment to the gospel. Grounded in their reformed identity, they are always making time to analyze and discern their call, based on the context in which they serve. From way south of the border, our partners are watching and anticipating the direct impact of U.S. immigration policy as they turn to longtime U.S. mission partners and confidants to ask, “What are you going to do about this? How can we face this together?”
“When the church is awake, justice is done,” says the Rev. Heidi Worthen Gamble.
Gamble serves as mission catalyst for Pacific Presbytery, which worked in conjunction with a Southern California church movement called Matthew 25/Mateo 25 to secure the recent release of a Guatemalan immigrant pastor who had been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
When the Rev. Terilyn Lawson was installed on Sunday, October 23, as associate pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Great Falls, Montana—and concurrently as the first resident in the Chaplain Candidate Residency Program newly launched by the Presbyterian Council for Chaplains and Military Personnel (PCCMP)—she had to marvel at what God had done.
Los Angeles pastor explores value of community connections
Carlton Rhoden has challenging responsibilities as pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles. Longtime residents of the inner city have witnessed an exodus to the suburbs while an increase in crime, gang violence and drugs has made life difficult for those who remained behind. Still, the church takes its mission seriously: “Celebrating 110 years of God’s grace serving the community with the love of Jesus Christ.”
