Posts Categorized: Christmas Joy Offering

Rev. Forsberg: Gratitude Amidst Grief in a Season of Joy

Rev. Forsberg: Gratitude Amidst Grief in This Season of Joy In a season filled with joy that celebrates the birth of our Savior, we can forget that for some, the pain of loss and the reality of grief lingers. This year, the Christmas Joy Offering shared a Minute for Mission about Rev. Bob Forsberg, a… Read more »

Christmas Joy Gifts Bring Happy Endings After Tragedies Strike

Christmas Joy Offering Gifts Help Bring Happy Endings After Tragedies Strike From Celebration to Trauma In 2014, Elisabeth Scotland’s college graduation day turned from joy and celebration to  trauma and heartache in an instant. After receiving her diploma from Boston University, Elisabeth, along with family and friends, went to a baseball game at Fenway Park. While… Read more »

Christmas Joy Offering Helps Form PCUSA’s Future Leaders

The Christmas Joy Offering helps form future leaders of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Their student days may have been a generation apart, but both Lemuel Garcia-Arroyo and his nephew Jasiel Hernandez found the Presbyterian Pan American School (Pan Am) to be an incubator for Christian leadership in their lives. Two Generations of Students Lemuel, now… Read more »

Christmas Joy Gifts Help Ensure Dignity for Church Servant

Christmas Joy gifts help ensure dignity for a faithful church servant’s final years As an urban minister for more than 40 years, Bob Forsberg dedicated his willing hands, generous heart, and sharp mind to serving people society had cast aside. Last year however, at age 91, the mental capacity that had served this Presbyterian minister… Read more »

Minute for Mission – Monika Ruiz

Seeking safety from violence, Pan American alum found the challenge of God’s call Monika Ruiz’s vocational aspirations paint a portrait of holistic Christian commitment. This college sophomore wants to serve as a nurse in international mission, but her dreams for the future don’t stop with taking care of physical needs. Monika would like to tend… Read more »

Board of Pensions Minute for Mission – Jim Irwin

Time does not erase family’s gratitude for Board of Pensions assistance program Jim Irwin was looking forward to college graduation and medical school when he received news of his father’s death on a cold February day in 1962. Jim’s father, Rev. James Walter Irwin, had had a fatal heart attack at the age of 58…. Read more »

Minute for Mission – Mari Duran

Menaul School’s academic excellence, diversity, and values inspire achievement Mari Duran is a happy seventh grader who wants to be a judge when she grows up. Right now, however, she is enjoying life as an honor student, a cheerleader, a volleyball player, and a budding actress at the Presbyterian-related Menaul School in Albuquerque, New Mexico…. Read more »

Overcoming the challenges of limited hearing

Minute for Mission—Board of Pensions Rosie, a lovable Australian labradoodle, provides more than companionship to Rev. Wendy McAninch: She also alerts her to important sounds that Wendy is unable to hear. Wendy has been gradually losing her hearing for about 20 years and has been helped by hearing aids, but continues to experience tinnitus, a… Read more »

Follow Christ’s Lead This Advent Season

Reclaiming Advent and Christmas Every year, society expects us to celebrate the holiday season even bigger and better than years before. This year, coming together to reclaim Advent and Christmas can be both humbling and fulfilling. As we excitedly await the birth of Christ, it’s important to remember the reason for the season: the newborn… Read more »

Giving Joy

Engage your congregation in Joy Over time, we have noticed a trend here in Special Offerings: many of the stories we receive from congregations show how their young people have engaged in the life of the church through the Presbyterian Giving Catalog. The symbolic representation of PC(USA) ministries in the Giving Catalog have excited people… Read more »