A Weekly Offerings Stewardship Blog

Remember, by choosing one (or more) of the three following gifts from the Presbyterian Giving Catalog you’ll be:

1. Helping to make a difference in lives around the globe, while …
2. Remembering a special dad who made a difference in yours … by…
3. Sending these special people a sweet treat from Cheryl’s

Earlier this year, I had a unique opportunity to spend a couple of days in Atlanta, Georgia visiting with some incredible individuals that have dedicated themselves to sharing Christ’s love with others. 

The first stop on my trip was at Columbia Theological Seminary, the hosting site of the 2014 Big Ideas Conference, an annual event for youth workers from all over the PC(USA). As part of that experience, I was able to sit down with some Presbyterian Youth Workers’ Association (PYWA) members to get a better understanding of how their organization helps to encourage and support those who, like themselves, are called into youth ministry, and how it will benefit from gifts made to this year’s Pentecost Offering. 

Louisville — Over the next couple of weeks the Presbyterian Mission Agency will begin reverse-remitting gifts made from individuals directly to the Agency from last year’s Pentecost and Peacemaking Offerings. Fifty percent of Peacemaking gifts will be split evenly between presbyteries and receiving congregations, while forty percent of Pentecost Offering gifts will be remitted back to congregations.

Mother’s Day is right around the bend and we wanted to offer you all an opportunity to show appreciation to all of the amazing moms in your life by giving a gift in their honor.

Even though most churches received One Great Hour of Sharing this past Sunday, we wanted to share one more video with you about how your gifts to this offering are making a difference, as well communicate an important point that we sometimes forget to make: although One Great Hour of Sharing comes around just once each year, the needs that are being met through your gifts are on-going. Nowhere is this more true than in the city of New Orleans whose citizens are still struggling to recover from a storm that took place nearly nine years ago.

Our group of adults and youth were ready and flexible to help anywhere during our week at Point Pleasant. We helped paint, build showers for future service teams to use, sheetrocked a garage, and helped with whatever tasks that homeowners needed. One of the most meaningful experiences for us that week was helping a couple move into their home. It was the first time they had spent the night in their home in over 9 months. Through our day spent with them cleaning and moving, we were able to hear their story and be the hands and feet of Jesus. They were just one of the families we were able to interact with. In many ways that week we got more than we gave.

Thanks to the generosity of people like you, the Presbyterian Hunger Program has been able to partner with Huerto de la Familia (The Family Garden) and other successful organizations which address hunger and poverty through food production, income generation, advocacy and other holistic programs.

Huerto de la Familia is a community-based gardening and micro-enterprise program in Oregon. It works with Latino families to connect them with each other, their community, and the earth while growing their own organic food. That’s where Roberto’s daughter learned to garden and discovered her love for broccoli.

As more families flee the violence, the Záatari refugee camp grows. It’s already the second largest refugee camp in the world where more than 3 in 5 refugees are children.

Their futures are slipping away. You can help change that When you give to One Great Hour of Sharing, you help make the world a more loving, peaceful, place.

Southminster Presbyterian in Taylor, Michigan, started a program called ‘Change for Chickens’, collecting loose change with a set goal of raising $50 so they’d be able to purchase two families of chickens from the Presbyterian Giving Catalog.