Children and teens swarmed around First United Presbyterian’s churchyard, their laughter and chatter almost as loud as the buzzing of the summer mosquitoes that swarmed along with them. Poles were scattered on the grass, as were piles of shapeless pieces of neon orange nylon, black tarp and Army green canvas.
On May 22, the Way Forward Commission held its second-to-last meeting before the 2018 General Assembly convenes in St. Louis in June — using most of that time to provide updates on its ongoing work, and a sense of how it will proceed in the time it has left.
It is simply inconceivable to the hardy band of Presbyterians who are the Presbyterian Mission in Camagüey that a denomination – whether it be the Presbyterian Reformed Church in Cuba (IPRC) or the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) – would close a church because it is too small.
Though they are a small group of less than 25 in a large city – Camagüey is Cuba’s third largest city, with a population of some 300,000 – the members of the Presbyterian Mission here consider their ministry vital.
At any given weekly meal and Bible study, or monthly worship at Faith Point Fellowship in Greensboro, North Carolina, the full scope of humanity is represented.
It’s been weeks since Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano began erupting on the big island, creating a spectacle of bright lava flow and billowing ash. In its latest report, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) says the seismic levels, ground cracking and eruptions have gradually increased and several lava flows have merged.
Presbyterian church leaders continue to follow the aftermath of last Friday’s mass shooting at Santa Fe High School in the Houston area. As many as 10 people were killed and 13 wounded in the 25-minute attack. Authorities are still investigating what led the 17-year-old suspect to fire on students and faculty.
In 1993, during a study abroad program to Central America, I visited El Salvador, a small Central American nation that had just recently signed peace accords after more than a decade of violent civil war. In a unique exchange with Salvadoran youth, during a Bible study on the beach, we privileged and somewhat sheltered North American college students were interrogated about our countries’ policies and forced to reflect on our own complicity.
Funds are available for one-time awards in 2018 to be used for Native American leadership development. The Native American Leadership Fund Award was created by action of the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board.
You would never know from the joyful exuberance of the dancing children that they live in the midst of grinding poverty.
The Sancti Spiritus Presbyterian Church of the Presbyterian Reformed Church in Cuba (IPRC) established a mission in Toyos – one of the poorest neighborhoods in the town of Sancti Spiritus – to provide hope to the barrio’s hopeless.
Workers were busy Thursday morning at the Sandy Beach Women’s Cooperative in Hopkins Village, a coastal community in southeastern Belize. This was a big day, not only for the women-owned and operated restaurant, but for the country’s Departments of Agriculture and Cooperatives. The top official was paying a visit to meet with members of the Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People.