A day ahead of celebrating the varied facets of its Matthew 25 work, First Presbyterian Church of Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, on Saturday shared some of the key people in both the congregation and the community to discuss their work and future plans with Presbyterian News Service.

As participants in Ecumenical Advocacy Days prepared to head off to meet with their congressional representatives on Thursday, a minister from the Poor People’s Campaign provided a virtual pep talk with a one-word takeaway: “Surely.”

As they prepared to lobby Capitol Hill solons Thursday about the climate crisis, food insecurity and other significant ills, Ecumenical Advocacy Days participants took in an online session on the role that climate finance can play in securing enough food for everyone.

While serving as pastor of Pleasant Hope Baptist Church in Baltimore, the Rev. Dr. Heber Brown III became concerned about the nutrition and health of some of his members. “I pastored there for 14 years and during my time, I saw many members of my church being hospitalized repeatedly for diet-related issues,” said Brown, a speaker at an Ecumenical Advocacy Days plenary on Wednesday.

In April 1942, Edith Frances Millican was authorized for medical work by the New Mexico Board of Medical Examiners. Born in 1914 in China, where her parents were stationed as missionaries, Millican devoted her life to helping others. She earned a medical degree from the Women’s Medical College of Philadelphia.

Presbyterian Mission Agency Mission co-workers the Rev. Sarah Henken and the Rev. Jed Koball led country-specific workshops Wednesday at the Ecumenical Advocacy Days virtual conference. Nearly 50 participants logged into the virtual format to hear first-person accounts, discussions, and practical solutions centering on building peace in Colombia and opposing state-sponsored violence in Peru.

A trio of panelists moderated by the Rev. Carl Horton, coordinator of the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program, took to the airwaves Wednesday morning during Ecumenical Advocacy Days to discuss “Pursuing Peace: The Impact of Militarization on Global Food Security.”

“What’s the Secret Sauce?” conference sponsored by the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s 1001 New Worshiping Communities and the New Church Development Commission of the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta welcomed more than 80 participants in a dozen languages with barbeque from three countries and a joyous worship service on Tuesday evening. Colleagues in the Office of General Assembly and the PMA’s Racial Equity & Women’s Intercultural Ministries were also partners in the event.

When it comes to addressing community problems, together is better. In this week’s OGA In Focus, Dr. Dianna Wright, director of Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations in the Office of the General Assembly, talks about the importance of working with other denominations and ecumenical partners.

It fell to a pair of longtime advocates for peace, economic security and Creation care to lay a foundation for turning swords into plowshares during Tuesday’s opening plenary of the Ecumenical Advocacy Days gathering.