basket holiday-bow

“Saying Goodbye”

Elmarie Parker

Spring 2025
Elmarie Parker
Elmarie Parker celebrating Lord's Supper in Basrah, Iraq
One of our favorite remembrances is celebrating the Lord’s Supper with the National Evangelical (Presbyterian) Church in Basrah, Iraq (2018). Pictured Left to Right Elder Dr. Zuhair Fathallah, Scott, Elmarie, Rev. Amgad Samir.

Dear friends and partners in Christ’s ministry,

It wasn’t long ago that Scott started a different letter to you with these verses from Ecclesiastes 3.

This time, I share not only verse 1 but also 3b:

There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens…
    a time to tear down and a time to build.

This seems true in many arenas of life these days—from the personal to professional, from the local contexts of our beloved partners to our national church structure and ministries, to our national context in the USA.

In a letter you recently received from me, I shared that by the end of October 2024, I would be moving to part-time in my role as PC(USA) Regional Liaison, working with our global partners in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and the Gulf States. This was part of my transition to rejoin Scott as a ministry team serving through Church @ the Park in Salem, Oregon. At the same time, by staying on part-time with PC(USA) World Mission, I hoped to be able to accompany both our global partners and you as a long-time partner in our shared work through the changes happening in our national offices through the unification process called for by our General Assembly.

scott parker with Rocko the puppet
Scott’s work with Rocko the Puppet brought smiles to so many children in Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq.

The implications of that process have unfolded quickly for PC(USA) World Mission—the ministry area through which I have been serving for the past 11 years and 9 months. By the end of March, the ministry area of World Mission will conclude and PC(USA)’s global engagement work will be continued by global ecumenical liaisons based in our Stated Clerk and Executive Director’s Office of the Interim Unified Agency (IUA). With this transition,  I will conclude my ministry as regional liaison, effective March 24.

I am deeply, deeply, deeply grateful for having had this privilege of serving with our global partners in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and the Gulf States on behalf of all of you these many years. What I have learned from our partners and the ways in which they have encouraged my own discipleship and following of Jesus will be treasures in my heart and soul for the remainder of my days. I could not have done it without you who have been faithful partners and fellow learners with me (and with us while Scott was also serving as a mission co-worker) through prayer, emails and letters, phone and zoom calls, financial support, invitations to visit your congregations and presbyteries, your generous hospitality during my stays with you, and your interest in and commitment to our partners who have long called the Middle East (or Western Asia) home. “Thank you” seems so very inadequate a word to convey all that is in my heart.

3. St. George Maronite Cathedral in downtown Beirut is one of many lit crosses
St. George Maronite Cathedral in downtown Beirut is one of many lit crosses on churches across Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq. They are a visible reminder of God’s abiding presence in these beloved lands.

I do pray and hope that your interest in and commitment to our global partners will continue. While the ministry area of World Mission is concluding, new things will emerge as the unification of our national offices continues. This new pattern of global engagement will lean more heavily on congregations, presbyteries, and partnership networks. We will be resourced by the new ecumenical global liaisons. The shape of their work will become clearer between now and July 2025.

I intend to be a pastor member of the networks I have most closely related to over the past years—the Syria Lebanon Partnership Network (SLPN) and the Iraq Partnership Network (IPN). I invite you to become active in these networks if you are not already. Through the networks you will have the opportunity to continue engaging with our global partners, hear updates on their work, and have the chance to travel to spend in-person time with them. If I may be of service to help you connect with either of these networks, you may reach me at my new email address: eparker4x@outlook.com.

For any questions about the work of the new global ecumenical liaisons and how to partner with them, please reach out to Luciano Kovacs at Luciano.Kovacs@pcusa.org.

There are several articles that have been released through the Presbyterian New Service (PNS) that further describe the changes I’ve outlined above. You may find them here:

March 28, 2025 – Financial Sustainability is a Critical Component of Changes in PC(USA) Global Engagement

March 26, 2025 – Wednesday Chapel Service Honors World Missions Life Changing Ministry

February 7, 2025 – The Shifting Patterns of Ecumenical Global Engagement

February 5, 2025 – Interim Unified Agency Announces Shift in Global Ministry Engagement

January 23, 2025 – A New Vision for Global Ministry

November 5, 2024 – Next Steps in Reimagining Global Mission

There is indeed “a time for everything.” Thank you for sharing this season of ministry and mission with me, our area office and colleagues working with partners in Europe and the Middle East, other colleagues in World Mission and across the national offices of the PC(USA), with our partners in the Middle East, and above all with Christ’s Spirit. May we all continue to be part of our Lord’s work in this world, no matter the form that work takes. For God will bring to completion this good work begun in and through us all (Philippians 1:6).

With abiding gratitude for you,

Elmarie