All of us at the synod thank you for your friendship, goodwill and service. We pray the promise and joy of God's love be yours this season and always.
Gretchen, Jim, Pam, Amy, Elona, Deb
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Reminder, the synod office will be closed December 23 through January 1.
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Churches in the synod make national press
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Online giving fuels congregation's work to help immigrants
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With the help of partners, Iowa church was ready when an immigration crisis erupted
by Meredith Hines-Dochterman for the Presbyterian Foundation | Special to Presbyterian News Service
LOUISVILLE — Mount Pleasant is a community of fewer than 9,000 people. It has an idyllic town square surrounded by restaurants and local businesses, just like one would expect when picturing small-town Iowa.
That image changed on May 9, 2018, when dozens of men were seized from Mount Pleasant’s Midwest Precast Concrete plant by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
Fear was rampant across the town as a helicopter flew over the factory. Stories of high school students leaving school to check on their fathers or mothers driving to elementary schools to pick up their children were both true and false — real for some and an exaggeration for others. People were scared. They wanted answers, but officials weren’t talking. By nightfall,
First Presbyterian Church in Mount Pleasant
was crowded with individuals trying to make sense of it all.
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In part because an online giving system offered by the Presbyterian Foundation was already in place, members of First Presbyterian Church of Mount Pleasant, Iowa, were ready in May 2018 when dozens of workers at a concrete plant were seized by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. (Photo courtesy of First Presbyterian Church)
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Minnesota church fights to keep member from being deported
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Cameroon migrant believes her life is on the line
by Rick Jones | Office of the General Assembly - December 10, 2019
Mbonifor is from Cameroon where civil war continues to wreak havoc on its citizens. She came to the U.S. in 2011 to find stability for herself and her daughter. Her family that is still in
Cameroon
has been displaced by violence over the past two years.
Shortly upon arriving in Apple Valley, Mbonifor filed for asylum and had been assigned an immigration customs enforcement officer. She was allowed to live in Minnesota if she remained compliant and made all scheduled check-ins.
Shortly after her arrival, Mbonifor connected with Spirit of Life and her relationship with the church has grown ever since.
“She’s really active in the church. She serves as a deacon and has carried all of the gifts of being a deacon since day one,” said Pastor Rob Smith. “When she came to the church, one of our beloved older members was dealing with dementia. She would visit the couple, sing and pray with them. I would go visit the couple and learn that Gladys had already been there.”
Smith says Mbonifor has become not only a valued member, but a valued minister as well.
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Gladys Mbonifor (right) participates in worship with her sisters at Spirit of Life Presbyterian Church in Apple Valley, Minnesota.
—Amanda Craf
t
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Becoming and intercultural community
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Minnesota church embraces a more expansive covenant
by Andrew Davis | Special to Presbyterian News Service
SAINT PETER, Minnesota — When I think of multicultural churches, I do not necessarily think of my own — I picture congregations that reflect many different races and ethnicities. Like most Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) churches,
Union Presbyterian Church
of Saint Peter, Minnesota, is a predominantly white congregation. What does multicultural ministry mean for my rural Midwestern church community?
I believe it first entails shifting from a “Chosen People–Promised Land Model” (suggested by Steven T. Newcomb in “
Pagans in the Promised Land: Decoding the Doctrine of Christian Discovery
”) to a sense that being the church is about including everyone within God’s expansive covenant.
Union was founded by missionaries whose methods of evangelism were based on conversion techniques typical to the 19th century. The emphasis was on denying all aspects of one’s birth culture in order to convert to the traditions of Western European Christianity. Many of the Sioux understandably resisted such attempts at colonialism and conversion.
The Rev. Stephen Riggs, a founder of the church that would become Union, noted, “Preaching seems like pouring water upon a rock.”
Subsequent military and governmental injustices culminated in the
U.S.–Dakota War of 1862
and the removal of remaining Sioux peoples from their lands in south-central Minnesota.
I know this history because church members compiled a book about Union for its 150th anniversary. Telling the truth about our own history is an important first step in working for racial justice.
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The Rev. Andrew Davis is pastor of Union Presbyterian Church in Saint Peter, Minnesota. He’s pictured here during a Chapel service in the Presbyterian Center in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Tammy Warren)
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Hudson River Presbytery transfers title of former church to Sweetwater Cultural Center
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Chief Dwaine Perry of the Ramapough-Lenape Nation
and Robert Trawick, a ruling elder in Hudson River Presbytery, sign papers transferring the former Stony Point Church and all its property to the newly-created Sweetwater Cultural Center in Stony Point, New York. (Contributed photo)
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Native Americans and Presbyterians write a new chapter of their history together
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by Noelle Damico, Hudson River Presbytery | Special to Presbyterian News Service
WHITE PLAINS, New York — It was upon the communion table where, through God’s Spirit, ordinary means are transformed for extraordinary ends, that on November 20,
Hudson River Presbytery
transferred the title of the former Stony Point Church and all its property to the newly-created Sweetwater Cultural Center “to promote the education, health and welfare of indigenous or native peoples and to preserve their cultures and ceremonial practices locally, regionally, and around the Western Hemisphere.”
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“This gift is a pledge of partnership with our Native American neighbors that we will walk into God’s future together,” said Deborah Milcarek, general presbyter of Hudson River Presbytery.
“This gift has the potential to change everything,” said Chief Dwaine Perry of the
Ramapough-Lenape Nation
, the co-chair of Sweetwater Cultural center. The Ramapough-Lenape Nation’s land encompasses parts of New Jersey as well as New York, where Hudson River Presbytery is located. “We are breaking new ground when Christians take real action to make amends for the harm that has been done to Native American and Indigenous people. There are no words of wonder that can express the gratitude which I feel toward the presbytery; knowing this gift has come through a profundity of thought, giving birth to a global realization of humanity.”
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"It's a Wonderful Church" a video about Per Capita
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(Background notes to the clip, found on Pastor Ryan's Sixty Second Sermon Facebook page)
This “Sixty Second Sermon”-style video is an homage to Frank Capra’s 1946 Christmas classic “It’s A Wonderful Life.” In the film, Jimmy Stewart’s character wishes he had never been born, and the angel character uses that wish to show him how much of an impact his life really had.
As the church’s stature dwindles and resources shift, it is easy to get frustrated by the day-to-day hardships of 21st century ministry. It’s easy to forgot how vital it is to have intergenerational spaces that offer meaning, love, and belonging, how important it is to have a space that nurtures our convictions and channels them into beloved community. We can take so much for granted. Yet God has been with us since the beginning, and is with us still.
This video is a love letter to the connectional church, our community of churches holding each other up and being held accountable to the integrity of embodying God’s love and justice today, an integrity that is needed now more than ever.
Insider language alert:
- presbytery = a community of churches and leaders accountable to each other
- per capita = the fair share of funds asked of every church to support the shared expense of responsible ministry, like running background checks, having national justice advocacy offices, and creating space for all to come together and have equal voice at national gatherings.
Rev. Ryan J. Landino is the Lead Presbyter for Transformation for the 90+ Presbyterian (USA) churches of
Great Rivers Presbytery
in west and central Illinois. This video is one of approximately 100 “Sixty Second Sermon” videos as an extension of his preaching ministry.
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"Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God." Isaiah 40:1
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At the 223rd General Assembly (2018) a two-year Mental Health Initiative was adopted. Components of this initiative include:
- Mental Health Ministry Grant Program–$250,000 spread over 2019 – 2020
- Churchwide Study
- Production of Second Edition of Comfort My People: A Policy Paper on Serious Mental Illness, with Study Guide (first edition, 2008)
- Churchwide Mental Health Network
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Presbyterian pastor writes new hymn following Wednesday's impeachment
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Following Wednesday’s House of Representatives vote to impeach President Donald Trump, Presbyterian pastor and hymn writer Carolyn WInfrey Gillette wrote new lyrics to the hymn “Lead On, O King Eternal!” She calls her new hymn, “O God of All the Nations.” (Contributed photo)
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Churches, groups are free to use Gillette’s ‘O God of All the Nations’
by Mike Ferguson | Presbyterian News Service
LOUISVILLE — In the wake of Wednesday’s House of Representatives impeachment of President Donald Trump, prolific Presbyterian hymn writer
Carolyn Winfrey Gillette
has penned new lyrics to the hymn “
Lead On, O King Eternal!
” (Hymn 269 in the hymnal “Glory to God”)
Gillette, a Presbyterian pastor, grants free use to churches and groups to use her newest lyrics, which she completed early Thursday morning. She calls her newest hymn, “O God of All the Nations.”
Among the biblical references Gillette cites in her new hymn:
2 Samuel 12:1-14
, where Nathan tells David, “You are the man!” after David takes umbrage to Nathan’s story of a rich man taking a poor man’s only ewe to feed a traveler, and
Jesus’ response to the Pharisees
, who urged Jesus to get out of town because Herod wanted to kill him: “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work.’”
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O God of All the Nations
LLANGLOFFAN 7.6.7.6 D
(“Lead On, O King Eternal”; “Rejoice, Rejoice, Believers”)
O God of all the nations, your ancient prophets saw
that kings and institutions are not above the law.
Integrity is precious, and truth will one day stand;
Your way is peace and justice, and love is your command.
O God, when times are troubled, when lies are seen as truth,
When power-hungry people draw praise and not reproof,
When greed is seen as greatness, when justice is abused,
We pray that those who lead us will know what they must choose.
We pray they’ll gather wisdom and lift up high ideals,
To guide our struggling nation along a path that heals.
We pray they’ll have the vision to value each good law,
To put aside ambition, to seek the best for all.
O God of all the nations, may those who lead us see
that justice is your blessing, that truth will set us free.
Give all of us the courage to seek the nobler way,
So in this land we cherish, the good will win the day.
Biblical references: 2 Samuel 12:1-14; 1 Kings 12, 13-14, 17 & 18; 2 Kings 18-20; Matthew 14:1-12; Mark 6:14-29; Luke 9:7-9; 13:32.
Tune: Traditional Welsh melody, from Daniel Evans’ Hymnau a Thonau (Hymns and Tunes), 1865 (“Lead On, O King Eternal”; “Rejoice, Rejoice, Believers”)
Text: Copyright © December 19, 2019 by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette. All rights reserved. Permission is given for free use of this hymn.
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