Friday, May 1, 2015

Emerging from the Sacred with (More) Alleluias! A (Post) Holy Week Reflection

“He is risen!” “Alleluia! He is risen indeed!”
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            How many people are in the Presbyterian Church? If you answered, “About 1.8 million,” you failed to recognize a trick question when you saw it. According to a recent article in The Presbyterian Outlook, the number of 1.8 Presbyterians increases substantially when a full accounting is made:

The 175thanniversary of international mission by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church was celebrated in 2012. In that time, Presbyterian missionaries have planted churches, built hospitals, and started schools on every continent. The seeds sown by those missionaries have, in many places, developed into self-sustaining churches and institutions led by local Christians. Today, more than 94 million Christians around the world now belong to churches that were founded or co-founded by Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) mission workers.

If you are keeping score at home, that’s 95.8 million Presbyterians, thank you very much!

“He is risen!” “Alleluia! He is risen indeed!”

*****

            Unfortunately, funding for World Missions has fallen off dramatically such that Hunter Farrell, director of World Missions for the PCUSA, projects a $925,000 short-fall for world missionaries in 2016 and up to a $4.5 million short-fall for 2017, which would devastate our missionary corps. The causes are many and varied: the loss of members and churches, the tightening economic landscape, as well as an emphasis on home grown needs (aka “local mission”) rather than global needs. While it is significant to understand the causes, much more significant is to embrace the solutions: increased prayer, increased reflection on the ways our world missionaries make a dramatic impact for the gospel, and of course increased giving.

            You may actually know one of our PCUSA world missionaries: Leslie Vogel and Mark Adams, serving in Central America and on the Arizona-Mexico border, are two of the folks whose ministries help us impact communities with the gospel. On May 17* I will be leading a delegation of de Cristo folks to be with Mark for a Day of Prayer and Reflection, and we hope to schedule a similar opportunity for Grand Canyon folks in the near future. Mark and I both believe in world missions and are committed to increased prayer and increased reflection. By God’s grace and your church’s generosity, may there also be increased giving.

            “He is STILL risen!” “Alleluia! He is STILL risen indeed!”

Bounding in hope,

Brad Munroe


*For those interested in carpooling to the Day of Prayer and Reflection, we will leave from the Trinity Presbyterian parking lot at 7:00 a.m.  Please RSVP for the event to trisha@fronteradecristo.org.

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