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