The local laundromat in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania, was Linda’s chapel. It was where she first shared a prayer concern that had been weighing heavily on her mind — and on her family’s heart — to say nothing of their budget. At the time, Linda was dealing with stage 4 cancer. “Since I got sick, my washer and dryer can’t handle the volume of blankets and bedding,” she confessed to the pastor and volunteers from the Presbyterian Church of Waynesboro. “And the expense of doing my laundry would have been difficult to handle without your help.” The help that had become a lifeline for Linda and other families — for whom the escalating cost of health care was threatening to drive them even deeper into poverty — was the church’s “Fresh Start: Loads of Love” laundry outreach program.
A lawyer, notary, and deaconess with more than two decades of experience in the Calvinist Reformed Church of El Salvador (IRCES) will serve as a first-time International Peacemaker next month as part of the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program’s visits to churches and faith organizations across the country.
To think about peace, about the blessing of peacemakers in the midst of war and constant threats, is very difficult. War is absolutely evil — it brings only suffering, pain, grief and injustice.
Mission co-worker Douglas Dicks traveled to the Tent of Nations on a cold, wet, foggy morning this week for a press conference and meeting with faith leaders and other dignitaries hosted by the Nassar family. Brothers Daoud and Daher Nassar were hospitalized after a vicious attack at their farm on Jan. 28.
After months of unrest in Venezuela and as the nation approaches national elections on May 20, the Synod of the Presbyterian Church of Venezuela met recently in Barquisimeto, Lara, and issued a pastoral letter that 'aligns with our understanding of the citizenship we are called to practice in this land of grace where we dwell and where the Presbyterian Church of Venezuela ministers.'
In early September, a television station in Madagascar screened a horrifying video. The clip purported to show a young Malagasy woman being tortured to death by members of the Kuwaiti household where she was a domestic worker. Although the Malagasy government later determined that the video was not from Kuwait and the victim was not Malagasy, the broadcast incited popular outrage and placed the issue of human trafficking back on Madagascar’s national agenda.
Few people are more painfully aware of the tragic consequences of trafficking than pastor Helivao Poget, the director of ministry to marginalized people (SAFFIFAA) at the Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar (FJKM), one of Presbyterian World Mission’s global partners.
In October 2010, a body bag arrived in Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar. The black vinyl bag, which had been shipped from Lebanon, contained the body of a young woman.
The Rev. Sani Nomaou as served since 2010 as president of the Evangelical Church in the Republic of Niger (ECRN). With a membership of about 8,000, the ECRN is the largest Christian denomination in a country that is 98 percent Muslim. As a prominent Christian leader, Nomaou is often a key voice the national dialogue between Christians and Muslims in Niger.
The Rev. Nicole Ashwood, based in Jamaica, serves as the education in mission secretary for the Caribbean and North America Council for Mission (CANACOM). She also serves with the World Council of Churches (WCC) as a mover for gender justice and works with the World Council of Reformed Churches (WCRC) and the Council for World Mission (CWM) on areas regarding gender-based violence.
Dr. Zuhair Fathallah is an assistant professor of plastic surgery and consulting plastic surgeon at Basrah Teaching Hospital, a councilmember and a lay pastor in the National Evangelical Presbyterian Church (NEPC).
German Zarate-Durier is director of the Office of Diaconia (mission and service) of the Presbyterian Church of Colombia, which focuses on church development and the promotion of human rights. He works with social justice organizations, especially those devoted to victims of violence, and with the Presbyterian Accompaniment Program for Peace.