Resources for Sunday

May Week 1 — MALAWI: Theological training

Our gifts to Presbyterians Sharing support Todd Statham as he teaches church history and theology at Zomba Theological College, the CCAP’s seminary. The college trains ministers and their spouses to serve churches in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Todd writes, “The college is in a time of restructuring and re-visioning. Money is short and resources are stretched. But the classrooms are crammed with students, professors are enthusiastic and devoted, and the CCAP is growing and vibrant!” Let us pray for Todd, his wife Annika and their two children, Sophia and Mio, as they serve God in Malawi.

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May Week 2 — CANADA: Ministering in remote regions

Our gifts to Presbyterians Sharing support Cariboo Presbyterian Church, which serves 87,000 square kilometres of central British Columbia. Rev. David Webber’s passion for rural ministry led him to develop a house church model in this vast Cariboo region. Anne, a member of the house church in Punchaw, shares: “We always went to church, but when we came up here we were 90 km from town. Now we have our own church. It’s meant a lot to us.” Let us pray for the house churches in the Cariboo as they reach out to people in areas not served by conventional churches.

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May Week 3 — MISSION TRIP: Taiwan

Our gifts to Presbyterians Sharing help connect people in Canada with long-term mission partners. In November 2011, 11 people from across Canada travelled to see first-hand the mission work of The Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (PCT). Journeying through Taiwan from north to south, the group visited theological colleges, hospitals, schools and churches of the PCT. Everywhere they went they heard stories of deep faith and experienced incredible hospitality and generosity. PCC leader Heather Chappell says, “It is good to find a place to call home on the other side of the world. Thanks be to God for this amazing and humbling experience.” Let us pray for our partner church in Taiwan as it is a living example of God’s grace.

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May Week 4 — CANADA: Hope for the future

Our gifts to Presbyterians Sharing provide hope and grace through Winnipeg Inner City Missions. Director Margaret Mullin writes, “Your gifts to Presbyterians Sharing are invested in the lives of the people we met every day. Your prayers positively affect their lives and strengthen us for the task at hand. Through your generosity, you are giving people hope for the future; you have helped many families in crisis; and you have been there for many children, youth and adults in desperate human need.” Let us pray for WICM’s dedicated staff and for the people they faithfully and lovingly serve

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June Week 1 — CANADA: Strengthening families through play

The Stonegate neighbourhood in Etobicoke, Ontario is comprised of a number of low-rise apartment buildings. Over half of the children in this community come from low-income families. Our gifts to Presbyterians Sharing help Stonegate Community Ecumenical Ministry reach out to build a stronger, kinder and more just community. Their popular initiative “Lasting Family Connections” strengthens and supports the development of healthy and lasting relationships between parents and their children. Play therapy workshops let families have fun, meet new people, and learn new ways of interacting – creating healthy bonds that will last throughout a lifetime! Let us pray for Stonegate Ministry as it works to strengthen families.

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June Week 2 — CANADA: Reaching out through a common language

Our gifts to Presbyterians Sharing help to create new ministries like Almanarah Ministry in Hamilton, Ontario. This fledgling ministry, currently worshiping in the chapel of St. John & St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, reaches out to people from different countries and backgrounds who share in a common language, Arabic. In addition to weekly worship services, members go out to various cities in the presbytery to teach, preach and help people in need. Let us pray for new congregations in Canada, and for Almanarah Ministry as it reaches out so that Arabic speaking people may worship in their own language.

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June Week 3 — UKRAINE: Mission outreach is not limited by geography

Our gifts to Presbyterians Sharing support Dr. David Pándy-Szekeres as he serves with the Reformed Church of Sub-Carpathian Ukraine, a church of ethnic Hungarians living in Ukraine. David and his family are currently in Canada for a year’s furlough. David shares, “Mission outreach is not limited by geography, as I have come to learn since being back in Canada. In cooperation with Hungarian pastors in Toronto, I have joined the first stirrings of mission outreach to Hungarian-speaking Roma/Gypsy refugees who have come to Toronto during the last two years.” Let us pray for David and his family as they prepare to return to Ukraine..

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June Week 4 — CANADA YOUTH: Hands-on mission

Presbyterians Sharing supports the Mission Track program of Canada Youth, which offers participants a chance to learn more about mission at our National Youth Conference, held every 3 years at Brock University in St. Catharines. Participants take part in a hands-on mission experience, are educated on how The Presbyterian Church in Canada does mission, and join together to form a small community united in serving and living out Christ’s call to discipleship. This weeklong program is an excellent experience for the young people of our denomination who think they would like to become more involved in mission in the future.

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July Week 1 — TAIWAN – Sharing mission stories

Our gifts to Presbyterians Sharing support Louise Gamble as she works at Tam Kang High School in Taiwan. Besides teaching English, Louise has been busy transcribing, checking and proofreading the original documents of the North Taiwan Mission (1968-1923). The documents will be published in two sections. The first, which is set for publication in June 2012, focuses on the life of George Leslie Mackay, a Canadian missionary, from 1868-1923. The second, which focuses on the establishment of the church in Taiwan, will be published in 2013. Pray for Louise as she continues this important ministry.

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July Week 2 — YOUTH IN MISSION – Seeking peace in the Holy Land

Our gifts to Presbyterians Sharing help to connect Presbyterian youth with members of the Christian, Jewish and Muslim communities in the Holy Land through the Sabeel youth conference. Recent trip leader Katharine Masterton writes, “I was reminded of Psalm 122: 6-9. There are men and women in the Holy Land who express this Psalm in their words and with their actions every day”. Your gifts to Presbyterians Sharing provide young Presbyterians with a humbling and hope-giving opportunity to witness the steadfast faith and gracious love of neighbor expressed by those seeking peace in the Holy Land.

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July Week 3 — CANADA: Meeting students where they are at

With no common area for students to gather in a welcoming, safe and supportive environment, the University of New Brunswick’s Campus Ministry in Fredericton makes itself present to students in other ways. The ministry’s chaplain, The Rev. Kevin Burke, explains that most non-Christian students tend to have an aversion to any sort of organized religion and are unlikely to seek out the services of a clergy person. Kevin finds creative ways to connect with students “where they are at”, which includes the university’s pub! Gifts to Presbyterians Sharing support UNB’s campus ministry and other chaplaincies across Canada. Let us pray for their unique ministries..

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July Week 4 — CANADA: Building community beyond differences

Our gifts to Presbyterians Sharing support the joint English-Korean ministry at Hopedale Presbyterian Church in Oakville, Ontario. In addition to offering English and Korean worship services and church school, English conversation circles, an origami class and table tennis for families are serving the community. The Hopedale Youth Orchestra is particularly successful at drawing in Korean community members. The Rev. Wan Tae Oh, one of Hopedale’s two ministers, feels that the church is a model of how important it is to build a community beyond differences. Let us pray for Hopedale as it shares the love of Christ in English and Korean.

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July Week 5 — NATIONAL OFFICE: Equipping congregations

Our gifts to Presbyterians Sharing enable staff at our national office to equip and support congregations of The Presbyterian Church in Canada in the areas of Christian education, worship, evangelism, stewardship, youth ministries, leadership development and justice work. Staff also administer pensions and benefits for congregations, look after archival materials, prepare for and oversee our yearly General Assembly, support ministry candidates and their presbyteries in discerning ministerial candidates’ call and encourage and support new clergy who have just begun their ministries.. Please pray for staff at our national office as they work hard each day to meet the needs of our congregations.

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August Week 1 — CANADA: Feeding body and spirit

Livingstone Church has been serving Montreal’s Park Extension community for over 100 years. Our gifts to Presbyterians Sharing help this church to serve a diverse congregation and welcome people from various nationalities, cultures and backgrounds. At a weekly lunch program, church members join guests for lunch and conversation. Stories and prayers are shared, and connections are made as people get to know one another. Guests receive spiritual and emotional support, which is often more urgent than the need for physical food. Let us pray for Livingstone as it reaches out to its community with the love of Christ.

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August Week 2 — STEWARDS BY DESIGN: Nurturing generous giving

Our gifts to Presbyterians Sharing help to bring congregations from across Canada together for the Stewards By Design conference. Teams of four from each congregation not only discover how to nurture generous giving, they explore ways to grow their congregations and expand their mission and ministry outreach. Participants return to their congregations refreshed and excited to grow their ministry and share what they have learned. The next conference is in May 2-5, 2013. Please pray for congregations who are considering attending this revitalizing conference.

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August Week 3 — CANADA: African style worship

Our gifts to Presbyterians Sharing support Toronto’s Nigerian Presbyterian Mission. The church offers both Sunday and midweek worship services, Bible studies, men’s and women’s groups, youth fellowship, and prayer meetings. Worship services are conducted in English so that they are accessible to both Nigerians and others who might prefer an African style of worship. The mission is helping integrate Nigerian Presbyterian immigrants into their new lives in Canada, providing them with a supportive faith community during an often difficult adjustment period. Let us pray for the Nigerian Presbyterian Mission as it works to build a strong, loving congregation that reaches out to Nigerians and non-Nigerians alike.

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August Week 4 — JUSTICE MINISTRIES: Studying faith and genetics

Through Presbyterians Sharing we support the Biotechnology Reference Group, a project of the Canadian Council of Churches (The Presbyterian Church in Canada is member of the Canadian Council of Churches). The Biotechnology Reference Group brings together volunteers and church staff from member denominations to reflect on the theological and ethical dimensions of genetics and emerging technologies such as nanotechnology. The Reference Groups is developing a curriculum on faith and genetics that will be completed by the end of 2012. The curriculum will be available to Presbyterian congregations through Justice Ministries.

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March 4, 2012

Gratitude may move us to give, but giving may also lead us to a deeper sense of gratitude.
Mary Jo Leddy, Radical Gratitude

March 11, 2012

They asked only one thing, that we remember the poor, which was actually what I was eager to do.
Galatians 2:10

March 18, 2012

For it is in giving that we receive.
St. Francis of Assissi, founder of the Franciscan order

March 25, 2012

Stewardship: The practice of systematic and proportionate giving of time, abilities, and possessions, based upon the conviction that these are a trust from God, to be used in His service for the benefit of mankind.
United Stewardship Council

April 1, 2012

The starting point in the journey of the Christian steward is—must be—a realization of the reality of God`s love. Yet it is just that—a starting point, not an ending point.
Ronald E. Vallet, Stepping Stones of the Steward

April 8, 2012

…you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God. Think of us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of God's mysteries.
1 Corinthians 3:23-4:1 NRSV

April 15, 2012

Employ your riches with kindly devotion, and thus root out evil from your hearts. All that has value in your lives you must concentrate in the persons of the poor; and so anoint your heads with devoted giving.
St. Paulinus of Nola

April 22, 2012

Jesus knew that the place of money in our lives is a spiritual issue far more than it is an economic issue.
Harold Percy, Following Jesus

April 29, 2012

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NRSV

May 6, 2012

Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?
Luke 16:10-11 NRSV

May 13, 2012

O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.
Psalm 136:1 NRSV

May 20, 2012

Do not give, as many rich men do, like a hen that lays her eggs ... and then cackles.
Henry Ward Beecher

May 27, 2012

Generosity lies less in giving much than in giving at the right moment.
Jean de la Bruyère, writer

June 3, 2012

The stewardship spark is ignited when we know we hold a trust that was never entirely ours, and that this trust will be passed to others when we are finished.
Mark L. Vincent, Speaking About Money

June 10, 2012

Men would not be lovers of money unless they thought that their excellence depended on their wealth.
St. Augustine

June 17, 2012

Helping others is a healthy habit to develop, no matter what circumstances you may be going through. While your focus is on blessing other people, you’ll find that God blesses you in a wide variety of ways.
Whitney Hopler, crosswalk.com, writer

June 24, 2012

To give without any reward, or any notice, has a special quality of its own.
Anne Morrow Lindbergh, writer

July 1, 2012

They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.
1 Timothy 6:18-19 NRSV

July 8, 2012

Man is in a far worse position than he believes, but can become far greater than he imagines.
Jacob Needleman, Money and the Meaning of Life

July 15, 2012

Materialism is not fundamentally an economic problem but a cultural one – a spiritual issue.
Robert Wuthnow, Rethinking Materialism

July 22, 2012

Some people give time, some money, some their skills and connections, some literally give their life's blood. But everyone has something to give.
Barbara Bush, American first lady

July 29, 2012

Jesus is where we meet God`s generosity.
Mark Vincent, A Christian View of Money

August 5, 2012

The earth is the Lord's and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it.
Psalm 24:1

August 12, 2012

If you can`t feed a hundred people, then just feed one.
Mother Theresa

August 19, 2012

There is no happiness in having or in getting, but only in giving.
Henry Drummond, poet

August 26, 2012

Set apart a tithe of all the yield of your seed that is brought in yearly from the field.
Deuteronomy 14:22 NRSV

September 2, 2012

Affluenza, the unnecessary accumulation of possessions, is about misplaced priorities. It sends the message loud and clear that life is about stuff, not people.
Glenn Stanton, director of research for Focus on the Family

September 9, 2012

The righteous give and do not hold back.
Proverbs 21.26b (NRSV)

September 16, 2012

I do nothing but go about persuading you all, old and young alike, not to take thought for your persons or your properties, but first and chiefly to care about the greatest improvement of the soul. I tell you that virtue does not come from money, but that from virtue comes money and every other good of man, public as well as private.
Plato, philosopher

September 23, 2012

Think of us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of God's mysteries. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.
1 Corinthians 4:1-2

September 30, 2012

It is only in the giving of oneself to others that we truly live.
Ethel Percy Andrus, teacher

October 7, 2012

The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our heats away, a sordid boon!
William Wordsworth

October 14, 2012

Trying to consume our way to prosperity, we have been exhausting ourselves.
Marilyn Ferguson, author

October 21, 2012

Love grows by giving. The love we give away is the only love we keep. The only way to retain love is to give it away.
Elbert Hubbard, writer

October 28, 2012

A theology of money, a theology of what we possess, begins with the principle that what we have, we have been given. The source of these gifts is a God who loves us and wants the best for us.
John H. MacNaughton, More Blessed to Give

November 4, 2012

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matthew 6:19-21 NRSV

November 11, 2012

We’ve found the habit of asking, “Will this simplify our lives?” a powerful weapon in the ongoing battle against the complications of modern life.
Elaine St. James, author

November 18, 2012

An enduring environmental ethic will aim to preserve not only the health and freedom of our species, but access to the world in which the human spirit was born
Edward O. Wilson, biologist

November 25, 2012

Quality of living is not the same as standard of living.
Vicki Robin, author

December 2, 2012

Those who trust in their riches will wither, but the righteous will flourish like green leaves.
Proverbs 11:28 NRSV

December 9, 2012

Within ourselves there exists the possibility and even the necessity of experiencing and serving something unimaginably great and inconceivably real.
Jacob Needleman, Money and the Meaning of Life

December 16, 2012

It’s about identifying, for yourself, what you need as opposed to what you want, what purchases or types of purchases actually bring you fulfilment, what represents “enough” to you and what you actually spend money on.
Joe Dominguez & Vicki Robin, authors

December 23, 2012

A society can be judged by the way it treats its most disadvantaged, its least beloved, its mad. As things now stand, we must be judged a poor lot, and it is time to mend our ways.
Lewis Thomas, physician and poet

December 30, 2012

Yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.
1 Corinthians 8:6 NRSV