Today in the Mission Yearbook - Christian religious LGBT advocacy in Ghana

Witness, Share and Evangelize: Today in the Mission Yearbook - Christian religiou...: In many communities of faith in Africa, people who advocate for LGBT rights are not welcome June 30, 2024 The Ghana Mission Network is worki...

Today in the Mission Yearbook - Preschoolers at Leesburg Presbyterian Church learn the ABCs of composting

Witness, Share and Evangelize: Today in the Mission Yearbook - Preschoolers at Le...: Environmental team teaches intergenerational lessons to Virginia church members June 29, 2024 A student at the Leesburg (Virginia) Presbyter...

Jinishian Jottings - JMP Lebanon Strives to Help At-Risk Teens

Glimmers of hope for a teen and her family

In the heart of Beirut’s Armenian section, a teen named Maria bears the weight of her family’s struggles. She longs for the simplicity of a carefree adolescence, where worries about basic needs such as making rent or having enough to eat are distant concerns.   With rising inflation and the cost of living in Lebanon, her father, Pierre, can barely make enough money as a taxi driver to feed his family — a job that is more sporadic than steady. Beside him is Carol, Maria’s mother, whose days are consumed by caring for Maria’s two sisters, who have special needs. They previously attended a special needs school but had to leave due to financial hardship, leaving their mother to tend to their many needs. Maria longed to ease her parents’ burden and decided to drop out of school to assist her mother. However, Carol couldn’t bear to see her daughter sacrifice her education for their family’s sake and knew she had to seek help.

Maria (far right) pictured with her family

Feeling desperate, Carol turned to JMP for assistance. In a meeting with a social worker, she shared the fears and struggles her family endured for too long. In that moment of vulnerability, she found a glimmer of hope when the social worker recommended that Maria join JMP’s Teenagers’ Program, where she could continue her education while receiving the support her family so desperately needed.   For Maria, this news brought a renewed sense of purpose. Enrolling in a technical school, she chose to pursue her passion for hotel management, dreaming of one day owning her own restaurant. Alongside her studies, she delves into her love for photography, finding solace and inspiration behind the lens of her camera. More than anything, Maria is grateful to JMP. Their support not only gave her access to education but also the chance to build a better future for herself and her family.   JMP Lebanon’s Teenagers’ Program stands out as one of our most successful and impactful initiatives, dating back to 2005. With a track record of over 150 participants, many have completed high school and gained admission to universities. Originating from low-income families, some of these teens have experienced poverty, abuse, neglect and domestic violence. However, through our program, these resilient teens now smile, dream and inspire others not to succumb to life’s challenges. Guided by weekly gatherings and personalized psychosocial support sessions with a dedicated social worker, they have learned to navigate and overcome life’s hurdles.   Please consider making a gift to JMP Lebanon. Your support can help break the cycle of poverty for teens like Maria, giving them and their families hope for a brighter future.

During the Teenagers’ Program, teens attend educational fellowship sessions alongside a series of adventurous outings, including visits to natural landscapes, swimming pools, resorts and nature

“Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved, for you are my praise.”  (Jeremiah 17:14)

Eliza Minasyan,  Executive Director Jinishian Memorial Program Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

JMP Study Tour 2025

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Your gifts go directly to build up health, faith, farms and businesses by empowering local JMP teams in Armenia, Lebanon, Syria, Istanbul, Jerusalem and Georgia. To make the greatest impact, consider making a monthly gift.   Thank you for standing in unity with Armenian Christian leaders to share God’s love with the most vulnerable and to build a brighter future for all!

More Light Presbyterians - Pride is not over?

Pride is not over! Blessings from all of us at MLP as we round into the last few days of Pride Month! In the past few weeks, we have been blessed to see so many beautiful examples of people claiming their God-given status as beloved children of God. Our annual MLP Pride worship celebration was a powerful testimony of grace and courage. The musical pieces by Matt Webb and Flamy Grant were sermons in themselves. The prayers written by the MLP board and staff moved us from mourning to reflection to celebration. And the sermonettes by our very own Jesy Littlejohn, Brooke Scott, and Avery Arden set our hearts ablaze. We saw celebrations everywhere in the country and people resisting to fall into the trap of fear. We saw MLP churches marching in Pride parades and telling the story of God’s inclusive love in worship using liturgy we created in partnership with A Sanctified Art.     This month, we have also witnessed why Pride celebrations continue to be crucial as acts of resistence and community building. In Colorado, politicians emailed constituents calling people in the LGBTQIA+ community all kinds of derogatory names while asking constituents to burn and destroy Pride flags… and people delivered. In our own denomination, debate about the inclusion and non-discrimination of LGBTQIA+ people in church leadership has surfaced again in advance of this year’s General Assembly, showing us the need to never fall asleep and to keep working and praying without ceasing. You can click here to read a statement about this by former PC(USA) moderators, including two MLP board alumni. We are grateful to the individuals, congregations, and organizations that participate in our work and witness to “center and celebrate the lives, gifts, and leadership of LGBTQIA+ people.” We believe this ministry is more necessary than ever, and we hope that as we round out Pride Month, you will join us. To help us celebrate queer and trans lives all year long, will you consider a financial gift to support and grow our work? Your contributions help us create imaginative, queer-affirming worship materials, provide a hospitable presence at General Assembly, offer pastoral care to LGBTQIA+ people, and much more. Thank you for all the ways you create more light and love for all people. Donate today Don't forget... During General Assembly, we will host a cocktail reception on June 29th at 8 pm at the Diamond Lounge of the Hilton SLC Center to kick off our 25th/50th anniversary celebrations.   If you were holding up a sign at General Assembly or your Presbytery meeting, what would you say? Where is justice still needed? What work is still to be done? Send an email to hello@mlp.org with an image of you (or anyone in your community!) holding a sign that would start a movement in our denomination and honor David Sindt’s courage!

Our Contact Information More Light Presbyterians P.O. Box 735764 Chicago, IL 60673 (720) 288-0838 http://www.mlp.org

News from the Young Adult Volunteers – June 2024

YAV orientation is coming to Agua Prieta, Mexico!

Like many things in the church, there have been a lot of things that have changed in the Young Adult Volunteer program over the past couple of years. Some of the changes have not been easy, and we have had to say difficult goodbyes to some parts of the program we cherished and colleagues we loved. But as YAV staff and site coordinators, we needed to be open to the ways that the YAV program could change, as young adult volunteer service programs have seen a large drop in the number of U.S. applicants since the pandemic.

But as a church and people of hope, we know that God has been planting seeds that will help us become a fuller and more diverse representation of Christ’s body. My second year of YAV (’14–’15) in Tucson/Agua Prieta was the first official partnership for the YAV program to receive young adults from global partners who served with YAVs from the United States (although there were many individual YAVs from other countries and other amazing young adult programs that represented global partners priorly). I was fortunate to serve then with one of my best friends, Hanbyeol, who was a student at Hannam University in Daejeon, South Korea. And I know that my YAV experience and community were greatly enriched by learning and serving together with Hanbyeol and the rest of our fellow YAVs (Grace, Emily and Allie) on the U.S./Mexico border.   But it has not always been apparent that these seeds of a global Young Adult Volunteer program would take root in the future of the program. At times, the financial challenges and strict immigration barriers to receiving young adults outside the United States have prevented these seeds from growing. But I also believe that the many seeds that were planted over time and envisioned in past partnerships are now becoming the future of the YAV program. There are certainly a lot more uncertainties and factors to consider in a young adult volunteer program that consists of YAVs from various countries, languages and cultures, but there is a lot more the YAV program can also offer to all young adults about how to live out their faith when their YAV community better reflects the diversity of people in the kin-dom of God.     It is for this reason that the YAV program, for the first time, will be having the YAV orientation on the U.S./Mexico border with our PC(USA) partners at Frontera de Cristo in Agua Prieta, Mexico. For the past few years, as the number of YAVs from communities in Latin America has grown, they have only attended orientations virtually separated by the United States border and from the rest of the YAV community. And so, we are excited to take another step forward toward becoming a YAV community that is more influenced by the kin-dom of God than by systems of immigration and white privilege. It will be these questions of how to live as a community of faith defined by the kin-dom of God that YAVs will learn from the church and ministry partners on the U.S./Mexico border. And they will learn from local pastors (the Revs. Jocabed Gallegos, Mark Adams and Pedro Ramos Goycolea) about how a year of service is an opportunity for us to confront and become aware of the narratives and systems that are trying to tell us that we are better off as a church that is separated and unequal from each other. So, please pray for the YAVs as they embark on a year of service in ’24–’25 for a lifetime of change from those lies and narratives toward hope and justice!   Rev. James Martin (Borderlands YAV Site Coordinator)

YAV helps lift minority voices

Young Adult Volunteer Juliet Owuor, serving in New York City with a placement in the Self-Development of People ministry, reflects on her work helping grassroots organizations gain financial support for minority-led projects.

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Hodges guest on podcast

YAV coordinator Destini Hodges was the feature guest on a recent “Between 2 Pulpits” podcast. She celebrated the more than 1,900 YAV alums who have served over the past three decades.

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Registration open for youth advocacy conference

October 18-20 marks the “Jesus and Justice” gathering – PC(USA)’s next Young Adult Advocacy Conference held on the Charlotte, North Carolina campus of Union Presbyterian Seminary. The conference is free to attend; topics to be addressed include racial justice, poverty, hunger and homelessness, LGBTQIA+ rights and more. Register here.

Apply to be a YAV

Applications for the 2024-25 in-person service year are open. If you’re between the ages of 19-30 (or know someone who is) and want to engage in world issues, commit to self-reflection, listen to the marginalized and learn in a new way, consider “a year of service for a lifetime of change.” Learn more about the process here.

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Financial support for the YAV program

Please consider giving to the YAV program through a monthly or one-time gift to care for young adults engaged in “a year of service for a lifetime of change.”

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YAV on Youtube

The Young Adult Volunteer program, a ministry of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), is an ecumenical, one-year service opportunity for young adults ages 19 to 30. For nearly three decades, YAVs have listened for God’s call in their lives, while serving alongside partners at sites in the United States and around the world. YAVs live in intentional Christian communities developing and deepening their faith through service. Learn more about this transformative year at youngadultvolunteers.org.

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Spreading the Vision of Matthew 25 across the Church

Matthew 25 is a living translation of Jesus Christ — strengthening relationships, transforming your church, and bringing alive your commitment to those who are marginalized or in need in your community and the world around us. Make no mistake, Jesus is calling us to perform ordinary acts of compassion in daily life. But we have also been called to consider the factors that led to these conditions, to confront the causes of inequality, to confess the sin of greed and to correct the problem of poverty — whether in our own nation and neighborhood, or around the world.

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