There is still time for presbyteries and synods to select and send representatives to the World Mission Advocates Gathering set for May 7-9 in Louisville. The event will include theological reflection, expert-and peer-led conversation on best mission practices, and workshops on a variety of mission topics. Participants will form relationships with mission-minded colleagues around the church, gain and share resources that will help build mission interest in presbyteries and synods, and learn helpful tips on itinerating mission speakers. Seeking to fulfill the conference theme of "Building Unity in God's Mission," mission advocates and World Mission staff will together look for creative ways of working collaboratively in light of new trends in mission involvement. More information, including online registration, is available on the Gathering Webpage.

We Can't Wait - A Young Adult Experience at the Big Tent, June 11-13

The Big Tent, a first-of-its-kind event to be held in Atlanta, Ga., also offers a unique opportunity for young adults (ages 18-35) to gather for inspiration, discipleship and service to the community, including a special Young Adult Mission Experience on Saturday, June 13. Young adults who are not registered for the Big Tent may participate in the Young Adult Mission Experience for a $25 Saturday-only fee. Encourage your presbytery to be part of the Big Tent - just $285 per person. Sign up today!

Pentecost Offering to be Received Sunday, May 31

The youngest of our PC(USA) special offerings, the Pentecost Offering provides a direct way to meet the needs of children at risk, youth, and young adults. 2009 Offering materials are available and can be ordered until the offering is received on May 31. The Pentecost Offering offers congregations the opportunity to designate 40 percent of what they receive to help children at risk in their own communities. Through General Assembly ministries, the Pentecost Offering supports the faith journey of Presbyterian young people, develops a new generation of church leadership, and advocates on a national level for children at risk. None of these vital ministries would be possible without the Pentecost Offering. We hope that you will encourage your member churches to give generously.

Mandatory Furlough for Employees of the General Assembly Council, May 17-23
As a cost cutting measure, by action of the General Assembly Council (GAC) in March, GAC staff members at the Presbyterian Center will have an unpaid one-week furlough May 17-23. Our offices will be closed and no staff available with a very few exceptions: Presbyterian Marketplace will be open; Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) will have someone available to respond to any disasters; the Office of Vocation, the Office of the General Assembly (OGA), the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Investment & Loan Program (PILP), the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation, and Presbyterian Women are not included in the furlough.
Because of the furlough, the May issue of One in the Spirit will be e-mailed one week later
than usual, the week of May 25.

Stories of how an individual's life has been impacted by the programs, initiatives and activities of the General Assembly Council:

"A whole new way of doing mission" –
The Rev. Phyllis Zoon 


Tennent, N.J., April 20, 2009 - Although her two trips to Bolivia under the auspices of the Presbyterian Hunger Program were unquestionably life-changing, it was a visit here from a former mission worker to Bolivia that unexpectedly changed how the Rev. Phyllis Zoon lived. In her unique, joint role as Hunger Action and Stewardship of Creation Enabler for Monmouth Presbytery, Zoon came to the conclusion that hunger and poverty cannot be effectively addressed without also engaging environmental issues. To raise the presbytery's awareness of the dynamics and consequences of this intimate interrelationship, Zoon had invited former mission co-worker, Bob Dunsmore - who, with his wife Julie, served nine years in Bolivia until August 2008 - to speak during Mission Challenge '07, the highly successful initiative which sent 48 Presbyterian Church (USA) missionaries to visit 144 presbyteries in September 2007.

When Dunsmore began to explain to his rapt presbytery audience that the glaciers in Bolivia that provide water for millions of people would be gone within ten years because of global warming, Zoon experienced a moment of remarkable insight and clarity. "Bob told us that what we can do to help our brothers and sisters in Bolivia the most is not writing a check or even sending clothing or medicine," she said. "Their biggest request is that we drive less. Our partners in Bolivia say that what they most want is for us to change the way we live so that we can at least mitigate the effects of climate change. It's a whole new way of doing mission because it asks us not to give so they can live like us but to change, to transform our lives so they can live."

Her perspective enriched and her spirit profoundly moved by the Bolivian partners' specific request, Zoon immediately set out to change her behavior. "Their appeal that we change ourselves changed me," she said. "I have started putting fewer pollutants into the air, I buy less stuff, and I've gotten more involved in local initiatives and in the environment than ever before. I'm preaching the message broadly throughout the presbytery that the small changes we can each make in our own lives can have a big impact."

One of the programs of the General Assembly Council on which Zoon has greatly relied for resources in both making and advocating lifestyle changes toward building more sustainable communities is Enough for Everyone. She cited especially Just Eating? Practicing Our Faith at the Table, a curriculum designed for high schoolers and adults that aims to bring into dialogue daily eating habits, the Christian faith and the "needs of the broader world," and The Presbyterian Coffee Project, which helps to ensure that more of Americans' "coffee dollar" goes to the farmers who do the work.

"This is something that people can do," Zoon said. "These are changes that we can make in our lives. We can give up the cup of coffee that we buy and make a gourmet cup of fair trade coffee at home. We can really do these things so that our lives will be changed, all while we learn the stories of the people behind the different projects."

Because hearing the stories that connect Presbyterians in mission is critical to Zoon's ministry as well as her own spiritual growth, she is currently working on again securing a mission worker to speak at Monmouth Presbytery during the 2009 World Mission Challenge, scheduled for September 25 – October 18, 2009**. She has also been a guiding force in planning and programming an upcoming May 30th symposium entitled, "Out of Africa," jointly sponsored by the Hunger Action and Advocacy Programs of Monmouth and New Brunswick Presbyteries. Its purpose is to lift up the exciting ministries that are currently taking place in Africa as well as the many connections that are shared with the congregations of both presbyteries. "The symposium will also get people acquainted with important church-based advocacy efforts such as Publish What You Pay (PWYP), which calls for oil, gas, and mining companies to disclose what they pay governments for the extraction of natural resources, thereby holding them accountable," Zoon said, adding that billions of dollars are lost each year through government corruption. The PC(USA) endorsed the campaign and joined the PWYP coalition by action of the 218th General Assembly (2008).

Zoon sees programs like Publish What You Pay and Joining Hands, another initiative of the Presbyterian Hunger Program, as being a critical part of creating long-term solutions toward healing the world.

"So often we give our money so people can be like us when they don't really want that," she said. "We think we can do things in the short term without changing our own long term behavior. But Jesus came into the world to change lives, starting with our own."

For a related study on global warming and water in Peru, read the  April curriculum/monthly fast materials prepared by the Presbyterian Hunger Program for the monthly churchwide fasts.

** All presbyteries that have confirmed their participation in World Mission Challenge (WMC)
are so noted on the map of Presbyteries on the World Mission Challenge Website. If your presbytery is not "colored green" on the map, there is still time to confirm your participation. World Mission Challenge will take place September 25 - October 18 as 40 PC(USA) mission workers visit with congregations across the country, sharing their stories of how God is at work in and through their ministry and the ministry of their global partners. For more information, contact Ellen Dozier, (888) 728-7228 x5916, or email ellen.dozier@pcusa.org