Reconciliation in Sudan

Watch Linda Valentine, executive director of the General Assembly Mission Council, tell a story of reconciliation among warring ethnic groups in Sudan here. Debbie Braaksma, Presbyterian World Mission’s area coordinator for Africa, helped facilitate the reconciliation while serving as a mission co-worker in South Sudan. Linda heard the story during a recent visit to a South Sudanese village with Debbie.

Ronceverte Presbyterian Church proudly supports the PCUSA's peacemaking efforts in Sudan, and we ask you to join us in prayer for our Sudanese brothers and sisters.

Morning Worship, 4/17/11

We tend to see today as a festive parade, with palms waving and children smiling and voices raised in all glory, laud, and honor!  But there is a dead seriousness to the journey Jesus took, and the donkey knew it.

Enjoy!

Morning Worship, 4/10/11

While we all face pain, there are many ways to respond to it. I can try to avoid it. I can numb it with something else. I can fight it. Or I can submit to it, and let it teach me a thing or two the hard way. That’s precisely what pain does to Jesus in today’s Gospel reading.   



Enjoy! 

Morning Worship, 4/3/11

Here’s the big secret about Christianity--it cannot be practiced alone on an island; it must be practiced with others, for it takes others to study the Bible, to have someone to pray for, and to have someone to bless and be blessed by.  Most importantly, it takes someone else in which to see the face of God.



Enjoy!

April 5...one year later

One year ago, the mountains and people of West Virginia held their collective breath, as 29 miners from the Upper Big Branch mine fell victim to a terrible tragedy. In addition to a service in Whitesville at 6:00pm on April 5, there will be a service in Beckley sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce at 3:00pm to be held at First Christian Church. Those who cannot attend but wish to lift up the families of those lost in prayer have been asked by the governor to do so at 3:01pm, which is the estimated time of the deadly explosion. We at RPC will toll our bells 29 times on April 5 at 3:01pm in memory of the fallen miners at Upper Big Branch.

International Mission Focus for April: Iraq

Each month, RPC highlights Presbyterian ministries in different parts of the world, lifting up our  brothers and sisters in prayer. This month we turn our attention to Iraq. 

Christians continue to flee Iraq. “It is difficult for all the people of Iraq, but especially for Christians,” said Archbishop Georgis Sliwa of the Armenian Church of Iraq. “Those remaining are not feeling any security, especially politically, and have no hope for their children’s futures.”

Attendance at the Baghdad church pastored by Archbishop Avak Asadourian has declined by 85 percent in the last five years. Though their numbers are depleted, the churches’ witness in Iraq persists. Regular worship services still take place, Asadourian said, “but they are quieter and we have some police protection.” The Christian churches in Iraq are not about to give up. “Despite all the difficulties, we are hopeful because we are Christians,” said Asadourian, “and we love our country.” 

Among the five Presbyterian congregations in Iraq, only one currently has a pastor. Pastor Haitham Jazrawi of the Kirkuk Evangelical Presbyterian Church writes, "Since the change of the regime in Iraq in 2003, our church policy has been to demonstrate that despite the fact that we are a small minority in our community, we are a people with a holy and noble message of love, peace, and tolerance."

Elder Yousif Al-Saka of the Presbyterian Church of Baghdad said he does not expect the political unrest sweeping through the Arab world to affect Iraq. “The regimes in all those countries are dictatorial while we are a constitutional system,” he explained. “The main problem in Iraq for all the departures is security. If we want people, especially Christians, to return, we have to establish security.” On a personal note, Yousif Al-Saka of the Presbyterian Church of Baghdad asked the Presbyterian News Service to thank the PC (USA) for its unflagging support of the Presbyterian Church in Iraq. “You came to us before the war and after the war,” he said. “Victor Makari, Nuhad Tomeh and others in the PC(USA) have been best friends to us.” (Nuhad, pictured to the right, visited Ronceverte Presbyterian Church in October ’09 as part of the World Mission/ International Peacemakers event.)

Pray for:

Assembly of the Presbyterian Churches of Iraq (5 congregations)

Kirkuk Church Kindergarten and Child Care Center

Nuhad Tomeh, PC(USA) regional liaison (Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, & the Gulf)

Amgad Beblawi, PC(USA) mission work coordinator

Yousif Al-Saka, Elder in Baghdad and Secretary of the PCUSA in Iraq

Additional links for more information:

http://www.pcusa.org/news/2011/1/28/general-assembly-leaders-offer-call-prayer/       

http://gamc.pcusa.org/ministries/missionconnections/tomeh-nuhad/    

Morning Worship, 3/27/11

In the wilderness of our lives, we often feel like the Israelites--wandering through the desert praying for direction. Listen for the Holy Spirit's whispers in music provided by Rodger & Leah Trent as you listen to today's Scriptures readings in this third week of Lent.



Enjoy!