Let's Talk From India to Austin

By Sudie Niesen

The Winter 2012 edition of Austin Seminary’s Windows featured an article on current students who served in the Young Adult Volunteer (YAV) program before attending seminary. One of the questions posed to those of us interviewed was, “What kind of support did you receive during your year as a Young Adult Volunteer?”

In response, I spoke of a Presbytery that seized the opportunity to include me in its mission and ministry. Individuals and congregations within the Presbytery of Giddings-Lovejoy surrounded me with prayers and encouragement during my YAV year. In addition, through financial gifts, you made this experience possible. As I expressed during the interview for Windows, “I am in awe of the support I received … an entire presbytery considered me ‘their’ YAV!”

Some of you may remember me standing before the Presbytery of Giddings-Lovejoy in May 2008 when I shared news of my placement to the YAV site in South India. Seeking support from this gathered body – representatives of a church that had nurtured me since birth – was an early step in a transformative journey. At that point I did not know that my year in South India would be instrumental in my vocational discernment. My commitment to social justice was central to my decision to apply for the YAV program, yet I had no idea what direction this vocation might take upon my return from India. Being a YAV helped me realize how deeply rooted this passion is in my faith, and that ordained ministry would empower me to use this passion in service to the church and the world.

In response to this realization, I applied to Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, and enrolled in the Master of Divinity program upon my return from India. As I look towards graduation in May, I am grateful that this has not been a solitary journey. Rather, I have enjoyed the encouragement, support, and partnership of people of faith.

For look for more stories in the upcoming Stewardship Newsletter, the Harvest.

Happy New Year Everyone

Let's start the new year with a story from a young adult. Here's her journey...

My Journey
by Miriam Foltz

As a member of the Presbytery of Giddings-Lovejoy, a former Young Adult Volunteer, and a current seminary student, I want to thank you for supporting, both in your prayers and through your financial contributions, the work of the PC(USA).

I spent a year in Belfast, Northern Ireland, serving as part of the PC(USA) Young Adult Volunteer program. Part of the World Missions initiative for the PC(USA), each year, around 60 YAVs gave their time, put forth their energy, and put their ‘regular’ life on hold for 11 months to go and live a simpler, intentional life in a new and challenging context.

During my year of service, I was very grateful for the support of Giddings-Lovejoy through financial contributions, prayerful support, and your kind letters.

I served at the East Belfast Mission, a Methodist congregation and social outreach center, where I worked with people of all ages. My work schedule overall changed from week to week, but I got to regularly plan, participate in, and help facilitate weekly activities for all different generations of the community. Over many cups of tea, I got to here people’s stories and share my own as well.

The urban issues I witnessed might have easily translated from Belfast to St Louis, except for the daily reminders that I was not in the U.S.

The Troubles as a period of time technically ended with a disarmament agreement in 1998. However, the trouble (lower case) continues.
It struck me where the name came from during the month of June.
As riots were happening at night just down the street from my workplace, I kept hearing the BBC report it as ‘the trouble started’ or ‘the trouble continued.’

I have no tangible results to show from my year in Belfast, but that is not the goal of the YAV program.

It takes time to change people’s minds. But there is hope for the youth of Belfast, even as they grow up with the ‘peace walls’ still dividing neighborhoods, and there is hope for the older generations of Belfast, as they carry the memories of three decades of senseless violence, to question and challenge the status quo of prejudice and division within Northern Ireland.

And I hope that that conversation I had, that scone and cup of tea I shared, or even a simple question I asked was a small part of helping the people of Belfast move towards peace – a peace that is not just lack of violence but intentional understanding and cooperation.

Because of your support, I got to be a small part of this change and be changed myself in the process. Many, many thanks for your support.

In the grace and peace of Christ,
Miriam Foltz

For an update of where Miriam is today, go to the upcoming issue of The Harvest, Stewardship Newsletter.

Let’s Talk Hope

Christmas is the season to celebrate Love, Peace, Joy, and Hope. For many, following the trials and tribulations of this year and perhaps these few years, this season may be especially difficult. Sometimes our ability to believe and to hope tie so closely with our expectations of life that when things do not come to pass as one would hope, there is loss; there is despair.

And though we all know the story of the mustard seed, we forget just how little faith we need to have the hope and the ability to bring about the changes required to improve our lives and those around us. In times of despair, there will come times of joy, for there is a time and place for everything under Heaven (Ecclesiastes 3:1). We hope that you find reasons to celebrate Love, Peace, Joy, and Hope. And that you have a Merry Christmas and a joyous New Year.

For more about It's A Wonderful Life, click here.

The Good News of the Christmas Joy Offering

The Christmas Joy Offering is a cherished Presbyterian tradition since the 1930s. This timely offering provides an opportunity for congregations to support causes specifically designed to bring Good News of Great Joy to the poor in circumstance or spirit.

Alongside the message of promise and fulfillment in Luke’s Gospel, we also hear the clear call to God’s people to respond in faith as Christ calls us: “From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded” (Luke 12:48).

Today this Offering is shared equally by the Assistance Program of the Board of Pensions, which honors the faithfulness of current and retired ministers and church workers in their hour of greatest need by providing funds to help them through life’s challenging circumstances, and Presbyterian-affiliated racial ethnic schools and colleges, which enable students to develop their gifts and find their calling.

Be sure to give to the Christmas Joy Offering on Sunday, December 18th.

For more information click here: Presbyterian Church U.S.A. – Joy Offering

Let's Talk Hunger Work

By Ruth Farrell, Coordinator Presbyterian Hunger Program - Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)


In hunger work, we often talk about including the voices of the hungry, the small farmers, the women, and the children in development projects. Including these voices is more than designing a successful project; we do it because it is what Jesus did. Jesus broke the cultural norms. His actions demonstrated that people who are widowed, disabled, impoverished, and children are to be treated with dignity. Being treated with dignity means being listened to by others, but Jesus even went further. In addition to treating the marginalized with dignity, he pointed out over and over that many had deep faith, an exemplary faith that the disciples (and others) should develop.

In my own experience with people living in poverty, they are used to not being listened to. In fact, many no longer speak up because experience has taught them that what they have to say does not matter. In addition to listening, we must at every step, communicate in words and actions, that they do matter—their experience, their wisdom and their feelings matter.

In Peru, the women we worked with started to believe that they mattered. After several years of running a successful knitting cooperative, you could see the change in these women. They were no longer silent, but vibrant. They were no longer passive, but tackled problems. At one of their meetings they put away their knitting needles, and talked about organizing their community to ask the city authorities for running water and a proper sewage system. When I asked what had happened in the past when folks asked, they told us that they had never asked before. A woman of the group explained, “Before (the cooperative), we were afraid if we caused trouble, the authorities would make us leave so we never wanted to create problems. We tried to be invisible.” No one was invisible to Jesus, especially those whom society tried to make invisible. These women had learned far more than how to run a knitting business. They knew they mattered and were now giving that voice.



For more about this Presbyterian Hunger Program Post article click here: PHP Post

For information about the Presbyterian Hunger Program click here: Presbyterian Hunger Program.