A letter from Jan Heckler in Madagascar
June 2013
Dear Everyone!
Hi! This past April I attended a week-long "gathering" of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Africa mission co-workers in South Africa. Hunter Farrell (Director of World Mission) and eight Louisville-based staff—including all three of the new "catalysts" for reconciliation, poverty and evangelism—came too. In all, there were around 50 mission co-workers and 85 total people, including families and staff.
In Kleinmond we met at a retreat site named the "Grail Centre." The Grail (click to see the website) has several small cottages with central meeting and dining facilities for group retreats.
The setting and weather were both idyllic while we participants enjoyed information updates, substantive discussions, and sessions on a variety of topics as well as hearing about each other's ministries in all of the countries represented[1]. As it was my first chance to meet most of the PC(USA)’s Africa mission co-workers, I was thrilled—so many wonderful people!
One talk given by Hunter Farrell analyzed how funding for mission work now occurs in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). During his talk we learned that only a small fraction of one cent of each dollar placed in collection plates around the country ever ends up going to support global mission work! I think we nearly all were amazed. Before this, most of us had the notion that some part—perhaps 15 to 20 percent—of what went into the collection plates went toward mission support. But clearly that is definitely not the case.
In order for World Mission to keep mission co-workers in the field, we all are working to increase direct gifts to the sending and support of mission co-workers. For me, those gifts may be directed to either E200490 for individual giving, or D507556 for congregational giving. Thank you for considering a financial gift above and beyond your tithes and offerings. We wouldn’t have a mission in Madagascar without your support!
3 Critical Global Issues. We also got a chance to meet and engage with the PC(USA)’s new "catalysts" for critical global issues. These are World Mission’s strategic priorities and can be briefly described as follows:
- Addressing the root causes of poverty, especially as it affects women and children;
- Sharing the Good News of God’s love in Jesus Christ (in my own case, largely through building the capacity of our partner church in Madagascar, FJKM); and
- Engaging in reconciliation in cultures of violence, including our own.
Each issue has its own "catalyst" to help the PC(USA)’s 11,000 congregations understand exactly how World Mission is addressing that particular global issue worldwide. As you may have heard, these people were chosen for their intelligence, experience, training and commitment to addressing the three critical global issues.
As I return to my own ministry from South Africa, I’ve found that I have a lingering thought: My emotions are still stirred by the many people working in my church and elsewhere to address injustice while there remains a huge number and variety of threats to peace. Yet, I know just how blessed I am to know and work with such people as I met at the gathering and to be supported in my work by people like you.
In the rest of 2013 I will be continuing both my consultations with the president of FJKM and my work with the women’s division of FJKM (Dorkasy and one of its programs that serves secondary school girls, Akany Gazela). Also, I will be attempting to increase the scope of this work to include their urban domestic violence program here in Antananarivo, Tabita, and to engage in leadership training of Dorkasy leadership in July.
Finally, I will also be having meetings in the next few weeks with various FJKM leadership staff to identify additional areas for consulting and helping to build the 4-million-member FJKM’s capacity as a church.
The people closest to our Madagascar mission believe that this work entails all three of World Mission's critical global issues. And, as Madagascar prepares for its first presidential election in seven years later this year, our physical presence may be even more important to help stay FJKM should oppressive actions increase by the "High Transitional Authority" (the ruling political power in Madagascar) or the military.
So, I close by asking for your continued support—the support you provide through your prayers always. But I also ask for your correspondence and for your personal financial support as you are able.
Mission work is important work and I ask you to consider the plight of the Malagasy people and the role that we and our partner church, FJKM, play as this real life drama unfolds. I know you want to help. Please find a way.
May God bless and keep us all in peace,
Jan Heckler
The 2013 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 121
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[1] Countries included Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), East Central Africa, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Republic of South Sudan, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zambia. Sessions and topics of discussion included: strategic direction, intercultural conflict resolution, mission personnel policies, critical global issues, communicating our stories, working with our constituencies in the United States, the Belhar Confession, advocacy, and new directions.
