World Mission Matters conference
The World Mission Matters conference will equip you for more faithful and effective mission.The conference will be shaped around three critical global issues that partner churches around the world have asked that we address together, to be part of the rain of blessing that God intends for all God’s creation:
Justice
- Addressing the root causes of poverty, particularly as they impact women and children.
Witness
- Together with other members of Christ’s body, sharing the good news of God’s love in Jesus Christ.
Reconciliation
- Working for reconciliation in cultures plagued by violence, including our own.
Join with other Presbyterians who share your passion for world mission. Be part of God’s work to change the world.
Who should come?
- Mission leaders
- Mission network members
- World/global mission committees
- Pastors
- Anyone who is interested in engaging in God’s mission
Pre-conference events
Wednesday, 7:30–9:30 a.m.
A gathering for folks doing (or interested in) mission with our partner church in Brazil.
Wednesday and Thursday, 9 a.m.
Building Beloved Community: An Introduction to Antiracism Training as a Tool for Building Multiracial, Multicultural Community
Facilitators: Teresa Chávez Sauceda, freelance theologian and consultant, and David Bowie, pastor, Rice Memorial Presbyterian Church, Atlanta
How do we build multiracial, multicultural congregations and communities where racism does not limit the potential of individuals to participate and contribute their gifts? How do we equip congregations to witness to combating racism in our worship life, mission life, and community life?
Sponsored by Racial Ethnic and Women’s Ministry/Presbyterian Women and Compassion, Peace and Justice
Pre-conference mission network meetings
Wednesday and Thursday, 1:30 p.m.
Iraq Partnership Mission Network
Learn about the challenges of living with a lack of security, infrastructure, clean water and electricity in Iraq. Share the hope of Iraqi Presbyterians. Support displaced Iraqis wherever they have taken refuge.
Thursday, 10 a.m.
Mexico Mission Network
Learn about current partnerships with Mexican presbyteries and churches and
a plan to expand to three regional mission networks in Mexico.
Saturday, noon
Mission Networks Luncheon
This informative presentation will highlight the important, often sensitive ministry work that the PC(USA) and mission networks are doing in global hot spots like Iraq and Sudan. Come with your questions, and we’ll provide the food! Learn about what mission networks have been doing in various global situations and what you can do to be involved through prayer, involvement, and support.
Special activities
Friday, 8 p.m.
Café
The Café is a coffeehouse where conversations are interspersed with artistic presentations by Presbyterians passionate about mission.
Friday, 8 p.m.
Mission Movie Theater
Watch short mission videos showcasing ministries that show how we can make a difference by seeking justice, witnessing, and reconciling with one another.
Friday, 9:30 p.m.
Young Adult Hospitality Suite
Join other young adults for time with other young adults—free food provided! Drop by, meet new people, and catch up with friends participating in other conferences.
Plenary sessions
Thursday, 7 p.m.
World Mission Matters: Getting to Know You!
Hunter Farrell, director of Presbyterian World Mission, welcomes you to World Mission Matters. Meet new friends and build lifelong relationships for mission engagement.
Friday, July 1, noon
World Mission Matters Luncheon and Plenary - Global Discipleship: From Loaves and Fishes to Changing the World
Keynote: Hunter Farrell, director, Presbyterian World Mission, GAMC
Join with hundreds of Presbyterians and our mission partners from around the world as we work together in Jesus‘ name for significant change in a world shackled by poverty, violence, and fear. Our partners are calling on us to go deeper in Gods mission and join them in addressing the root causes of the problems that deprive them of food, justice, health, education, and life itself. This journey will be life-giving—not only for our global partners, but for us as well as we dare to offer our very lives in global discipleship to Jesus Christ.
Friday, 2 p.m.
Identifying and Addressing the Root Causes of Poverty
Speakers: Jed Koball, PC(USA) mission worker in Peru, and Sherly Echevarría, Joining Hands Against Hunger in Peru
For more than 10 years, the PC(USA), the Presbyterian Hunger Program, and Giddings-Lovejoy Presbytery have accompanied our global partner Red Uniendo Manos en Peru in its campaign to bring international attention to La Oroya, a mining community plagued with some of the highest contamination rates in the world, in search of economic justice and a healthy environment. The children of La Oroya are demanding adequate health care, the enforcement of environmental cleanup decrees, and the political commitment to never let this happen again, anywhere.
Saturday, 8 a.m.
Engaging in Reconciliation Amidst Cultures of Violence, Including Our Own
Speakers: Doug Baker, mission worker in Northern Ireland, and Elizabeth Hughes, minister of Whitehouse congregation in northern Belfast
As partners in Christ’s mission, the speakers will share what they have learned as they have engaged in the ministry of reconciliation in Northern Ireland. This session will illustrate how mission practiced in community can transform our own lives and how our experiences in mission have come to have a profound impact on both sides of the Atlantic.
Dinner sessions
Friday, 6 p.m.
Sharing the Good News of God’s Love in Jesus Christ
Speakers: Leith Fujii and Carol Fujii, PC(USA) mission workers in Thailand
The Fujiis and representatives from the Church of Thailand will discuss their work of strengthening the church’s witness through the proclamation of the gospel message in Thailand and around the world. This session will highlight the important role of partnership in evangelism, illustrated by the development of an emerging generation of church leaders at the Bangkok Institute of Theology who are passionate about sharing the good news.
Friday, 6 p.m.
World Mission Matters Young Adult Track Dinner/Fellowship
This is a chance for young adults to gather at an off-site location for a service learning opportunity with Urban Mountain Farms, an intentional community in Indianapolis. We will talk about what mutual mission is, how young adults can contribute to Presbyterian World Mission, and what our experience tells us about how to engage
in mission.
Workshops
Friday, 10:30 a.m.
Faithful and Effective Mission Trips
Led by Ellen Sherby, coordinator, and Rob Moore, associate, Equipping for Mission Involvement, World Mission
Learn about current short-term mission ministries and find out how congregations can live into this calling faithfully and effectively. This workshop will explore discerning the partner/country to visit, preparing participants, coordinating the hosts, implementing nuts and bolts, debriefing the experience, and letting it transform our daily lives at home.
Friday, 10:30 a.m.
Global Discipleship: Effective Networking for World Change
Led by Hunter Farrell, director, World Mission; Susan Jackson-Dowd, communications coordinator and Presbyterian Women
Following Jesus Christ faithfully in today’s world requires us to work together with Christian partners in other countries and address critical global issues such as poverty, violence and all people’s need for Jesus Christ. Participants will explore concrete strategies to do this together in more faithful and effective ways.
Sponsored by Presbyterian World Mission and Presbyterian Women
Friday, 4 p.m.
Living Out Christian Vocation Through Mission
Led by Jed Koball, Mamie Broadhurst, and Richard Williams, PC(USA) mission workers and former Young Adult Volunteers
How can volunteer service with the church translate into professional mission opportunities? Participants will discuss church leadership, project management, and what working in the church is like for a young adult. By examining the opportunities and strategies for engagement, participants will gain tools for their own discernment process as well as access to experienced voices to shape engagement in the wider world.
Friday, 4 p.m.
The La Oroya Model: How Communities of Mission Practice Can Address Root Causes of Poverty
Led by Jed Koball, PC(USA) mission worker in Peru, and Ellie Stock, pastor, Giddings-Lovejoy Presbytery
Retracing the steps of a 10-year partnership and campaign to bring economic and environmental justice to La Oroya, a mining town in the Peruvian Andes, this workshop will offer strategies and insights into accompanying global partners and orchestrating international advocacy campaigns. Participants will discuss how to address root causes of poverty from within their own communities of mission practice and learn about ongoing campaigns in which they may get involved.
Friday, 4 p.m.
Reconciliation: Insights from a World in Conflict
Led by Debbie Braaksma, Africa area coordinator, Presbyterian World Mission, and Doug Baker, PC(USA) mission worker in Northern Ireland
Highlighting stories and strategies on reconciliation learned from the Presbyterian mission field, this workshop offers two perspectives on the cultures of violence encountered in mission and how people of faith respond to real divisions in a fragmented world. It will provide examples and resources to help mission newcomers and veterans understand what is involved in a ministry of reconciliation.
Friday, 4 p.m.
Being in Communion with the Global Reformed Family
Led by Clifton Kirkpatrick, executive committee member, World Communion of Reformed Churches
Exploring what it means for a congregation to live out the reality that we are “in communion” with Reformed Christians around the world.
Friday, 4 p.m.
Presbyterians in the Global Interfaith Community
Led by Nabil Abadir, global partner from Egypt; David Berry, associate pastor for Mission, Second Presbyterian Church, Indianapolis; and Rick Ufford-Chase,
co-director, Stony Point Center
This workshop will focus on how we Presbyterians share as equal partners in an interfaith, globalized world. We will discuss the global Presbyterian presence, interfaith and intercultural learning, and emerging areas of opportunity as we seek to be faithful and respectful in a shrinking globe. Together we will examine issues of evangelism, cultural sensitivity, ethical partnerships, and strategies for growing in faith alongside our global religious peers.
Friday, 4 p.m.
Medical Mission for the Long Term: Serving with People Who Are Vulnerable
Led by Will Browne, executive director, Medical Benevolence Foundation
We will explore how congregations and individuals can be involved in medical mission for the long term, ministering to human needs and empowering people who live in vulnerable circumstances. We will look at specific examples from Congo, Malawi, Haiti, and the Indian subcontinent.
Friday, 4 p.m.
Advocacy That Mobilizes
Led by Alexa Smith, associate for Joining Hands Against Hunger
This workshop’s focus is on how to develop faith-based strategies to mobilize Presbyterians, other religious communities, and secular allies for social change. Mission co-workers and partners will identify how mobilizing for global campaigns is a necessary approach in a broken world that cannot be mended by charity alone.
Friday, 4 p.m.
Through the Heart: Creative Methods of HIV and AIDS Education
Led by Joy Raatz, associate HIV/AIDS initiative facilitator, Presbyterian World Mission, and Phyllis Wezeman, president
of Active Learning Associates, Inc.
This workshop will focus on the AIDS’ work of Nkhoma Synod of Malawi, Africa, highlighting an approach for creative methods of HIV and AIDS EDUCATION, currently being delivered through the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian through Malawi Matters Inc. and supported by International Health and Development. It uses the “arts,” or indigenous methods, to respect the culture and use what people already know to teach methods of prevention.
Friday, 4 p.m.
Mission Trips: From Tourism to Partnership
Led by J. C. Austin, director of the Center for Christian Leadership at Auburn Theological Seminary
This workshop will look at the theological, spiritual, and practical dimensions of how mission trips can transcend the old models of tourism/work projects and become opportunities for spiritual and vocational transformation for church members, pastors, and seminarians. We will explore the challenges faced by travelers and international mission partners, and highlight the needs of both. How can mission trips embody our commitment
to partnership?
Friday, 4 p.m.
Addressing the Root Causes of Poverty
Led by Tricia Lloyd-Sidle and Christine Coy Fohr, Just Faith Ministries
Join us for a prayerful small-group process that takes us deep—into ourselves and our faith—as we reflect together on the difficult realities faced by a hurting world. Drawing on Scripture and a letter from a Salvadoran woman struggling with difficult choices, we will reflect on poverty’s causes. We will close by looking at “best practices” for addressing the root causes of poverty built on an ever-widening sense of connection, compassion, and co-responsibility.
Friday, 4 p.m.
The Internet, the Ecumenical Movement, and Young Adults
Led by Meagan Manas, a young adult and part-time staff of Presbyterian Women and the National Council of Churches, where she has worked with both New Fire, a young adult ecumenical movement, and the newly launched North American Student Christian Movement.
This workshop will seek to connect ecumenically engaged young adults through awareness, education, and relationship. Participants will learn how to connect with different organizations and initiatives through a Web-based forum in which all can share news and events, jobs and opportunities, educational resources, personal stories and witness, and strategies for activism. Find out why being “ecumenical” encourages us to expand our understandings of other Christian traditions and more fully enrich the life of the body of Christ.
Saturday, 10 a.m.
Simple Living
Led by Blair Buckley, former Young Adult Volunteer
This workshop will provide an introduction to the basic principles of simple living as well as specific strategies for reducing consumption and waste in the household. Using examples from the global South and the Young Adult Volunteer program, it will demonstrate how a few intentional changes can make a big impact in the mission field. The workshop will provide participants with tools they can share with their home congregations and bring their lifestyles more closely into alignment with those of our global partners.
Saturday, 10 a.m.
Sharing the Good News Up Close and Personal
Led by Leith and Carol Fujii, PC(USA) mission workers in Thailand
Participants will explore the basics in how to share the gospel one-on-one and build their capacity in context-sensitive evangelism. Engaging with passionate, seasoned evangelists will inspire and equip participants to respond to the Great Commission and make disciples in any nation.
Saturday, 10 a.m.
Peacemaking and Accompaniment: Models of Ministry for Cutting-Edge Mission
Led by Linda Eastwood, coordinator of the Colombia Accompaniment Program, and Sarah Henken, PC(USA) mission worker, regional liaison for the Andean region
Starting with the violence and forced displacement of people that gave rise to the PC(USA)’s accompaniment program in Colombia, we will look at accompaniment as an emerging model for ministry and mission engagement in the 21st century. We will share stories of accompaniers, of our mission partners in Colombia, and of the displaced people served by programs of accompaniment. We will talk about partnership in mission and how the Colombia Accompaniment Program models partnership by bringing together World Mission, the Peacemaking Program, an overseas Presbyterian denomination, and the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship.
Saturday, 10 a.m.
Preparing for Short-term Mission: Understanding Best (and Worst) Practices
Led by Ellen Sherby, coordinator of Equipping for Mission Involvement, Presbyterian World Mission, and Rebecca Landholm, First Presbyterian Church, Boone, N.C.
This workshop will describe how we can plan strategically to change our casual desire to go somewhere and “fix things” into a deeper concern for what God can do through our mission trip and how. How can our mission trips change us and change the world? How do our culture and beliefs color what we see and hear when we travel? What can we learn from those we hope to teach?
Saturday, 10 a.m.
Being a Missional Church: Every Member a Missionary
Led by Donald Dawson, director of World Mission Initiative, Pittsburgh Seminary and the New Wilmington Mission Conference
These days every church wants to be “missional.” What does that mean? This workshop will help participants understand what it means to be missional and how they can help their churches move in that direction. At the heart of this workshop is Jesus’ commission, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
Saturday, 10 a.m.
From Mission as Program to Mission as Purpose
Led by Darrell L. Guder, professor of Missional and Ecumenical Theology, Princeton Theological Seminary
Visionary author, teacher, and missional thinker Darrell Guder will show how the radical challenges confronting the churches of Western Christendom require a major reorientation of our understanding of mission. The issues are not merely strategy, planning, or programs, but the fundamental biblical and theological definition of the church and its purpose.
In this workshop we will examine the factors that have brought us to the present crisis, consider the resources for the needed reorientation, and address the obstacles to missional conversion.
Saturday, 10 a.m.
Walking a Mile with the Global South: A Reflection on Southern Christianity and Its Challenge to the North
Led by David M. Mwihia, adjunct faculty, United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities
Despite its roots in the Ancient Near East, Christianity came to be identified with Europe and, later, the United States. Today, however, most Christians live in the Global South, and this region hosts the greatest dynamism and innovation in Christian thought and practice. This workshop focuses on Independent and Pentecostal churches in Africa as illustrative of the historical, political, and economic contexts of churches in the Global South. How can Christians from South and North engage in dialogue and strengthen their common witness in service to God’s mission?
Saturday, 10 a.m.
Talents and Treasure: Funding Mission Co-workers
Led by Bruce Whearty and Chris Roseland, church support associates, Communication and Funds Development
Learn about trends and challenges in mission support, why generating support for mission co-workers is one of the top priorities of Presbyterian World Mission, and the relationship between successful funding and sharing engaging stories as part of mission interpretation.
Saturday, 10 a.m.
Human Trafficking: Modern-Day Slavery
Led by Martha Bettis Gee, associate for Child Advocacy and Networking
The trafficking of human beings, modern-day slavery, is a multidimensional threat that deprives men, women, and children in the United States and around the world of their human rights. This global scourge increases health risks and fuels the growth of organized crime. Since 2006, when the General Assembly spoke out about child sex trafficking, General Assembly Mission Council staff have been working together to coordinate their work on this issue. This workshop will provide insight into critical concerns, Presbyterian response, and ongoing needs in this crucial area.
Saturday, 10 a.m.
Arts for Mission
Led by Lis Valle, associate director, Global Discipleship, Presbyterian World Mission, and Matt Black, former Young Adult Volunteer
This workshop will explore how artistic expression can lift up the root causes of global issues, generate awareness, and challenge the audience to address those issues as well as make lifestyle changes that will help them to partner with God in creating a better world. Participants will work hands-on with faithful artists as they share tips, techniques, and examples of using art to generate transformation.
Saturday, 10 a.m.
Building God’s Reign: Infrastructure as Mission
Led by D. Chris McRae, director, Living Waters for the World program, and David Brothers, director, Edge Outreach India
This workshop will present two case studies about how mutual mission partnerships can build an ethic of community action that trusting in the power of God’s grace creates pragmatic hope in the lives of poor and oppressed people. One study focuses on building clean water systems; the other describes building solar power systems for Haitian communities that have no electricity or whose power grid is unreliable or too expensive.
Saturday, 10 a.m.
Case Studies in Poverty— Sudan and Mexico
Led by Debbie Braaksma, Africa area coordinator, Presbyterian World Mission, and Dave Thomas, PC(USA) mission worker, regional liaison for Mexico
This workshop will provide in-depth analysis in response to the General Assembly’s call for the study of groups affected by poverty and globalization. World Mission staff will provide a comprehensive look at two countries and detail the issues that brought them to the concern of the G.A., the Presbyterian response so far, and needs going forward.
Saturday, 10 a.m.
Young Adult Service Forum
Led Essie Buxton, associate, Young Adult Volunteers program, Presbyterian World Mission (present and program staff)
Interested in service? Want to find out about opportunities through the PC(USA)? This will be an open forum for conversation with young adults who have worked in mission and will provide an informal time for questions and answers. Sponsored by the PC(USA) Young Adult Volunteer (YAV) program, this yearlong service program offers domestic and international placement.
Saturday, 2 p.m.
Global Discipleship: From Loaves and Fishes to Changing the World (luncheon)
Keynote: Hunter Farrell, director of Presbyterian World Mission
Join with hundreds of Presbyterians and our mission partners from around the world as we work together in Jesus’ name for significant change in a world shackled by poverty, violence, and fear.
