Faithful to Jesus' prophetic vision, the Presbyterian Association for Community Transformation (PACT) is a network of community-based ministries of compassion, justice, worship and witness. PACT provides spiritual and practical resources for engaging in the prophetic ministry of transformation of communities and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
Join PHEWA and take part in this ministry.
Congregational Based Community Organizing (CBCO)
Congregational Based Community Organizing (CBCO) is another component of the work of the Presbyterian Hunger Program (PHP). CBCO, the model used by PHEWA and PACT members for decades, is a strategy for rebuilding communities, revitalizing congregations and developing individuals into effective leaders and change agents. There are over 180 congregational-based community organizations across the country, and through a percentage of One Great Hour of Sharing funds, PHP has provided funding for most of them, either in the start up phase or in their on-going efforts with affordable housing and homelessness. Read more and see how your congregation can get connected
Congregation-Based Community Organizing; Building Vibrant Congregations, Building Just Communities
This fourteen page primer introduces the Congregational-Based Community Organizing (CBCO) model and offers a glimpse into the
experience of several congregations involved in this growing movement. It was written by Trey Hammond (see above) and Phil Tom in 2010 when Phil served the national offices of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) as Associate for Small Church & Community Ministry. Phil was the recipient of PHEWA’s 2009 Rodney T. Martin Award and, since September of 2010 has served as Director of the Center for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships at the U.S. Department of Labor.
“Presbyterian congregations across the country are seeking to experience spiritual renewal, to revitalize their congregational life and to transform themselves and their communities. They want to create a deeper sense of community, to fulfill the biblical mandate to pursue justice and create a better world. Congregational-based community organizing (CBCO) is a means for congregations to engage their members to connect with their neighbors and communities, and to address social inequalities while simultaneously transforming communities and congregational life. Through this model, congregational members share their stories, deepen relationships with one another, discover issues of common concerns, develop leaders and act to improve the lives of members of their communities.” Read more
2012 General Assembly action On Instructing Mission Responsibility Through Investment (MRTI) to Study and Report Corporate Practices of Health Insurance Companies and Possible Divestment of Same
Serving as Overture Advocate from the Mid-Kentucky Presbytery for this item of business was a labor of love and justice for the Rev. Dr. Johanna W.H.van Wijk-Bos, as you will read in her report on this action of the General Assembly. Read more to access web link to the action and for Johanna’s moving and powerful “Advocacy Statement,” delivered to the Health Issues Committee of the 220th General Assembly (2012).
Also see, in Unbound:
Divesting from the Private Health Insurance Industry; Health Care Workers, Patients Lead Fight for Divestment from Private Health Insurance Industry: Presbyterian Church and TIAA-CREF Hear Their Call, By Katie Robbins, and “220th GA Healthcare Insurance Resolution Deepens “Family Dilemma; Are PC(USA) Ties to Humana a Possible Obstacle to Divestment?” By Rev. Bebb Wheeler Stone, PhD.
Kentucky Presbyterian group urges scrutiny of big health insurers, with eye to possible divestment
By Johanna W.H.van Wijk-Bos
On Saturday, Sept. 17, 2011, the Mid-Kentucky Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church (USA) voted at its regular stated meeting, held in Glasgow, Ky., to send an overture to its 220th General Assembly. The overture requests of the General Assembly to instruct the committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investment (MRTI) to report on the corporate practices of Cigna, Aetna, Humana, WellPoint, and UnitedHealthcare insurance companies to the General Assembly Mission Council.
It is the hope of those who have advocated for this cause in our Presbytery that other Presbyteries of the Church will join Mid-Kentucky and pass the Overture, so the endorsement may come to the General Assembly from as large a number of Presbyteries as possible.
Health Care Versus Wealth Care: Investors with a Conscience Should Divest from Health Insurance Companies
By Rob Stone
Tikkun Magazine, September 16, 2011
I was the doctor on duty one night in August when the ambulance rushed a man into our Midwestern hospital ER. As I walked into the room, the scene was right out of TV. A nurse was trying to start an IV. Someone was running an EKG. A student had just put oxygen in the patient’s nose. The room seemed crowded. The paramedics were sweating and slightly out of breath.
But my attention was on a pale, thin, fifty-five-year-old man sitting bolt upright on a gurney, clutching his chest and straining to breathe. Cold sweat dripped off his nose. I asked a couple of quick questions as I leaned him forward to listen to his lungs. Someone handed me his EKG showing an acute heart attack.
Creating Pathways of New Life in Urban Congregations
Creating Pathways for New Life in Urban Congregations: Change and Opportunity is a five year follow-up to the Vital Signs of Urban Congregations resource. This resource focuses on how the twelve congregations handled change and opportunity as they moved along in their ministry journeys. A mixture of stories, testimonies, conversations and observations of the dynamics of the urban congregations demonstrates their lives and their witness the Gospel of Jesus Christ in their neighborhoods.
Free (plus shipping) PDS #2331610001. Order from the Church Store.
In Memoriam: A. David Bos
The Rev. A. David Bos
With deep sadness we report that the Rev. A. David Bos, member of PHEWA’s Presbyterian Association for Community Transformation (PACT) network leadership team and a leader of Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care and of the national single payer movement, died on February 12, 2011, following a brief illness. We have lost a dear friend and colleague whose vision and courage have expanded our movement far beyond what we would have been able to do without him.
With his friends Hal Sanders and Bebb Stone of Pittsburgh, David led the effort to successfully overture the 218th General Assembly (2008) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to support and advocate for single payer health care. Their successful passage of a "single payer overture" brought resources for single payer education programs to communities across the country and inspired other faith groups to pick up the challenge.
PACT History and Principles
PACT is the successor organization of two previous PHEWA networks — COMANO (Community Ministries and Neighborhood Organizations) and UNCL (Urban Network of Congregational Leadership), the latter of which had been known originally as UPPA (Urban Presbyterian Pastors Association). Read PACT's history.
We believe that community transformation is an integral part of the whole ministry of the Church. Read PACT's principles.
A Progress Report on the PC(USA) Funded Seminars
Educating about & Advocating for Single-Payer Universal Healthcare Reform
In the fall of 2007, the Leadership Team of the Presbyterian Association for Community Transformation (PACT), a network of the Presbyterian Health, Education and Welfare Association (PHEWA), decided to take the issue of healthcare reform to its network meeting at the PHEWA Biennial Social Justice Ministries Conference in New Orleans in January. At the conference, the network drafted a resolution recommending support for House Resolution 676, the single payer bill pending before Congress, and the membership of PHEWA enacted the endorsement of the legislation.
