What the Mission Pledge makes possible
Pop quiz! Name three things that the Mission Pledge makes possible.
If you answered “Bible studies, mission and Presbyterian Women’s events,” you must know about PW in the Presbytery of South Louisiana. That presbytery and Cuba’s Presbytery of Matanzas have been partners since 1986, but like many things started in the larger church, dedicated support made possible by Presbyterian Women’s Mission Pledge has expanded the partnership.
Presbyterian Women Laura St. Clair, Jan Boydstun and Kathy Randall have ensured that PW/Horizons Bible studies play an ongoing role in the partnership between the Presbytery of South Louisiana and the Presbytery of Matanzas. Photo by Ford Dieth.
In 2007, when members of St. Charles Avenue Presbyterian Church in New Orleans were planning a mission trip to El Fuerte Presbyterian Church in Cuba, Laura St. Clair (a member of PW and the trip leader) suggested they take Spanish-language copies of PW/Horizons Bible studies. They took 30 copies, and have taken at least that many every year since then.
“It’s been a mission of love for us to study the same Bible study as our sisters and brothers at El Fuerte,” says Kathy Randall, a member of PW at St. Charles Avenue PC, who is serving as moderator for the Presbytery of South Louisiana.
In 2011, El Fuerte learned that their water supply was contaminated. Members of St. Charles Avenue turned to Living Waters for the World (a past recipient of PW’s Birthday Offering) to learn how to install a water purification system. They returned to El Fuerte in 2012 to install it and to train local people on its use and maintenance. Since then, St. Charles Avenue, University Presbyterian Church and the Presbytery of South Louisiana have provided funding and training for four water purification systems at other churches in the Presbytery of Matanzas.
Obviously, the 2015–2016 PW/Horizons Bible study, Come to the Waters/Vengan a Las Aguas, has special significance to the Presbytery of South Louisiana and the Presbytery of Matanzas. When PW in the Presbytery of South Louisiana held three previews of the Bible study throughout their region, attendees gave $1,142 to purchase copies of Vengan a Las Aguas for their partners in Cuba. With that and an additional gift of $425 from St. Charles Avenue, Laura St. Clair and other mission trip participants took 167 copies of the study to women in the Presbytery of Matanzas.
Pam De Laureal and Áimee Bell, two members of Saint Charles Avenue, give copies of Vengan a Las Aguas to members of El Fuerte. Photo by Michael Bell.
PWP in South Louisiana didn’t stop at just purchasing and hand-delivering studies. Kathy Randall was eager to share PW’s enthusiastic support of the project with the entire presbytery, so she asked PWP moderator Jan Boydstun to open the presbytery meeting with a devotion and blessing for the studies before they were packed up for Cuba.
The generosity of PW throughout the Presbytery of South Louisiana is remarkable. And so is yours! Your gift to the Mission Pledge made possible foundational elements of this project:
- PW leaders’ prayerful selection of the Bible study theme and writer
- Translation and printing of Spanish-language Bible studies
- PW meetings at all levels of the church
- Highlighting mission possibilities through Horizons and other PW resources
So for Giving Tuesday, consider giving to Presbyterian Women. Consider blessing your Presbyterian Women’s organization with a gift of any size. Even the most modest of gifts will make a big impact by helping to ensure that the life-giving, Christ-centered work of your PW can continue well into the future.
P.S. You can read more about this partnership in the January/February 2016 issue of Horizons!
