Mission Matters
What Would It Take to Change the World? Part II
It used to be that the church attracted young adults by offering nice, shiny programs and getting the popular kids up front leading songs and Bible studies. That was how you filled the youth group, we thought! Whether that was a successful strategy or not in that era—it sure didn’t work for me!—it’s clear that today’s younger generations are less concerned about our efforts to attract them than they are about what the church is actually doing about the issues that they care the most about: global poverty, the environment, human trafficking, and injustice. In fact, in conversation with young adults, you may find that their primary draw to your church is your congregation’s involvement in mission: many young adults want to be part of an effort that’s making a difference in the world.
So what would it take to change the world, exactly? Based on our church’s 178 years of mission experience—a movement that has resulted in the establishment of thousands of schools, universities, churches, seminaries, hospitals, and clinics around the world, and globally brought more than 94 million people to faith in Jesus Christ—I dedicated this column in April to the first component of world change: the identification and empowerment of local leaders. Today, I’d like to discuss a second way you can connect your congregation with what God is doing in dozens of countries around the world through Presbyterian World Mission: by helping communities improve the quality of education for one million children, both in the United States and internationally.
In the last century, U.S. Methodists committed to helping educate thousands of black South Africans at a time of “banned books and whispering voices,” when many despaired of the possibility of a nation where blacks and whites could actually live together in peace. But there was one child who received an education from a mission school in Eastern Cape Province. He grew up shaped by the knowledge and skills provided not only by that good Methodist education, but also by the Christian values that came with that mission education. The child later recounted that he began to see his oppressor not as his enemy, but as his brother (and sister). That child, of course, was named Nelson Mandela. Against all odds, at a time of deep despair and growing violence, Nelson Mandela used his education to lead his people to freedom and the whole South African nation toward reconciliation. At the end of his life, Mandela said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
So what would it look like if Presbyterian congregations across the United States worked together with our global partners in places like Guatemala, Haiti, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, South Sudan, Thailand, and the Philippines—and with our public schools in the United States—to actually improve the quality of education for one million of God’s children? Can you imagine the impact on the world this effort would have?
If your congregation or presbytery feels a desire to help change the world, beginning with children, I hope you’ll contact my colleague Frank Dimmock (frank.dimmock@pcusa.org) and check out the One Million Children Campaign website at: https://www.presbyterianmission.org/ministries/call-mission/globalpoverty/
Click here to go back to the main Mission Matters page.
