Joining Hearts and Hands

The generosity of donors at First Presbyterian Church of Santa Fe inspires kindred congregations to unite to fund an educational mission worker to Sudan. An anonymous couple with profound concerns about children, poverty, Africa and AIDS have started a mission giving trend across the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to positively impact lives in Sudan.

The anonymous pair, members of First Presbyterian Church, gave a total of $150,000 last year to the Mission Initiative: Joining Hearts & Hands, $50,000 of it designated to funding a new educational mission worker position in southern Sudan. Their gift was part of the church's $600,000 tithe for local, national, and international mission projects from its $6 million capital campaign.

"These are compassionate individuals who wanted to do something major to improve the quality of life for our world's children," said the Rev. Dr. Sheila Gustafson, the couple's pastor. "Because I was aware of the vehicle of Joining Hearts & Hands, I was able to connect them with information about what projects were available."

Among the Joining Hearts & Hands projects that most closely matched the donors' interests was the appointment of a new education officer to work in partnership with the Presbyterian Church of Sudan, the Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church and ACROSS (the Association of Christian Resource Organizations Serving Sudan) to rebuild and strengthen the country's educational infrastructure, particularly in southern Sudan. The cost for a three-year appointment, however, was estimated at more than $230,000, requiring that other gifts - both large and small - make up the difference.

Through strategically targeted personal visits and outreach efforts by the national staff of Joining Hearts & Hands in cooperation with their partners in the World Mission offices, word of the need to fund this critical position soon reached other PC(USA) congregations from the Southeast to the Heartland.

One of those congregations, Morningside Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, Ga., found a natural champion in the Rev. Joanna M. Adams, the congregation's pastor and co-chair of the Joining Hearts & Hands national steering committee.

"As a missional people, we are deeply committed to supporting the ministry of our Sudanese partners as they continue to bear witness to the saving grace of Jesus Christ in this war-ravaged land," Adams said. "Joining Hearts & Hands is about moving toward God's new day in hope, and honoring the traditional commitments we share as Presbyterians."

Morningside's mission committee chair, Carolyn Morton, couldn't have agreed more. "When the mission committee reviewed the opportunities to support global missions through Joining Hearts & Hands, one absolutely jumped off the page. The chance to send help and hope to the Sudan was irresistible to all of the committee members," Morton said. "We had a lively e-mail conversation between meetings about the horrors in the Darfur region, safety concerns for the mission educator, and our joy at being able to join others in our denomination to address one of the neediest places on God's earth. We are sending more than money; we are sending our prayers and genuine concern for people who need it."

Morningside's gift of $25,000 was received in January 2007.

Village Presbyterian Church in Prairie Village, Ks., had previously added $7,500 to the growing total in December 2006. Also in December, the mission committee of Starmount Presbyterian Church in Greensboro, N.C., voted unanimously to pledge $18,000 to the Sudan mission worker account. The first installment of their pledge was received this month.

A 430-member congregation in suburban Greensboro, Starmount has a personal commitment to Sudan, in part through the relationships it has built with a number of the former "Lost Boys" of Sudan, four of whom joined Starmount after resettling in Greensboro.

"In the mission committee, we've seen it happen again and again that when people in our church give money, they are more likely to give it to these children of Sudan," said Katherine Poole, a member of Starmount's mission committee. "That's just the way people are. They relate to this new mission position on a personal level because of the relationships we already share with the Sudanese community. I am grateful that churches across the denomination can band together to do this kind of work."

Said David York, director of Joining Hearts & Hands, "This is a great example of how something big can happen when we pool our resources."

With the first year's funding for the new Sudan position now firmly in place, conversations are continuing with several presbyteries and churches which are affiliated with the Sudan Advocacy Network to complete the balance. A decision is expected later this month.

Matt Davis, associate pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Santa Fe, acknowledged that things have come full circle. "Our hope was that other churches would be inspired by example to make this happen," he said. "That was the hope; I see it is a now dream come true."