Outreach Stories

On the third Sunday of March 1557, in the bay of what nine years later would become known as the city of Rio de Janeiro, Dr. Pierre Richier officiated over the first Reformed service of communion on our continent. Richier was one of the two pastors sent by John Calvin to serve a group of 500 French colonists and to share the Christian faith with the Tupi people who inhabited the area.

The events that we meditate upon during Holy Week remind us that through Christ’s life, death and resurrection we are received into communion with God and God’s beloved people. 

by Jeff Ritchie

Almost 2,000 years ago the Apostle Peter wrote a letter to people whom he called “the exiles of the Dispersion” living in what is now Turkey. Who were these “exiles of the Dispersion?” They were Jews living outside their homeland dispersed among the non-Jewish majority population, and so were called by a short-hand word, “the Diaspora.” These Jews had come to believe in Jesus as their Messiah, and they in turn shared their new faith with Gentiles. The churches to whom Peter wrote were born out of mission among the Jewish Diaspora.

Today the phenomenon of Diaspora Mission is once again a major part of God’s mission to build up his kingdom. 

by Jeff Ritchie

November 30 is the Feast Day of St. Andrew, one of the original twelve disciples of Jesus. Andrew has always been my favorite among Jesus’ first disciples, and this blog is dedicated to St. Andrew.

Andrew was the first evangelist of the Christian faith, for he brought his brother Simon Peter to Jesus (John 1:41). As I have been involved, directly or indirectly, in sharing the Good News of Jesus most of my adult life, Andrew has been a model disciple for me.

Andrew was not one of the three disciples closest to Jesus – Peter, James and John. He played a background role as his more famous brother became the spokesperson of the early church. Nevertheless, a look back at references to Andrew in the Gospel accounts reveals that he made key contributions to the story that became the Good News, the Gospel.

by Nancy Fox

We know the story of Martin Luther, and this 500th anniversary of the posting of his ninety-five theses in Wittenberg has refreshed our memories.  To some degree, many of us also know the story of John Calvin, the spiritual father of our Reformed/Presbyterian branch of the movement, and of the church he led in Geneva. But what about the Reformed churches in Syria and Lebanon? On this Reformation Day, let me tell you some of their stories and how all of these connect…

by Juan Sarmiento

The dynamism of the historical movement within Western Christianity known as the Reformation has had much to do with its emphasis on translation and communication efforts. Thoughtfully appreciating different cultures and diligently working to convey God’s message in ways that relate to a broader audience has been at the core of our Reformed identity since its early days.  

Known as the “Ninety-Five Theses,” Martin Luther used Latin for the publication of his “Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences” in October 1517. As other documents intended to provoke the exchange of opinions among university students, it was reasonable to use the language of the church, academic and administrative elite. With help from the new advances of the printing press, the polemical document was soon printed and distributed in many surrounding towns. It was three months later when, translated into German, it “became viral” throughout Germany. On March 1518, he published another piece entitled “Sermon on Indulgences and Grace.” 

by Marilyn Borst

I have just returned from my 10th trip to Iraq. I first encountered our Presbyterian family there on a trip in 1998. My admiration for their faith and faithfulness under difficult circumstances multiplies with each visit. Middle Easterners have “hospitality” in their DNA and food is one of the ways in which this is extended – with frequency and in abundance! In an attempt to offset the generous hospitality we had been receiving from the church in Baghdad, I had taken to walking laps in the church courtyard/parking lot, just down the stairs from the guest apartments where we have been staying. 30 minutes goes slowly when you are walking confined laps so I passed the time singing hymns (in my head, because everyone else is asleep) and praying for that place and for its work and witness. Each lap took me past the "guard house" outside the gates where, around the clock, in eight hour shifts, Iraqi soldiers protect this Holy Ground – and I offer a prayer of thanks for them.

by Rob Weingartner

Jesus talks about the Kingdom of God (in Matthew, the Kingdom of Heaven) more than any other topic or theme. He speaks of how the Kingdom is at hand, among us. We are to seek first the Kingdom of God and to pray that his Kingdom will come. We are to proclaim the Kingdom and enter into the Kingdom.

Looking far ahead, Jesus tells us that people will come from east and west, from north and south, and will eat in the kingdom of God.

To what shall we compare this Kingdom, this grace-filled realm in which God is recognized as having full claim on us? Jesus unpacks the meaning of the Kingdom in parable after parable.

We announce… We behold… We exhibit… But we do not “build” the Kingdom, despite how popular that phrase has become in church circles.

by Jeff Ritchie

My wife and I live in Jacksonville, Florida. Along with thousands of other Floridians, we evacuated as Hurricane Irma bore down on Florida a few weeks ago. Returning after the hurricane, we found that our home was spared; electricity was back on, and the neighbors who had not evacuated had already cleaned the debris from all the yards of the houses on our street. We were the fortunate ones. Others in Jacksonville and other parts of Florida were not so fortunate. Neither were far too many people in Texas and in several Caribbean countries who will be spending years getting their lives back in order.  

Last week on The Outreach Foundation’s Facebook page we posted this prayer request regarding hurricanes Harvey and Irma, “Please join us in praying that relief efforts will restore lives and that we will ultimately see the good from these events.” I started thinking about what “the good from these events” might look like. And the image of a magnifying glass came to me.

In disasters we experience great loss – the destruction of property, the loss of irreplaceable parts of our past, and we mourn even as we wonder about the future. At the same time, however, we find surprising, unexpected goodness, love and support that the disaster, or rather, the response to the disaster, magnifies.