Invitation to Basic Mission

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

We give thanks for your leadership in the life and mission of the church of Jesus Christ! Because of your faithfulness, the Philadelphia metropolitan area continues to be blessed by ministries bearing the distinctive testimony of what it means to be Presbyterian. As the Presbytery of Philadelphia looks toward celebrating its 300th anniversary in 2017, will you join us as we renew our commitment to offering the best possible witness of our connectional heritage?

Together, we stand in the footsteps of a faith community whose witness influenced the drafters of our founding documents as a nation. They wrestled to speak a prophetic word to their culture on issues such as slavery.

Today, our 130 faith communities worshipping in more than a half-dozen languages seek to be engaged with their neighbors in meaningful ministries meeting the pain of the human condition with the good news of the unconditional love of God in Christ. Individually, each ministry is unique to the context in which God has planted it.

Together, we span the racial, geographic, and socio-economic spectrum to be found in the Delaware Valley. Today, our prophetic word to a culture that would seek to use our diversity to divide us is our unity in Christ and our recognition that together in Christ we can do more than we can do alone.

We believe God is doing a new thing in our midst. We believe God has equipped us with all that is needed for God’s new thing to break forth. As Presbyterians, we also believe we are called to offer the gifts of our prayers, perspectives, and the first fruits of our labor to be used by God in bringing God’s new thing about.

Enclosed are two inserts which explain the ways financial gifts to the church beyond the local congregation are used in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.):

Per capita giving is used to support the infrastructure by which we come together to discern the will of God, worship and fellowship together, equip and inform one another, and develop the policies by which we hold one another accountable: PerCapita_2015_Insert

Mission giving is used to “put flesh on” the Word of God in Christ through our various ministries—especially in those places where folks wrestle to see the presence of God in their midst:  BasicMissionGiving_Booklet

You’ll note we’re encouraging our churches to increase giving to PC(U.S.A.) mission by 10%. Please share these inserts with your session and the leadership of your congregation as appropriate. Please continue to pray for God to use the Presbytery of Philadelphia, even as we continue to pray for you. And particularly in this season of Thanksgiving when we look back on God’s faithfulness and look forward to ways of committing ourselves anew, please prayerfully discern how you and your congregation can participate in the life of the Presbytery.

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