Linda Valentine

Grow God's Church Deep and Wide

The General Assembly Council at its meeting in February voted to recommend to the General Assembly a church wide commitment to Grow God's Church Deep and Wide - to grow in numbers, in discipleship and in diversity. The background to this recommendation begins with this: "The persistent decline in membership of the Presbyterian Church (USA) over the past forty years is a concern to the church at large and to the General Assembly Council. While membership has declined, many congregations and PCUSA ministries are flourishing. As Christians, we are called to ... make disciples of all peoples. ... Rather than give in to a climate of decline, the General Assembly Council believes that a more faithful stance is to take affirmative steps that renew our commitment to advance Christ's gospel in word and deed in our churches, our communities, and throughout the world."

Imagine how exciting it would be if we join together - sessions and congregations, synods, presbyteries, all agencies, entities and networks of the Presbyterian Church (USA) to such a commitment.  (Read the full text of the recommendation.)

One exciting place where the church is growing deep and wide is Elmwood Presbyterian Church in East Orange, New Jersey. Seeing it in person, even if just for the glimpse of an afternoon as I had the good fortune to do recently, is inspiring and uplifting. Under Rev. Robert Burkins, Sr.'s leadership and vision, Elmwood has grown to be a congregation of 1400 in three church buildings and the Harambee Community Development Ministry in a fourth location. The most recent of the three church locations began last year as Elmwood combined with a small congregation in an old church building on a busy intersection in Newark. Attendance has grown from a small number to over 100 in a year's time. A large sign that displays lighted messages and even video-like images of the worship inside catches attention and draws people in from the neighborhood. The original church building in East Orange fills each Sunday, while another part of the congregation is worshiping for the time being in a church building a few miles away. The outreach ministry, Harambee Community Development Ministry, is led by Dr. Curtis A. Jones. Truly an "outreach" ministry, Harambee includes a day care center for young children in the community and a women's empowerment ministry in which "women are challenged to champion their own success and to realize self-sufficiency, and thus to become role models for children, other women in their community and other persons whose livelihood is currently stymied by systemic forces." The Music and Video Production Academy is equipped with professionals, studios and equipment for recording and production, and draws at-risk and other urban youth in to learn video, audio, online and broadcast skills to prepare them for "non-traditional and entrepreneurial professional options . . . [and] an escape route from the oft-captivating and imprisoning lure of violence, drugs, and acceptance of mediocrity so often plaguing the inner cities of the Harambee Super-Village of greater Newark, East & West Orange."  Elmwood and its ministries emphasize sustainable mission development and community transforming - bringing the transforming power of the Gospel to life by addressing needs and opportunities of the community, in ways that are financially and spiritually sustainable. It's no wonder that many congregations come to see and to learn first-hand from this inspiring and growing ministry.

Read a related feature by Toya Richards Hill of the Presbyterian News Service.

Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday. Celebration. The glorious entry into Jerusalem. The image of a warm day of joy and celebration, along the road strewn with cloaks and leafy branches and people shouting Hosanna! Celebrated to this day with palm branches and some of our great, triumphant hymns. “Ride on! Ride on in Majesty! Hark all the tribes hosanna cry.”

In Chicago, where I have celebrated Palm Sundays for the past 25 years, Palm Sunday is often not a warm day. My memories of many a Palm Sunday are of dressing our daughters up in darling spring dresses, lining up for the Palm Sunday children’s parade, then clutching them, bundled in snow jackets and hats, bracing ourselves and them against the cold and biting wind as we valiantly circled the block on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, out of loyalty to tradition more than joyful celebration, before entering the sanctuary. Once inside, however, it was glorious indeed. Jackets, hats and mittens cast off and cold quickly forgotten, dozens of children, parents and church school teachers marched up the long aisle toward the communion table, waving palm branches as the whole congregation stands and sings over and over again, “All Glory, Laud, and Honor To Thee, Redeemer King! To whom the lips of children Made sweet hosannas ring.” Now that we know how the story unfolded, we have in the back of our minds a sense of foreboding on Palm Sunday, knowing that we will go through the darkness of Good Friday before coming to the light of Easter, but as the procession continues and we sing that hymn over and over, all those children and their waving palm branches are a beautiful and joyful sight and capture our hearts and full attention.

I never thought about where the palm branches come from, but in a joint effort among Presbyterians, Lutherans, Catholics, congregations and presbyteries, the University of Minnesota and the communities in Guatemala and Mexico that grow and harvest the palms, a couple of thousand congregations have not only thought about it, but have chosen to acquire palms that support increased wages for farmers and better environmental practices for the communities that harvest them - caring for fellow children of God and God's good creation. The Eco-Palm Project, a new component of the PC(USA)’s Enough for Everyone program, was featured recently in USA Today in a front page article entitled, “Churches Go Green for Palm Sunday,” the text of which is also pasted below.  Our Presbyterian News Service has also written a story.

Sing Hosanna. "To Thee, before Thy passion, They sang their hymns of praise; To Thee, now high exalted, Our melody we raise. . . Accept the prayers we bring. . . Thou good and gracious King!" 

Churches go Green for Palm Sunday.
By Jeff Martin, USA TODAY

Palm Sunday is going "green."

This year, more than 2,130 congregations across the USA, including Catholics, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Methodists and Presbyterians, will use "eco-palms" that are harvested in a more environmentally friendly way, says Dean Current, program director at the Center for Integrated Natural Resources and Agricultural Management at the University of Minnesota.

The number of churches using eco-palms on Palm Sunday — which, in the Christian faith, marks Jesus' triumphant return to Jerusalem before his death and resurrection — has grown from a pilot program of 5,000 in 2005 to the 600,000 eco-palms ordered for this year's March 16 celebration, Current says. He estimates that is about 1.5% of the 35 million to 40 million palms sold annually for Palm Sunday services in the USA but says he expects the growth to continue. 

What makes the eco-palms different is the way that they are harvested, says RaeLynn Jones Loss, a research specialist at the University of Minnesota.  More than 50% of the palms are wasted by traditional methods, Jones Loss says. Harvesters in the eco-palm program are trained to be more selective. They cut only the best fronds, which results in only 5% to 10% waste.