Joining Hearts & Hands Steering Committee responds to surprise announcement
“The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has endured many cloudy days in recent years, and now this astonishing gift appears like a rainbow in the clouds. For a long time, I have felt that the best way out of our denominational malaise was to grow our way out. That's the goal of the Mission Initiative: Joining Hearts & Hands. This gift further stimulates my conviction of this, and I pray it will awaken a long-dormant evangelistic and missional zeal in us. Now I also pray that the assembly does everything within its power this week to further the forward momentum this gift makes possible. We need to listen very carefully for what the Spirit is saying to the PC(USA) through this gift."
David Peterson, Co-Chair, Joining Hearts & Hands Steering Committee, and Pastor, Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church, Houston, Texas.
“I think part of the miracle of what Mr. Anderson has designed is that it is concerned not only about building churches but also with the leadership of those churches. I know from the perspective of synods and presbyteries that when new church development fails to happen, often it is not a failure of vision, but really a failure of money. I think that one of the miracles of this gift is the challenge to presbyteries, but another is that it’s a meetable challenge.”
Jan DeVries, Synod Executive/Stated Clerk, Synod of the Southwest, and Joining Hearts & Hands Steering Committee Member/Head of Presbytery Resource Team
The Rev. Tim Hart-Andersen serves on the steering committee of the Mission Initiative: Joining Hearts and Hands, to which Stanley W. Anderson’s $150 million gift will be applied. Photo by Danny Bolin.
“It’s a remarkable witness to Mr. Anderson’s faith and to what the church can do when it leans into a challenge. Of late the church has felt like the wind has gone out of its sails. Suddenly, the winds are back in the sails in some new ways and the ship is beginning to move. Anderson’s gift challenges us to think creatively, and it seriously suggests to Joining Hearts & Hands that we now focus our efforts on raising money for international mission personnel. This is the dawn of a new way of doing mission in the Presbyterian Church.”
Timothy Hart-Andersen, Pastor, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Minneapolis, Minn., and Joining Hearts & Hands Steering Committee/Lead Member of Congregational Resource Team
“What an answer to prayer! This blessing of God validates our past four years of hard work and sacrificial commitments!”
John Huffman, Pastor, St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Newport Beach, Calif., and Joining Hearts & Hands Steering Committee Member
“This gift tells me that we need to push and focus on international mission. The work of Joining Hearts & Hands will continue.”
Chuck Ford, Joining Hearts & Hands Steering Committee Member |
