Easter—In Celebration of Faithfulness

Dear Friends and Colleagues in Mission,

It was a warm afternoon on the last Sunday of September 2007 as we left the interstate highway at the exit for the town of Bulls Gap, Tennessee. We drove through the gently rolling foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, passed through the small town of Rogersville, and began looking for the farm home of Mrs. Ruby Chesnutt. We were filled with expectation, for we were to have our first meeting with a group of the most remarkable women—the Sal McFadden Circle of Liberty Presbyterian Church.

Members of the Sal McFadden Circle.

Hanil University and Presbyterian Theological Seminary, and its predecessor school, Hanil Women’s Seminary, have been faithfully supported by the Sal McFadden Circle since the mid-1950s. No one is certain of the exact date when the first check was mailed to Hanil, but it is certain that a check has been mailed every year for the past 52 years. This group of women has always designated their annual gift to help fund a scholarship for a needy woman student in either Christian education or theology.

Over the years, the membership of the Liberty Presbyterian Church has declined, as young people have moved away to the nearby towns and cities. Today the church is served by visiting pastors, and membership of the Sal McFadden Circle is now only four faithful women, one of whom resides in a nursing home. Although small in number, the members of the Liberty Presbyterian Church are involved in several significant local ministries and they faithfully support international mission. The Sal McFadden Circle continues to meet for Bible study and fellowship and they continue to provide scholarship aid for women students at Hanil University. Indeed, they have the distinction of providing regular financial support for Hanil longer than any other group or organization.  

A future member of the Sal McFadden Circle.

Much has been written about the decline of rural churches. However, our hearts were uplifted by the pride that the folks of Liberty Presbyterian Church have in their well maintained building and in their many programs. Several younger families have recently joined the church, and everyone rejoiced at the birth of a beautiful baby girl, who we are certain will someday become a member of the Sal McFadden Circle. That this group of women in a small Presbyterian church in rural eastern Tennessee could reach across the Pacific Ocean to provide support for Korean women students at a small Presbyterian university in Jeonbuk province is one of the great joys of international mission. That they could do this faithfully for at least 52 years is a marvelous gift of God’s grace.

Although large mega-churches are often featured in the headlines, the reality is that the majority of churches in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) have fewer than 200 members, and many are located in small towns and rural areas where the population is declining. It is significant to us that most of the graduates of the Presbyterian Theological Seminary at Hanil University are serving in small rural churches located in the mountains and on remote islands. Indeed, most Presbyterian churches in Korea are small and many are in rural areas where the population is declining. Yet there are faithful Christians in these small churches who continue to carry on the work of Christian ministry and mission. We lift up the small rural churches of both the United States and Korea, and we give thanks for those churches such as Liberty Presbyterian Church and the Sal McFadden Circle who live out a faithful witness that quite literally reaches around the world.

As all of us from churches large and small, urban and rural, growing and in decline, celebrate this blessed Easter Season, let us give thanks for the grace of Jesus Christ our living Lord and for the faithfulness of those who support the international mission of the church.

Faithfully in mission,

The 2008 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 101