Friday, February 12

Cameroon, continued

Jeanne Nouah, spokesperson for the indigenous Bagyeli tribe, shares about the impact of an oil project on her people. Cameroon was among the first countries in which the denomination initiated Joining Hands Against Hunger. Supported by One Great Hour of Sharing, this mission program enables Presbyterians in the United States and anti-hunger networks of churches, nonprofit organizations, and grassroots groups overseas to engage with each other in a holistic, international hunger ministry.

In Cameroon the initiative involves, for example, the empowerment of poor villagers to secure revolving food stocks through community grain banks that keep their families from starving. But it also means defending a farmer’s need for land, a community’s right to clean drinking water, and the general population’s entitlement to the benefits from the country’s wealth in natural resources. Working hand in hand with their partners in RELUFA, the network fighting hunger in Cameroon, Presbyterians in the United States can join in as companions, breaking bread with one another as an expression of the communal nature of the church’s global hunger strategy.

Christ intertwines water and bread as metaphors for the physical and spiritual dimensions of his ministries. They flow into each other and become an inseparable stream to express a quality of life that supersedes worldly needs and desires. For this godly realm, compassionate love, responsible stewardship, and moral justice join into a wholesome discipleship. Converging at the heart of this missional church, Presbyterians together can form an unstoppable flow of life-giving water.

Let us join in prayer for
Partners/Ministries
Presbyterian Church in Cameroon
Eglise Presbyterienne Camerounaise (Cameroonian Presbyterian Church): The Rev. Dr. Dieudonne Massi Gams, general secretary
Council for Protestant Churches in Cameroon (CEPCA): The Rev. Dr. Jean-Emile Ngue, general secretary
Network Fighting Hunger in Cameroon (RELUFA): Valéry Nodem, national coordinator Presbytery Partnerships with Cameroon: Presbytery of Chicago and Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area with Joining Hands Against Hunger

PC(USA) General Assembly Staff
The Rev. Dr. Jerry Cannon, GAMC
Kathleen Cannon, GAMC
Suzan Cantrell, GAMC

Prayer
Permeate us all with your Spirit, God, so the heart of our church bursts into rivers of living water, joining up with those flowing from the hearts of believers around the globe, and flood this world to bring forth life the way you intend it to be. Amen.

Daily Lectionary
Ps. 51, 148 and Ps. 142, 65
Gen. 27:46—28:4, 10–22
Rom. 13:1–14; John 8:33–47