Minute for Mission - University of Dubuque Theological Seminary
 Members and friends gather in front of the First Presbyterian Church building.
The Iowa location of the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary provides many opportunities for students to minister in small-town and rural settings.
“Living water” in Onslow, Iowa, looks like a new $700 projector, the latest symbol of the new relationships between First Presbyterian Church and its neighbors. Family movie nights with free popcorn are on the church’s summer schedule in this farming community of 223.
Changes in the rural economy are reflected in Onslow’s slow, long-term decline. First Presbyterian’s statistics parallel community trends. “There are no children in our church except for the student pastor’s two boys,” read the Christian Education Committee’s Annual Report in 2008. But now, plans are being made to reestablish Sunday school.
The Spirit has brought blessings of energy and hope as church members are seeing beyond the front doors of the building to envision Christ’s call to mission. The dual emphases on mission and relationships come naturally for Dubuque Seminary student Christopher Doyle, a former PC(USA) mission co-worker, and his wife, Hala, a citizen of Palestine. First Presbyterian has hosted a series of mission co-workers and other guests from China, Kenya, and Ukraine. Internal relationships have deepened; awareness of the breadth of God’s kingdom has expanded. An elder remarked, “We still have a way to go, but this year has lifted our sagging spirits.”
—The Rev. Hal Murry, director of field education, University of Dubuque Theological Seminary
We look to you, O God, whom we do not see, to renew all that we do see. Train our eyes to see what is to be seen in Christ — new life from the dead, fresh hope from the grave, divine love transforming human emptiness. Amen.
Isa. 43:16–21
The Church’s One Foundation
PH 442, HB 437
Ps. 126
When God Delivered Israel
PH 237
Phil. 3:4b–14
Be Thou My Vision
PH 339, HB 303
John 12:1–8
When I Survey the Wondrous Cross
PH 100, 101, HB 198
Ps. 84, 150 and Ps. 42, 32
Exod. 3:16—4:12
Rom. 12:1–21; John 8:46–59
|
