Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ,

I'm writing to thank you for all your past efforts on behalf of One Great Hour of Sharing. Thanks to the commitment of pastors like you, nearly 90 percent of all Presbyterian congregations will participate this year. As we celebrate the offering’s 60th anniversary, I’m writing to invite your congregation to take a serious look at what many of the world’s poorest people will be facing over the next year and to reflect on whether your members are called to reconsider their level of commitment in response to these needs. This year’s offering theme, Where Is Your Treasure?, comes from Jesus’ reminder in Matthew 6 that what we treasure is where we center our hearts.

His warning not to place our faith in earthly treasure, so vulnerable to rust and thievery, seems especially appropriate as we’ve watched the failure of the financial institutions in which millions placed their trust. Their collapse affects almost all of us in some way, but our poorest sisters and brothers most of all. Those whose lives have always been difficult now find them increasingly precarious; their need, always eloquent, calls out to us with new urgency

Sixty years ago, moved by the world’s suffering after World War II, a group of our nation’s faith leaders gathered to seek a common response. One Saturday they broadcast an appeal inviting Americans to give generously the next morning in their houses of worship to help heal some of the world’s most grievous wounds.

These times, like those, call for a renewed commitment. To help meet both the increased physical needs of the world’s poorest people and our own spiritual need to refocus on our real treasure, we are inviting congregations and individuals to consider doubling their past gifts. Please ask your members to give this invitation sincere and prayerful reflection. Their increased gifts could mean another girl can go to school rather than walking four miles a day carrying water, a family finally has enough food during the months before harvest to eat two meals a day, a single mother can start a business to support her three children.

It’s not only for the good of our brothers and sisters that we should reconsider our commitment. The message Jesus preached throughout his life was paradoxical, that love and humility are finally both more powerful and more enriching than any of the world’s forms of power and riches. Through generosity in sharing God’s love and blessing — through giving them away — we remain alive to their power, while the assumption that we are intended to keep them for ourselves leads to an insatiable hunger for more and an alienation from our brothers and sisters.

A disk is available that includes several resources to help you engage your congregation’s commitment. I invite you to share the video and/or the PowerPoint with your session. Once they have set a congregational goal, share these resources with your members. Be sure to consider the strategy that, after setting a goal, has proved most powerful in the past — sending a congregational mailing. As you consider how to engage your congregation in this offering, you may have questions or concerns. Please know the Office of Special Offerings stands ready to help you. Contact Alan Krome at (888) 728-7228, x5168 or 5183, or by email.

May the grace and peace of Jesus Christ be with you and your congregation,

Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow, Moderator
218th General Assembly, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)