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LOUISVILLE — Citing a renewed commitment to new-church development within its own borders and a historic commitment to overseas mission work, Santa Fe Presbytery has launched a $1.7 million local campaign in conjunction with the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s national Mission Initiative: Joining Hearts & Hands.
Santa Fe’s executive presbyter, Jim Collie, said the presbytery has pledged to divide the money equally between the national campaign and presbytery-level projects philosophically aligned with it.
Joining Hearts & Hands is a five-year campaign to raise $40 million, half of which will be directed to new-church development and congregational redevelopment in the United States. The other half will go to mission work overseas.
Bill Saul, co-chair of the national campaign’s steering committee, said the pledge is exciting — for Joining Hearts & Hands, and for Santa Fe.
“When we talk about this campaign renewing the church for mission, this is exactly what we’re talking about,” Saul said. “We want Presbyterians to commit, not only to the national campaign, but to the spirit of the Great Commission and the work it calls us to do at home and abroad.”
It’s a natural fit for Santa Fe Presbytery, Collie said, because it has a long history of ranking near the top of the PC(USA) in per-capita mission giving, despite being in one of the poorest states in the nation. In that sense, he said, the campaign is “close to what we care about.”
He said a series of recent events has led Santa Fe to renew its focus on church development within the presbytery, which takes in about two-thirds of New Mexico.
Two fellowships have been talking to presbytery officials about becoming Presbyterian churches. Santa Fe Presbytery also is looking into the possibility of starting a Native American fellowship in Albuquerque. And the presbytery has received a large estate gift to support new-church development.
“All of the signs were saying we need to take this seriously,” he said. “In some ways, I think you could say it was the guiding hand of the Holy Spirit.”
Collie said the money that goes to the national campaign will be an unrestricted gift. The remaining half will be used by the presbytery for new-church projects in New Mexico and for other mission work, possibly including collaboration with a sister church in Cuba. |
