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Note #8183 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

Presbytery shows heart for mission
04155
March 25, 2004

PRESBYTERY SHOWS HEART FOR MISSION

Gift to national fund drive will be unrestricted

by Beverly Bartlett
Staff Writer
Mission Initiative

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.

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