wfn.org | Peacemaking Offering Increases

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28-Mar-96

96111             Peacemaking Offering Increases 
                      For 15th Straight Year 
 
                         by Julian Shipp 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky.--The Presbyterian Peacemaking Offering receipts increased 
14.4 percent in 1995 over the previous year with Presbyterians contributing 
more than $1.7 million to the offering. This is the 15th consecutive year 
that there has been a rise in the receipts. 
 
     The distribution of the Peacemaking Offering makes it unique among the 
four special offerings designated by the General Assembly. Each 
congregation retains 25 percent of its offering for its own peacemaking 
efforts; 25 percent is shared by presbyteries and synods; and 50 percent is 
used by the national Presbyterian Peacemaking Program. 
 
     "Fifteen years of increases is a remarkable success," said the Rev. 
H.William Peterson, interim coordinator of the Presbyterian Peacemaking 
Program. "I believe it represents a long yearning for peace in the world 
and in the church." 
 
     According to Peterson, the response to the offering makes a strong 
statement about peacemaking efforts throughout the denomination, especially 
in synods, presbyteries and congregations. The number of sessions adopting 
the "Commitment to Peacemaking" continues to rise as well. 
 
     More than 4,156 congregations have adopted the "Commitment" as a 
promise that their congregation is going to be involved in peacemaking. In 
July, the General Assembly will honor at least two presbyteries and one 
synod 50 percent or more of whose congregations' sessions have adopted the 
"Commitment to Peacemaking" since the 1995 Assembly. To date, 68 
presbyteries have reached that mark. 
 
     The theme for the 1996 Peacemaking Offering is "Live peaceably with 
all...  If your enemies are hungry, feed them'" from Romans 12:18, 20. Most 
congregations will receive the offering on World Communion Sunday, Oct. 6, 
1996. The offering poster is a colorful interpretation of the Lord's Supper 
using art from Taller Jesus Obrero, an artisan collective in El Salvador. 
 
     The Peacemaking Offering  packet will include three study resources: 
"Rebuilding: Peacemaking in Nehemiah," "Forgiveness" and "Building a 
Neighborhood Together," an intergenerational resource done in collaboration 
with "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood," the public television program created 
and hosted by the Rev. Fred Rogers, a Presbyterian minister. 
 
     It also contains other helpful tools for promoting the offering, 
including worship resources, Minutes for Mission, bulletin inserts, 
reproduction art and sample brochures that interpret the Peacemaking 
Offering and the work of the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program. Offering 
packets will be available in May from Presbyterian Distribution Services at 
(800) 524-2612. (Specify PDS # 70-350-96-280). 

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For more information contact Presbyterian News Service
  Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Louisville, KY 40202
  phone 502-569-5504            fax 502-569-8073  
  E-mail PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org   Web page: http://www.pcusa.org 

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