wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Pentecost Offering 'gives congregations power'

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ECUNET.ORG>]

Note #8720 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

05224
April 22, 2005

Pentecost Offering 'gives congregations power'

This year's collection for young people is set for May 15

by Toya Richards Hill

LOUISVILLE - From the pocket to the plate to the young people: The
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Pentecost Offering is making a difference.

	Consider what took place on Jan. 26 at Grandview Elementary School in
Tarentum, PA. That night, volunteers from Central Presbyterian Church
gathered around pretend campfires to read stories to students and their
parents.

	"The reading night was just an exciting kind of night," said the Rev.
Stewart Pollock, Central Presbyterian's pastor, who said he enjoyed watching
parents "watching their children react" to the stories.

	"Everybody seemed to have a growing sense of excitement that this
(reading) is something that we can do at home," Pollock said. "It was just
wonderful to watch."

	The "Read to Me" program, a joint effort of the church and the
school, provided a hands-on reading experience for the children - as well as
free books, paid for with money collected through the congregation's
Pentecost Offering. 

	The PC(USA) offering, one of four church-wide offerings each year,
benefits children at risk, youth and young adults. Of the money collected,
congregations can use 40 percent as they see fit. This years offering will be
collected on May 15.

	The Pentecost Offering "gives congregations power," said Billie
Healy, associate for mission education resources in Congregational Ministries
Publishing. "It gives them the opportunity to ... use their creativity and
their resources to be able to support ministries with children at risk in
their communities."

	"I get these wonderful stories about what these churches are doing."

	Healy's office provides the materials that congregations use to
promote the offering, including bulletin inserts and activities for children
and youth.

	The offering has "been met with a lot of energy and a lot of positive
feedback," she said.

	Pollack said about 175 members of his church gave a total of $372.92
in the offering in 2004, the first year his church took part.

	The school had a table "loaded" with books to give away, he said, and
"our seed money was something that helped that happen." The pastor added that
the school has a large percentage of students from low-income families.

	He said his church plans to partner with the neighborhood school
again for this year's Pentecost Offering. "I think people are going to be
really eager to give to it this year," he said.

	Matt Henry hopes the same will be true at his church. This will be
the first year First Presbyterian Church of Birmingham, MI, has collected the
Pentecost Offering. A youth group there has been given the responsibility of
deciding how it will be used.

	The students, all of whom are in high school, have been reading the
offering material and trying to work out a plan, said Henry, the Detroit-area
church's director of youth ministry.

	"They are going to determine which of the bulletin inserts they would
like to use and what they would like to say ... to the congregation," Henry
said, and the youth will be the ones who "make the choices about where the
money goes and how to promote (the offering)."

To subscribe or unsubscribe, please send an email to
pcusanews-subscribe-request@halak.pcusa.org or
pcusanews-unsubscribe-request@halak.pcusa.org

To contact the owner of the list, please send an email to
pcusanews-request@halak.pcusa.org