The MNA Thanksgiving Offering provides grants to help support those who have been called by God to minister to ethnically diverse communities across the nation – people groups who are currently not well served by the PCA.

The face of North America is rapidly changing. Although Caucasians continue to make up the largest percentage of people across North America, other ethnic groups now outnumber them in many places.

The face of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) is changing as well. Grants given to minority leaders through the MNA Thanksgiving Offering provide on-the-job training that will equip them to meet the needs of our ever-diversifying communities and churches. As you read the stories below, please prayerfully consider contributing to the Thanksgiving Offering – helping PCA churches minister among the many people groups of North America.

J. B. Watkins:
Being the third-poorest zip code in the US means the Clayborne-Foote neighborhood of Memphis TN faces particularly difficult challenges – people there often struggle just to get enough food to eat. Kids deal daily with peer pressure to join gangs, steal or sell drugs. New Beginnings Community Church was established to combat the multiple challenges of Clayborne-Foote by focusing on its children, fostering their development in life skills and giving them hope through the Gospel. But as with many churches that serve impoverished communities, New Beginnings did not have the resources to fund a Youth Director.

Grants from the MNA Thanksgiving Offering allowed New Beginnings to call J.B. Watkins as their Youth Director, providing his salary and funding a number of youth programs. And J.B. gained valuable experience shepherding kids like 13-year-old Duke, who made a decision for Christ one day as J.B. dropped him off at his home. “I could tell that his desire was a result of what God was doing in his life,” remembers J.B. “By being around the church on an almost daily basis, Duke benefited both physically and spiritually.”

Right after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, J.B. was called to plant St. Roch Community Church in the Eighth Ward. There he has encountered many of the same challenges he did in Memphis – drug trafficking, heavy crime and children who need role models. Once again, J.B. is working to meet the physical and spiritual needs of a devastated community. “My training at New Beginnings has served me well in my new role,” he says.

Many of us find it difficult to identify with people and places that are different from us. We might wonder just how far our support can go to help people deep in sinful patterns, or whose circumstances offer limited options. But people like J.B see wonderful opportunities in the inner city. “Pastor Julian Russell at New Beginnings once told me, ‘The Gospel made us all poor’ – we are all sinners in need of a Savior.” He continues, “It’s much more than me helping the poor and disadvantaged. The inner city has shown me how I, too, am devastated by sin – and that Christ is our uniting factor, giving hope to us all.”

Phil Edwards:
When Phil Edwards was 10, his father was shot to death outside an Atlanta nightclub. Through God’s grace, Phil found Christ and today is sharing the Gospel with other inner-city youth. Grants from the Thanksgiving Offering helped provide for his work as Director of Summer Hill Community Ministry in Atlanta and Director of Outreach at New City Fellowship Church in Chattanooga. Now Executive Director of Hope for Indianapolis, Phil has applied for Offering grants for interns who work with him to provide inner city youth with job skills, anger management counseling and most importantly, sharing the grace of the Gospel.

Isaac Jiménez Liébana
Isaac had recently arrived in the US from Spain when he met Ernesto Fernández, pastor of Iglesia del Redentor (Church of the Redeemer), a church plant in Monroe NC. While developing an Hispanic outreach, the church was in need of a worship leader who spoke Spanish.

They called Isaac but were unable to afford to adequately support him. Isaac had little previous worship leadership experience when he joined their staff, but he was talented and connected instantly with the congregation. “We’re always on a tight budget,” says Ernesto, “so to be able to keep Isaac on staff and develop his worship leadership skills meant a lot.”

Vicente Alberto
Vicente is working with City School, a ministry of Redeemer Presbyterian in Austin TX, to share Christ with its growing Hispanic immigrant community. “We’re training the next generation of servant leaders for God’s Kingdom,” says City School Executive Director Chris Fisher, “and Vicente has become a vital part of our ministry.” Grants from the Thanksgiving Offering have supported Vicente as the school’s main recruiter of Hispanic families and have helped support his training for pastoral leadership at Iglesia Cristiana Verbo, a Guatamala-based independent church that has launched three churches in Austin.

The above are examples of how the Thanksgiving Offering can make a difference. To view the brochure and read more inspiring stories.

For more information, visit: http://www.pca-mna.org/urban/thanksgivingoffering.php