10 January 2007
Dear Friends,
Five more hours and we’ll be home, after three months of
itineration. I gallivanted about the United States from mid-October
to mid-December, visiting at least one church each weekend. During
the week, we were together in Kentucky working at the Presbyterian
Center and enjoying the hospitality afforded by the Furlough Home
at Louisville Presbyterian Seminary. We’re thankful for
time spent with many of you and hope to see the rest of you next
time around.
The sermon I shared throughout the country this fall is called
“Do No Harm.” In it I share learnings gathered in
almost 30 years of mission service. You can find it in the “Other
writing by Dennis Smith” section on the lower right-hand
side of our Web page.
The school year for Lucas and Benji starts January 18th, so we
gladly return to the hectic, vibrant pace of life in Guatemala
City.
2006 was a good year. Mari continued to work with women and men
to stop domestic violence, a problem that is just as devastating
in our part of the world as it is in yours. For the first time,
Mari was able to teach the class “Alternatives to Violence”
to a group of men. She was sobered to discover that, of the seven
men who signed up for this class, six had suffered domestic violence
as children. More about this class in our next letter.
Last year I joined colleagues from throughout Latin America to
study the relationship between the media, politics, and religious
fundamentalism. We found that messianic religion and messianic
politics go hand-in-hand, and that people flock to TV preachers
because of a growing sense of insecurity and uncertainly in Latin
America. People don’t necessarily trust the TV preachers,
but these religious entrepreneurs have managed to present themselves
as the custodians of a sacred space, where one can restore one’s
sense of hope and self-esteem.
As we train church leaders in Cedepca, our job is to help them
discern how to build caring communities of faith in a world dominated
by the pizzazz of religious spectacle.
As 2007 begins, this is an especially important time for you
to renew and increase your support for the mission of the Presbyterian
Church (U.S.A.). I’ve been a PC(USA) missionary for 29 years.
Our current term ended last October. Cedepca requested that we
be reappointed for a new five-year assignment. Just a few weeks
ago we heard from Louisville that we would only be reappointed
for 20 months. The reason? Money.
And not just us. Mission co-workers have been told that our denomination
can’t, in good faith, guarantee all our positions beyond
June, 2008. This, despite the fact that U.S. Presbyterians are
giving more money to mission than ever before in history. The
problem is that more and more mission money is being sent directly
by local churches to non-Presbyterian mission projects all over
the world; less money for basic mission support, what used to
be called “unified giving,” is being sent to the PC(USA).
Since most missionaries are supported by these funds, the church
has had to downsize the mission force. Until now, the PC(USA)
has been able to lower the numbers by natural attrition, but there
are no guarantees for the future. We dropped from having 275 mission
co-workers in 2005-2006 to 240 at present. Those of us who remain
are being asked to go to the people who care about our ministries
and ask you to contribute to our support.
The best way to do this is to make a pledge to us through Directed
Mission Support. Individuals can send checks to:
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Individual Remittance Processing
P.O. Box 643700
Pittsburgh, PA 15264-3700
Churches should send contributions to their regular receiving
site or:
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Church Remittance Processing
P.O. Box 643678
Pittsburgh, PA 15264-3678
Please make reference to Dennis and Maribel Smith and our Directed
Mission Support (DMS) number: D503801.
While you’re at it, order from Presbyterian Distribution
Service a copy of International Mission Personnel: An Almanac
of Faces and Facts, an attractive new resource listing all 240
PC(USA) mission co-workers plus all the long-term volunteers (PDS
#74-950-06-002).
Many groups out there are doing great mission work, but who else
but Presbyterians are going to support Presbyterian missionaries?
Under the Mercy,
Dennis Smith
The 2007 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 63 |
