Do you only ask for gifts of cash or marketable securities from your church members or supporters?

Did you know there are billions of dollars in privately held interests owned by very philanthropically-minded individuals who would love to make a gift to your congregation or religious nonprofit?

Do you know how to encourage your church members and donors to consider those gifts or how to spot those who may hold these more complex assets?

Sign up for a FREE webinar to learn what to look for proactively and how to build trust with church members and supporters who can make these special gifts. Bryan Clontz of Charitable Solutions will be the guest speaker.

On Wednesday, September 20, at 11 a.m. CST, Bryan will join Greg Rousos of New Covenant Trust Company and James W. Murphy of the Episcopal Church Foundation to review how anyone can work with our programs to encourage and finalize gifts like these.

Register here

Presbyterians for Earth Care (PEC) is a national eco-justice network that cares for God’s creation by connecting, equipping, and inspiring Presbyterians. PEC is responding with a church-wide conference, “The Climate Crisis & Empowering Hope”. It will be held at Massanetta Springs Camp and Conference Center in Virginia, September 20 – 23, 2023 and at satellite gatherings in Arkansas, Minnesota, and California. Conference leaders are The Rev. Dr. Diane Moffett, Executive Director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency, and The Rev. Dr.Patricia K. Tull, an Old Testament Biblical scholar. The conference will also include 25 workshops.

Learn more

by Shar Hulstein, UPC, Denison

The Denison United Presbyterian Church became involved in a mission that was begun by a past member of our church.  Dr. Andrea Bachmann Kaitany and her husband Dr. Richard Kaitany have set about fulfilling a dream to give back to the community that brought Richard to Iowa State.  His school and community in Iten, Kenya, honed his skills as a middle-distance runner, and he was offered a track scholarship.  They married and raised four children in Michigan while they began their dream of starting a girls’ high school in Iten called Simbolei Academy.  

After years of fundraising, refinancing, searching for land, building, and hiring staff, the Simbolei Girl’s Academy has been the boarding school and educational home for Form 1 and Form 2 (9th and 10th graders) for two years. The school’s goal is to add the next two grades as the sophomores advance. Each of the girls go to school on a full scholarship or partial scholarship provided by the school.  Many of the families are impoverished so the girls are thrilled with this opportunity for schooling.  We were told by one of the students, “At least half of us that go to school here wish to become doctors.”   

In June, Shar Hulstein, Mary Goettsch, and Ann Platt, former Denison-Schleswig teachers, along with Michigan volunteers went to Iten to work with the girls on literacy, drama, science and presentation, volleyball skills, and board games/puzzles for fun.  The Denison United Presbyterian Church sent luggage full of donations:  athletic shoes, paints, crayons, and colored pencils, notebooks, etc.   We also acquired a list of needs to send for future use.  Along with spending time at the school, Andrea and Richard provided an opportunity to see the city and the surrounding communities. While visiting another culture, we see how blessed we really are.  

 “Greet your people in grace and peace”, was a request from one of the girls. (Done) Andrea and Richard make this opportunity available to anyone!  They are very hospitable hosts and love to share the Kenyan culture and education. The students share their love of singing and sharing of their faith and fellowship. If you would like to help them continue their mission monetarily or travel to Kenya next summer, please see their website.  Next semester they will be adding 20 more students who will need scholarships! Any small gift would help them in their mission.

This year’s Great Plains Small Church Conference will be hosted at the beautiful Calvin Crest Camp Conference & Retreat Center.

At the conference, you will:

• Learn and grow
• Be renewed and refreshed
• Be encouraged and feed your soul
• Enjoy Christian fellowship
• Be ready to move to action

Learn more and register

by Mike Ferguson | Presbyterian News Service

Combined choirs from Lakeside Presbyterian Church in Storm Lake, Iowa, and Synod School attendees offered two anthems during worship on Sunday. (Photo by Mike Ferguson)

STORM LAKE, Iowa — Members and friends of Lakeside Presbyterian Church in Storm Lake, Iowa, supersized the church’s welcome mat Sunday, welcoming scores of visitors attending this week’s Synod School put on annually by the Synod of Lakes and Prairies even as they prepared further hospitality to some of the 29,000 people who were bicycling into town Sunday as part of RAGBRAI, the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa.

“We’re getting some pews dusted we haven’t had dusted in a while,” joked Tom Daniels, the liturgist during worship on Sunday at Lakeside. Daniels later offered a prayer “for people we know and people we hope to know.”

Pastor Jenn Olson uncorked acts of welcome not often seen in even the most outgoing churches. Once she’d completed a memorable children’s time helping the young people act out the Jacob’s Ladder account found in Genesis 28, Olson enlisted three young arms to throw rolled-up church T-shirts into the expanded crowd of worshipers.

Continue reading on the Presbyterian Mission website

Have you dreamed of seeing firsthand the places that we read about in the Bible? This might be the opportunity you’ve been waiting for. Rev. Philip Beisswenger, Pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Audubon, will be leading an 11-day educational tour called “Journey Through the Bible” on February 20-March 1, 2024. The trip is arranged through Educational Opportunities Tours, well-known experts in religious travel. The itinerary will include Bethlehem, the Sea of Galilee, Caesarea, Nazareth, Samaria, and Jerusalem. The cost is $3,498 and includes lodging, entrance fees, tour guide, motorcoach, daily breakfast and dinner, as well as round-trip airfare from New York City to Israel. There also will be an optional 5-day extension to Egypt—“Cairo and the Route of the Exodus.”  The cost of the extension is $1,298. Philip will be happy to provide more information or to help you register by e-mail. Information is also available at the Educational Opportunities website. The tour host number for our group is #13435.