The Presbyterian Church (USA) has challenged its member congregations to become “Matthew 25 Congregations,” and to intentionally serve “the least of these” in our communities. We have accepted this challenge.
Here is some information from the PCUSA website regarding Matthew 25 congregations:
How did the Matthew 25 vision come about?
The 222nd and 223rd General Assemblies (2016 and 2018) challenged the PC(USA) to embrace Jesus’ call in Matthew 25:31–46 to take our living faith into our communities and the world. As a Matthew 25 church, we are called to live out true discipleship by acting boldly, compassionately and fearlessly serving people who are hungry, oppressed, imprisoned or poor. We joyfully share this vision and invitation with you!
What exactly do we have to do to become a Matthew 25 congregation?
To some degree, many churches are already doing the work of Matthew 25. We hope that by partnering with congregations, we can together multiply and intensify our loving commitment to radical and fearless discipleship.
The first step is simply to sign up to become a Matthew 25 church or mid council at pcusa.org/matthew25. When you sign up, you will be asked to embrace one or more of the three areas of focus:
- building congregational vitality,
- dismantling structural racism, and
- eradicating systemic poverty.
Then as you live out your commitment, we ask you to share the story of impact that your pledge has made: how your congregation has changed, how you’ve discovered new passions and vitality, how your members have been re-energized as disciples … so like in the early church, your renewed faith will fan the flames and encourage other congregations to also embrace our common mission.
This is an informative brochure about the effort:
https://www.presbyterianmission.org/wp-content/uploads/m25-brochure-en.pdf
We invite you to share the journey with us as we embrace the Matthew 25 challenge.