Pentecost Offering 2022

Pentecost Offering June 5 | Give online today

investing in our greatest resource

Help youth begin life with a solid foundation of faith.

Psalm 71 testifies that a foundation of faith established during childhood helps ensure lifelong faith and service. The patterns and lessons established during these formative years continue to bear fruit throughout a person's life. By receiving the Pentecost Offering, you are nurturing the faith of those who are the church to come —  children, youth, and young adults.

A gift to the Pentecost Offering helps the church encourage, develop, and support its young people, and also address the needs of at-risk children. 40% of the Pentecost offering can be retained by individual congregations wanting to make an impact in the lives of young people within their own community. The remaining 60% is used to support children-at-risk, youth, and young adults through ministries of the Presbyterian Mission Agency. This offering will be received on Pentecost Sunday, June 5.

Helping our neighbors in Ukraine

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance is the refugee and disaster response program of the PC(USA). You can find out more information at pda.pcusa.org and respond to natural disasters and other crises with your prayers and by donating directly.

If you’d like to support Second Presbyterian’s missions you can do so here.

PRESBYTERIAN DISASTER ASSISTANCE RESPONSE IN UKRAINE

As the violence continues, the number of people being displaced internally and fleeing to neighboring countries increases by the day. The first priority at PDA is to provide funding to partners on the ground; sibling churches and ecumenical partners who are already providing assistance with basic items for survival. Funds are being used for emergency humanitarian aid such as food items, shelter, medicines, diapers, hygiene items, etc. Join us in praying for a peaceful solution and an end to the violence.

Helping our neighbors in Haiti

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance is the refugee and disaster response program of the PC(USA). You can find out more information at pda.pcusa.org and respond to the devastation of the recent earthquake in Haiti and other crises with your prayers and by donating directly.

If you’d like to support Second Presbyterian’s missions you can do so here.

From PDA:

The scale of the disaster facing Haiti after the Aug. 14 earthquake is becoming clearer. The quake and its aftershocks have left almost 1,300 people dead, thousands more injured and an unknown number of people are still missing. At least 13,000 homes were destroyed and roads, bridges and communication systems have been severely damaged. This catastrophe comes on top of Haiti’s ongoing struggles with endemic hunger and poverty, COVID-19 and continuing civil unrest, and as Tropical Storm Grace bears down on the region.

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) is providing emergency relief and short-term recovery in the impacted areas through our established local partners and in collaboration with ACT Alliance and its members. The PC(USA), through PDA and together with regional World Mission colleagues, will remain active throughout the entire recovery process, accompanying our partners in the area as they determine long-term program needs and providing financial support for rebuilding and resilience.

The needs for the response will be great. God’s people are once again called on to stand in the "GAP" — Give. Act. Pray.

Pentecost Offering

Pentecost Offering May 23 | Give online today

The Pentecost offering helps our youth begin life with a strong start—a solid foundation of faith formed in the first third of life, from childhood through young adulthood.

Each year on Pentecost Sunday, we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit and the birthday of the church. The Holy Spirit remains with us still, connecting us with the church of the past, continuing to inspire the church of today, and pointing us to the church of the future. Each year, this celebration is marked by receiving the Pentecost Offering which nurtures the faith of those who are the church to come — children, youth, and young adults. Psalm 71 testifies that a foundation of faith established during childhood helps ensure lifelong faith and service. The patterns and lessons established during these formative years continue to bear fruit throughout a person’s life. By giving to the Pentecost Offering, your congregation participates in helping our children, youth, and young adults grow up to proclaim with the Psalmist, “O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.”

Pentecost Offering

BUILDING A STRONG FOUNDATION

Rev. Dr. David Gambrell spends of plenty of time with young people. He is a father of two daughters, he volunteers to teach confirmation classes at Highland Presbyterian Church in Louisville, Kentucky and he was one of the youth leaders who preached at the 2019 Presbyterian Youth Triennium. 

He says Triennium was quite an experience for him and shares: “Our kids need to know they are valued in this moment—their gifts, wisdom and experiences are important. They need to know that we take them seriously and honor them as members of Christ’s body, and that we want to learn from them even as they learn from us —right here, right now.” 

Pentecost Offering May 31st | Give online today

Being valued is something that Rev. Ashley Faul-Erwin can certainly affirm makes a big difference in embracing a life of faith and service. A native of Northern Ireland, Ashley was looking for ways to express herself and serve in a faith community. After some searching, she connected with a program at Second Presbyterian Church in Nashville through the Young Adult Volunteer program. Her experience as a Young Adult Volunteer was so profound that Ashley decided to attend seminary and now serves as the community outreach pastor at Setauket Presbyterian Church on Long Island. 

God’s youngest family members need support for developing their full potential in both faith and life, and all of us have a role to play. From projects like the churchwide Educate a Child, Transform the World national initiative to the Presbyterian Youth Triennium to tutoring and mentoring children in our own community—this is a mission that unites us as Presbyterians. Susan Byrne, a volunteer tutor at Willow Brook Elementary who attends First Presbyterian Church of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, says, “Our immediate support of children is critical. If a person can get a good education, they have a chance to succeed in life, no matter where they come from.” 

And isn’t that what we all want? For our young folks to succeed in life? Our gifts to the Pentecost Offering support many programs for both children at risk and youth and young adults and are a testament to our commitment. And as a shared offering, our gifts also support countless programs in communities and congregations like ours. Here at Second Presbyterian, we hope to use our share of the offering when we are able to have our Vacation Bible School. David says,“We tend to say something like ‘we’re investing in the future because the youth are the future of our church.’ But our youth already have gifts to give and important ways to serve and lead in the church.” 

Together, we are building a life of faith and building the household of God with our children, youth and young adults. And every building needs a strong foundation — a foundation in faith that begins right here, right now and is strong enough to last a lifetime. 

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Pentecost Offering May 31st

Nurturing the faith of those who are the church to come

A gift to the Pentecost Offering helps the church encourage, develop, and support its young people, and also address the needs of at-risk children. 40% of the Pentecost offering can be retained by our congregation to make an impact in the lives of young people within our own community. The remaining 60% is used to support children-at-risk, youth, and young adults through ministries of the Presbyterian Mission Agency.