Greetings in Christ!

Jesus asked his followers: What is the kingdom of God like? And to what should I compare it? It is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in the garden; it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.

Luke 13: 18-19

This parable is not unlike the work of Joining Hands, where seeds were planted and are now blossoming into some of the most creative and innovative examples of "doing mission in partnership" within our church and beyond it.

Joining Hands: some of the most creative and innovative examples of "doing mission in partnership" within our church and beyond it.

Just look what has sprouted since your last gathering of 2004:

In Egypt, Together for Family Development has changed the child law, so that disabled children will be able to attend school and not be consigned to a life of poverty, without skills or education.

In Cameroon and in Chicago, a network is mobilizing as part of a worldwide campaign requiring businesses on the U.S. Stock Exchange to be transparent about payments to foreign governments for mining rights. They join a lobby for new US legislation as a way to curtail corporate complicity in corruption that cheats Africans out of health care, education and economic development – and puts billions into the private purses of officials worldwide.

In India, Chethana is using street theater to protest the conditions faced by Dalits, a people-group that isn’t even registered within the country’s caste hierarchy. It is challenging U.S. partners in Sacramento to organize against privatization of water in California.

A St. Louis-based network, Partners for Just Trade, is expanding its marketing operations in fairly traded goods to other networks beyond Peru – and educating Christians about the profound impact our dollars have on each other and the environment.

From such tiny seeds, look what is growing.

Our upcoming conference will give Joining Hands time to gather and to better witness to the systems that perpetuate poverty and injustice, here and abroad. And it will offer you allies, as the new program area of Compassion, Peace and Justice Ministry, comes together for the first time to celebrate and reflect, worship and witness.

“Sowing Mustard Seeds: Working for God’s Justice – Confronting Poverty” will bring together the Presbyterian Peacemaking and Hunger Programs, the Presbyterian Washington Office, the United Nations Office, the Child Advocacy Office and Mission Responsibility Through Investment.The Office on Small Church Growth and Community Ministry – lodged in Evangelism and Church Growth Ministry – has also joined this collaborative effort.

I look forward to being with you in just a few short weeks. To keep planting seeds, as we gently nurture the first fruits of the garden. Wait together to see how God is bringing life to bloom around us in ways we couldn’t imagine just a few years ago. The Joining Hands journey began by taking a few steps in faith. There are others now, ready to accompany you to further justice and beauty, hope and tenacity. For such is the kingdom of God!