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May the Peace of Christmas Be With You
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Meet the 2015 Synod Moderator
| |  Andries (Dries) Coetzee serves as Pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Wooster Ohio since February 2010. Dries grew up as a white man in South Africa where he was born the youngest of four children in the rural town of Ceres in 1971. By fourteen he left his home town to attend his father's alma mater, Paarl Boishaai, a boys' boarding school from which he graduated. It was during his high school years that he sensed a call to ministry, rebelling against the rigidness of the Dutch Reformed Church and the culture of the day. After serving a year of mandatory military service, he went on to study Theology at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, where he earned BD and MA degrees.
During this time, life in Africa began changing. Nelson Mandela was released from prison, Apartheid ended, and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was formed under the chairmanship of Archbishop Desmond Tutu. "Being part of these events," Dries recalls, "gave me a sense of the all-inclusive love of God and Christ's solidarity with the poor, the marginalized, and the oppressed."
While on an archaeological dig in Jordan in June 1997, Dries met Andy Dearman, a professor in Old Testament from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Texas, who opened the door for him to come to the United States as an intern at Saint Paul Presbyterian Church in Houston, Texas in March of 1998. After successfully completing the Presbyterian Church (USA) ordination requirements and examinations, Dries was ordained on September 30, 2001, and served Saint Paul for two more years as pastor to a congregation with many black West Africans. He remembers that "this was a transformational experience of reconciliation that brought healing in my own life caused by the wounds of growing up as part of an oppressive minority."
It was also here that he met his wife Beth, a native Houstonian, who was raised in the Rio Grande Valley along the border of Texas and Mexico. She has three children from a previous marriage - Allison (now 28), Harrison (now 24) and Olivia (now 22). Dries and Beth were married in November 2000 at St. Paul Presbyterian Church. In 2003 Dries accepted a call as Associate Pastor at Oak Grove Presbyterian Church in Bloomington, MN where he served for seven years until they moved to Wooster, Ohio in 2010. One of the biggest life changing events while living in Bloomington came in 2007 when Dries and Beth added to their family and adopted two boys Alazar (now 17) and Endalkachew (now 13) from Ethiopia.
 Currently Dries also serves on the Steering Committee of the Israel Palestine Mission Network where he serves as Chair of the Partnership Committee and also on the Faith Council of Equality, Ohio. Dries also continuse to lead travel seminars to South Africa about every two years where they explore race and reconciliation. |
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IN A BROKEN AND FEARFUL WORLD, THE SPIRIT CALLS ON DISCIPLES
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Is this how the world should look like, or do we live in private and secluded worlds that we hardly notice? "We The People", and we "disciples of Jesus", take a great deal of credit for what our world has become, more broken and very fearful. Many of our 7 billion sisters and brothers have come to associate the United States with violence and oppression given our short but bloody history and ever-growing appetite for wars and aggression. Ours is the infamous reputation for ethnic cleansing of native peoples, enslavement of Africans, exploitation of migrant workers and new immigrants, and world dominance in military power, politics, commerce, and financial markets. The infamous reputation also includes support for corrupt dictators, rogue militants, and the unconditional support for other colonial enterprises like the State of Israel. We spend 48% of our tax dollars on "Defense" and brandish and propagate the most lethal and destructive military and weapons of mass destruction. We founded and mastered powerful systems that thrive on exclusivity, dominance, and exploitation. We designed every method and justified every means to win every end that will empower our dominance, to enrich the rich and impoverish the poor.
We argue, wrangle, and fight amongst ourselves over duties and rights of authorities and we bitterly disagree, polarize, and divide over what is criminal and what is justifiable use of force. The real question I ask the Spirit is will the tyranny of terror ever be tamed, can the insatiable craving for violence ever be starved. Will you Spirit, when and how, and how will the church answer your call today? The Brief Statement of Faith reads: "In a broken and fearful world the Spirit gives us courage to pray without ceasing, to witness among all peoples to Christ as Lord and Savior, to unmask idolatries in Church and culture, to hear the voices of peoples long silenced, and to work with others for justice, freedom, and peace." "In a broken and fearful world the Spirit gives us courage to pray without ceasing" for a just peace and radical transformation of our government. We lament the loss of life.... READ MORE |
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This is My Story
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 | | Dr. Nahida Halaby Gordon |
A Palestinian American Christian Woman
I was born, the youngest of four children, into a Presbyterian (Church of Scotland) family in Jerusalem, Palestine, in 1939. My birth year marked the end of the first uprising of Palestinians against their British occupiers, who were encouraging mass immigration of European Jews into Palestine against the wishes of the indigenous population. The uprising, which began in 1936, was ended in 1939 with the British brutal suppression and the execution or exile of the uprising's leadership [1]. It is estimated that "violence left 5,000 Palestinians dead, 15,000 wounded, and 5,600 incarcerated". [2] The uprising was against the British form of occupation [3] and the mass immigration of Jews into Palestine.
This mass immigration was encouraged and facilitated by the British Balfour declaration [4], which favored the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine even though the population of Palestine was over 92% Palestinian Christian and Muslim at the time of the declaration. [5] Moreover, the Balfour Declaration went against promises the British had made to the Arabs for their eventual freedom in return for fighting with the British against the Ottoman Empire during World War I. [6] And finally, in issuing the Balfour Declaration, Great Britain violated its responsibilities as a mandatory power.
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I grant that it is my ethnicity as a Palestinian Arab, which elicits discomfort when I tell my personal story. But it is also my gender which makes it easier for others to discount that story.
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Let your voice be heard!
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The 221st General Assembly (2014) has passed a mandate to "direct that a new configuration of synod boundaries be established [based on an emerging sense of purpose, partnership, context, and call] through a collaborative process between the synods and presbyteries resulting in no more than 10-12 synods. The synods shall report to the 222nd General Assembly (2016)."
As part of the process, the Synod of the Covenant has asked for your congregation's help in determining how best to use this opportunity to learn what God is calling the synod to do and become. All are confidential. A statistical summary of the results will be shared with the Synod of the Covenant as we discern our future. Blessings on you.
Please distribute this url for the survey to your congregation in whatever means works best for your members.
pcusa.org/synod-study
Thank you for your cooperation! If you have any questions, contact:
Becki Moody, Research Specialist
Research Services
Presbyterian Mission Agency
becki.moody@pcusa.org
502-569-5139
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Join Us in Minneapolis!
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The 2015 PW Churchwide Gathering will be held June 18-21, 2015 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Make plans to join us! Registration for the event is just $395 (less than in 2012!), with hotel rooms at the Hyatt Regency at $169 per night (up to four guests per room). Registration will open January 15, 2015.
The theme of the Gathering is "One Body, One Spirit," based on 1 Corinthians 12:12-27. As always, workshops, plenary sessions, worship, mission opportunities and all Gathering programming will explore the theme in the context of a diverse, faithful sisterhood.
Gathering registration just around the corner!
Are you ready to start planning your Gathering experience? The Gathering registration booklet mailed with the November/December 2014 issue of Horizons, but is also now available for download!
Use this resource to plan your arrival, worship, shopping, education, relaxation and inspiration during the 2015 Gathering. Plenary speakers will inspire you to live out your faith in new ways. Educational opportunities (workshops, forums and mission tours) will stretch your understanding and engagement with the world. Time with your Presbyterian sisters will remind you of the power of women committed to creating a more just world for everyone. In short, it's an incredible event that should not be missed!
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Looking for a job next summer?
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We are now accepting applications for the 2015 Mobile Health Fair.
Team Supervisor and Team Leader positions will have in-person interviews on December 19, 2014 at the Synod of the Covenant office in Maumee OH.
Team Member positions will continue to be accepted through January 16, 2015 with in-person interviews on Saturday January 31.
Times of interviews will be announced.
If you have questions, please contact Doris Evans, Synod Program Coordinator at
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