I heard a few weeks back that the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) was changing its policy. Instead of commissioning out-going missionaries only at meetings of the General Assembly, those commissioning services are now going to be held in different settings across the church. Upon gaining this information, I immediately emailed the staff person responsible for the commissioning services and offered Montreat as a site, reminding him of the conference center’s rich history of being the place from which many, many missionaries were commissioned and sent out to the far ends of the globe. Montreat has indeed been in the business of sending people out into the mission field.
But now, a new thing seems to be happening here in Montreat.
This past Sunday, Montreat received a missionary – Dr. Cláudio Carvalhaes from Sao Paulo, Brazil. Cláudio, his life shaped in part by Presbyterian missionaries, is in this country sharing the gospel and shaping Americans for ministry in the multi-cultural church that is emerging here.
And there is more…
Last week I received a call from a Korean Presbyterian pastor in Washington, D.C., asking for an appointment to see me. Representing the growing Presbyterian Korean community in the United States, this pastor wants Montreat to receive thanksgiving from that Korean community for the missionaries who went out to Korea from here.
And yet more…
In August, a delegation of twenty-five Taiwanese Presbyterian pastors will be received here in Montreat. They will come, in part, to teach us about ministry in a multi-cultural world – the ways of ministry they have learned in their own multi-cultural Taiwan and that we now need to learn, too, for mission to thrive here.
For years Montreat has sent out. Now, could it be the calling of Montreat to receive? Are we called now to receive missionaries from around the world who will come to help us become the open, multicultural, embracing church of this changed, global neighborhood that is our home?New things are, indeed, happening in Montreat.
Grace and peace,
Pete
PS - If you do not think our neighborhood has become global, justconsider this. Right here in Buncombe County, NC (clearly not the urban center of the nation), there are fifty different languages spoken by students in Buncombe County Public Schools.
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Courtney Kovacs is the Creative Assistant at Montreat Conference Center. She works on This Week In Montreat and the Sunday Worship Bulletins. This is her second year on Summer Staff.
Courtney can be reached at creativeassistant@montreat.org.
Courtney can be reached at creativeassistant@montreat.org.
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