The Rev. Dr. Paul McLean with Tayal Bible Translators and friends in Taiwan.

Through Christ, God came to be with us. Born in a stable, raised in a family, trained as a carpenter; regarded as a heretic, a prophet, a saviour; admired, accused, crucified. God experienced life in all its fullness as Jesus Christ.

When we say we follow Christ, it means that we want to live our lives the way Jesus did. Jesus met people wherever they were at: in the temple, eating a meal, walking the road or fishing. We see that when Jesus was with people he shared their celebrations, listened to their challenges, heard their cries for help. He challenged them, laughed with them, offered wisdom and insight. Sometimes he became angry or was sad. Jesus ministered in community. He gathered 12 disciples and many followers and made friends in different places along the road. God, too, calls us to be in community, to support and encourage one another from wherever we are at. Since the days of the early church, one of the ways of doing this has been to collect offerings to support others in their ministries, both near and far. Presbyterians Sharing is one way that Presbyterians participate in mission and ministry in communities across Canada and around the world.

Mission and ministry require being with people—loving them, sharing the good news, proclaiming justice. Through grants and programs, we are there to support congregations and mission partners as they seek new ways of being with people in a changing world. We are there when outreach ministries provide food, housing and employment services to people who are struggling. We are there when refugees are welcomed and people on the margins are included. We are there when students graduate from theological colleges and when prisoners read the Bible. And God is there with us.

The Revs Shannon Bell and John Wyminga have spent the past 27 years ministering with the Dakelh people in the Nazko area of northern British Columbia through Cariboo Presbyterian Church. Shannon reflects that “A ministry of presence takes time—time to build trusting relationships; time to reassure and demonstrate that we are here to learn, respect and honour the culture; time to know families over generations; time to just ‘be’ rather than always ‘do’. As we walk with people through tragedies, births, illnesses, deaths, celebrations, rodeos, graduations, wildfires and floods and a pandemic, I know that what we do most effectively through the constancy of our presence is demonstrate the love of Jesus. All the programs and meetings and events that can be organized do not say Yak’usda ‘en nek’entsi’ ‘int’oh (God is love) as much as the tangible presence of a follower of Jesus in good times and pain.”

The Rev. Dr. Paul McLean is able to support and be present with 12 different Indigenous Bible translation teams in Taiwan, even from Canada. Using translation software, as well as his knowledge of Taiwanese, Chinese, Hakka, English, Greek and Hebrew, and his more than 30 years in Bible translation, Paul supports Indigenous teams as they translate the Bible, even into languages he doesn’t understand. Paul shares, “Indigenous languages in Taiwan, as in Canada, are all under the threat of language loss. By translating the Bible we hope to preserve these languages and to help churches promote them as an evangelism tool in their communities, as we proclaim the good news of God’s love for the whole world through our common faith in Jesus Christ.”

During the past year, congregations, mission partners and individuals have rediscovered the importance of being present together. Even as we’ve found new ways of doing ministry during a pandemic—virtual meals, online worship, porch visits and outdoor activities—we are seeing that we can still bring people together to share in the love and healing presence of God.

When we give to Presbyterians Sharing, we choose to be there, to be present as a church expressing Christ’s love together, for people across Canada and around the world.

Thank you for being there.

SOURCE►ISSUE 20, WINTER 2021 of the Presbyterian Church in Canada newspaper - PRESBYTERIAN CONNECTION