Mission Crossroads is a three-time-a-year magazine focused on worldwide work of the PC(USA). It offers news and feature stories about mission personnel, international partners and grassroots Presbyterians involved in God's mission in the world.
Issue link: https://missioncrossroads.epubxp.com/i/491857
4 Spring 2015 2000 At the beginning of the 21st century, there are around 14,000 students studying in 20 schools run by NESSL. Students come from a wide variety of religious backgrounds (Sunni, Shiite, Druze, Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, and others). 2003 US-led military invasion of Iraq disrupts balance of power in the region, enfames Islamic militancy, and leads to increased persecution of Christians. Turmoil spreads to neighboring countries, resulting in millions of refugees and exodus of indigenous Christians from their homelands. Presbyterian World Mission partners with Syrian and Iraqi churches to provide relief. Today PC(USA) personnel serve in active partnership alongside Middle Eastern Christians to give witness to the love of God in Jesus Christ throughout the region. Ben Weir (left) & Kenneth Bailey (right) served in Lebanon during the civil war. Kayla Mueller 'Greater love has no one than this': Kayla Mueller remembered PC(USA) mourns the death of partner-in-ministry Kayla Mueller, Christian mission volunteer held hostage by the Islamic State. By Scott O'Neill "For as long as I live, I will not let this suffering be normal, something we just accept," said Kayla Mueller, a kidnapped Christian aid worker describing her work with Syrian refugees in 2013. "I find God," she later said to her family, "in the suffering eyes reflected in mine. If this is how you [God] are revealed to me, this is how I will forever seek you." Gregory Allen- Pickett, general manager of Presbyterian World Mission, first connected with the young activist in May 2009. "I was working in Guatemala with a nonprofit called Healing Waters. We worked with local communities to establish a source of safe drinking water, and Kayla's campus ministry group was there at the same time," recalls Allen-Pickett. "Kayla stood out to me as particularly thoughtful and articulate. Her questions and comments showed a deeper level of commitment and thought regarding the issues that surrounded her on the trip." Mueller began her volunteer service efforts in middle school, volunteering for local Kiwanis Club events and homeless shelters. In high school she organized a protest to raise awareness about the genocide in Darfur, Sudan. As a senior in 2007, she received the gold President's Volunteer Service Award for her work with Americorps and Big Brothers Big Sisters, among many other groups. In December 2012 Mueller traveled to the Turkey-Syria border to provide aid to Syrian refugees through the Danish Refugee Council. She was passionate about helping the refugees and raising awareness about the crisis unfolding before her. "Anger, sadness, and fear," she wrote in her blog at the time, "are the best composts for compassion." On August 3, 2013, Mueller and a friend visited a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Aleppo, Syria, to repair the hospital's Internet connection. She and her companion stayed there overnight and were reportedly taken captive the next day on their way to the bus station. It was spring 2014 before anyone would hear from her again—in the form of a letter she sent out through fellow captors who had been released. On February 10, 2015, Mueller's family received information of her death directly from the terrorist group known as the Islamic State, a fact later confirmed by the US State Department. My hope is that Kayla inspires others to alleviate suffering in the world and in their own communities." Mueller's parents have started a foundation called Kaylashands.org. To read what Mueller's friends have to say about her, visit forkayla.org.