11 10 11 Bearing Witness to The Wholeness of Ministry

Each meeting of a presbytery has its own character. Some are celebratory and glad. Others are weighty and deliberative. Lately, our meetings have been rather more weighty than usual, mostly due to the rather dramatic changes underway in church and culture. It was therefore a great joy at our last meeting of the Presbytery of Yukon to spend an evening with the Rev. Cobbe Palm, one of our PC(USA) Mission Co-workers from The Philippines.

There were several things that made Rev. Palm’s presentation memorable. His winsome and joyous presence was just what was needed in an otherwise heavy meeting. The wonderful Power Point slides added color and visual images to his talk. But what struck me most was the fabulous history of consistent, ongoing ministry of the Presbyterian Church in the Philippines.

The thing from his talk that really stood out for me was the very
Rev. Cobbe Palm

wholistic nature of Presbyterian mission at its best. Rev. Palm pointed out that from the beginning the Presbyterians’ mission strategy was to care for the whole person in its ministry: mind, body and soul. In the 1800’s the Presbyterians built the mind, body and soul institutions of schools, hospitals and churches. Since then times have changed. Now, the church has added to that list by engaging in a very troublesome issue worldwide, and especially in the Philippines, the issue of sex trafficking.

Traffickers are lying to parents and young people, promising them good work in a far-away place that will help support their families. The truth is that these young people are spirited away to the sex trade. The Presbyterians and others have entered into this situation to provide intervention, healing and training to help get people out of these situations. Further, the Presbyterians have been very involved in advocating for societal changes so this can’t go on. The churches, themselves, are lifting up disciples of Jesus Christ as people who build ministries that continue to care for people—mind, body and soul.

This, of course, is a hallmark of the Reformed branch of Christianity. We have always believed that saving the soul is important, but have understood that God cares for the whole person, and that Christians and Christian ministry must also care for the whole person. It was a pleasure to be reminded of that and to witness some of the good work that God continues to do through the Presbyterian Church. It was a great gift to have the Rev. Cobbe Palm among us to share the story.