Hurricane Helene

On Sept. 27, 2024, Hurricane Helene ripped through the southeastern United States. Portions of Western North Carolina were hit especially hard, leaving a wake of destruction from which it will take years to recover.

Our members are safe and accounted for, thankfully, and there was no damage to our church property. Most folks reported interruptions of cell service, WiFi, water, and/or power with no other major impact. There is, however, significant damage in other parts of Jackson County and beyond — especially towards, in, and past Asheville. So, we are grieving and bewildered, even as we remember the words of Psalm 46: “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea.”

How you can help:

Please PRAY for all who are in need.

DONATIONS of bottled water, cleaning supplies, nonperishable prepackaged food, diapers, and hygiene products can be delivered to our church Fellowship Hall for distribution. You can also bring them to the old Western Builders building in Dillsboro (198 WBI Dr., Sylva) daily between 8am and 8pm. You can also drop off sliced bread, peanut butter, and jelly to The Community Table (23 Central St, Sylva). We are not currently taking donations at the church.

You can provide FINANCIAL GIFTS to the Presbytery of Western NC’s emergency fund (write “PWNC relief” in the memo line of your check), or give to our ministry partners:

• United Christian Ministries

• The Community Table

• The Black Mountain Home

• Presbyterian Disaster Assistance

Click this link to VOLUNTEER with Jackson County.  You can add your name to their list and they will contact you when needs arise. We are also working on specific work projects as a church, and will have more information posted about these soon.

Thank you!

Nicaragua Mission Trip

“The mission of the church is in fact the church’s obedient participation in that action of the Spirit by which the confession of Jesus as Lord becomes the authentic confession of every new people, each in its own tongue.”

— Lesslie Newbigin

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Mission is at the heart of the gospel.  Have you ever thought about that?  When you become a Christian, you also become a missionary, because the God whom we follow is nothing less than a missionary God – always on the move, always leading people of every tribe, tongue, and nation into a deeper awareness of his reality and his claim on their lives.

I saw this in action during our recent mission trip to Nicaragua.  Six of us from Sylva traveled with friends from Arbor Dale and Newland Presbyterian Churches to spend the week with leaders of Young Life (AKA Viden Joven in Spanish).  Vida Joven is a ministry to youth based in the United States but stretching all over the globe, and it was exciting to see it flourishing in Nicaragua. 

There are too many stories to recount from the trip, but one highlight was the night we attended a “club” meeting in Estelí.  Club is Vida Joven’s weekly youth gathering, usually held in someone’s home, and this week we met at Daniel’s house along with 30 or so kids from the surrounding neighborhood.  The night was warm and the sky was clear and the energy in the room was palpable.  The kids danced, sang songs, and acted in a few skits before a young woman named Deanna came out to share a message from Luke 15, the story of the Prodigal Son.  All of us, she said, have experienced getting lost.  But God desires to find us and to bring us home. 

As Deanna spoke, I was so amazed at her courage and confidence.  Here was someone who was still a teenager, growing up in the second-poorest country in the western hemisphere, with a fraction of the material resources that we normally rely on in the U.S., who was also participating so obediently in the mission of God.  I was humbled and amazed and as the night wrapped up, I felt a deep conviction that we in America have much to learn from our Nicaraguan brothers and sisters about what faithfulness really looks like.

There were other highlights too, of course.  Before the club meeting, we spent all morning walking and praying through the neighborhood, which was a powerful experience of befriending and loving our neighbors in Estelí.  The next day, we traveled up into the mountains to the La Finca camp to see where so many Vida Joven kids get to spend time with God and with each other.  There we got to pick coffee beans, blaze trails for a new low-ropes course, walk a labyrinth in the dark, and eat loads of fresh fruit and gallo pinto (rice and beans) while sipping the best coffee in the world.  Throughout these experiences we heard testimonies from the Vida Joven leadership, shared and received prayers, and dreamed about how the difficult but important work of discipleship can be shared back home in North Carolina.

So often we think of mission work in terms of task-oriented service projects: the Peace Corps with a Christian twist.  But mission work is so much wider and deeper than that. It’s a life of participating in the mission of God.  And this life is always personal and particular and humble and open.  In Nicaragua we met people with personal names like Deanna or Daniel; we visited particular places like Estelí and La Finca; we humbled ourselves to ask for help with Spanish and directions and toilet paper; and we opened ourselves to new experiences, to leaving our comfort zones, and to seeing God at work perhaps where we least expected him. 

To all of you who prayed or gave money to help us get to Nicaragua – thank you.  I hope you’ll consider traveling with us in the future (because we do plan to go back!).  And to all of us who have committed to the dusty road of discipleship, may we walk with a renewed commitment to the mission God has for us.

Yours in Christ,
Blake

What's Your Mission? (pt. 2)

Last month I reflected on the topic of “mission.”  I’d like to continue in that vein this month.  Fall is a season when so many of us go back to school, back to work, back to routine – so it’s an important time to buckle down on what we’re called to do and why we’re called to do it.  We’ve also just started a four-week study of our church’s mission statement, so I hope this topic is fresh on your minds already.  Truthfully, there’s never a bad time to talk about mission, just like there’s never a bad time to check your compass to make sure you’re headed in the right direction.

The mission of First Presbyterian Church is to make disciples who love Jesus Christ, love the church, and love their neighbors as themselves.  That’s what we’re all about.  This mission is rooted first and foremost in the good news of Jesus Christ, which is nurtured in the context of Christ’s body, the church, and which is expressed out in the world for which Christ died.  As your pastor, my deepest hope is that you would believe in this mission, live it out, and teach others to do the same by the power of the Holy Spirit.

As a concrete invitation into this mission-centered way of life, I want to invite you to recommit yourself to our church family for this fall season.  Maybe you have traveled a lot this summer and have been out of the swing of things; maybe you’ve been busy with work or hobbies or simply sleeping in on Sunday mornings; maybe you’ve been coming to worship but have been looking for other ways to serve and grow.  Regardless of where you are, let this be the beginning of a new season of ministry for all of us.  Come check out a Sunday School class.  Enjoy food and fellowship at Family Night Supper.  Join us on our campout at beautiful Smokemont in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  Sign up to help the hospitality committee bring a meal to someone in need (and join the hospitality committee – or another committee – while you’re at it!).  Give financially to support the “Cornerstone” campaign.  And, of course, come to worship and lift your voice to the Lord.  We need you and your gifts among us to fulfill this mission together, to the glory of God.

Yours in Christ,

Blake

What's Your Mission?

What's your mission? 

If you had to write a mission statement for your life, what would it say?

I’ve been reflecting on these questions recently for two reasons.  First, the latest Mission: Impossible movie came out in theaters last month, and I’m eager to see it. (Tom Cruise is a wild man!)  Second – and more importantly – I’ve recently returned from a continuing education trip that focused on this very topic: mission and the church. 

During my time away, I met with seven other pastors to read through the work of the 20th century missionary Lesslie Newbigin.  Newbigin was adamant throughout his ministry that mission is not tangential to the gospel, but at the very heart of the gospel.  Jesus, after all, came on a mission to rescue us, and Jesus has commissioned us to make disciples in his name.  The church, therefore, doesn’t have a mission; the church is a mission – a “joyful participation in Christ’s ongoing life and work,” as our Presbyterian Book of Order says.

So if you’re wondering what your personal mission in life is, look to the Lord.  Look to Jesus.  He already has a mission statement for you, and he invites you to share in that mission with other people in a community called “church,” for the life of the world.

Starting at the end of August, I will preach four sermons on the topic of mission, focusing specifically on our mission statement at First Presbyterian Church: “To make disciples who love Jesus Christ, love the church, and love their neighbors as themselves.”  This statement has its roots in Jesus’ conversation with a teacher of the law in Luke 10.  We will study Scripture and break the statement down week-by-week to consider how God is leading us on mission together in Sylva and beyond.  I hope you’ll join us.

Yours in Christ,

Blake

Nicaragua Mission Trip

First Presbyterian Church of Sylva is sending a group to Nicaragua from June 23-30, 2018.  We will be joined by members of the Refuge Church in Dillsboro and by two Presbyterian Churches in Newland and Banner Elk, NC.  We will be working with a student ministry called Young Life (or “Vida Joven” in Spanish) in the town of Esteli, where we will stay with local families and complete work projects before traveling to a Young Life camp in the mountains of Jinotega.  Throughout this, we will build relationships with Young Life leaders, spend time with their youth, and learn more about what God is doing in Nicaragua.

Our goal for this trip is one of mutual benefit.  In contrast to other mission or work trips, we hope to come alongside the leaders who are already there so that we might serve with them and learn from them.  If God gives us the opportunity to share with them or teach them, great!  Regardless, we hope to show a posture of curiosity, humility, and love as we enter another culture.  In a world of so much division, inside and outside the church, I for one am looking forward to the opportunity to build bridges and make surprising friendships among people very different than me. 

As a team, we would love your financial support.  Each team member needs to raise $1,600 to cover the costs of travel, room, and board.  We have several group fundraising events scheduled, but we are also looking for individual donations to offset the cost.  To give, simply write a check to "First Presbyterian Church" and put “Nicaragua” in the memo line.

In addition, we would love your prayerful support.  Paying for the trip is one thing, but traveling with the confidence that friends, family members, and brothers and sisters in Christ are praying for us is even more important.  I will be sending out particular prayer requests as the travel date approaches.  Would you pray for us as we prepare, visit, and return?

I am so grateful for a church with a global perspective; thank you for your support thus far, and for your support to come.

Blake

"Go and Make Disciples"

If we're going to impact our world in the name of Jesus, it will be because people like you and me took action in the power of the Spirit.  Ever since the mission and ministry of Jesus, God has never stopped calling for a movement of "Little Jesuses" to follow him into the world and unleash the remarkable redemptive genius that lies in the very message we carry.  Given the situation of the Church in the West, much will now depend on whether we are willing to break out of a stifling herd instinct and find God again in the context of the advancing kingdom of God. 

- Alan Hirsch, The Forgotten Ways: Reactivating the Missional Church