Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church of Overland
Park, Kansas traveled 14 hours to spend a week with the Liberation Community
Church (PCUSA) in a ministry partnership this summer. The partnership
gave 49 people from the Grace Covenant congregation an opportunity to
experience the Memphis, Tennessee ministry which invites the poor into
membership in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
The group was comprised of 39 teenagers (grades
9-12) and 10 adults. LCC Parish Associate and Basics Learning Center,
Inc. Director, Reverend Gail Porter Nelson, commented that "we
had an opportunity to witness the Presbyterian connectional system at
work." Nelson was referring to more than half of the membership
of Liberation Community Church being new to the Presbyterian Church
(U.S.A.). "The opportunity to partner with another congregation
through face to face interaction provides the foundation for explaining
the opportunities the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) offers in the development
of a unique ministry like ours."
The Grace Covenant Church painted the interior
of the church building, contributed books to Basics Learning Center,
Inc. (a ministry of Liberation Community Church); led group sessions
at POWER Summer day camp; and established a gardening project with the
children of the POWER Summer. Additionally, the group worked with the
summer school program at Whitehaven Elementary School which adopted
Basics Learning Center, Inc. in 1999 through the adopt-a-school program
of the Memphis City Schools. The group also did repairs on the Presbyterian
Campus Ministry House at the University of Memphis.
The Grace Covenant group worked with the staff
of Basics Learning Center, Inc. with 42 children enrolled in the POWER
Summer program. The POWER Summer Day Camp is in its fourth summer of
operation and helps children retain learning skills and develop life
opportunities during the summer months. It also teaches African American
history, culture and values, and conflict resolution skills.
The experience offers insights for the Grace Covenant
Church into urban poverty among children, which is a focus of the Liberation
Community Church ministry witness.
LCC is a new church development of the Presbytery
of Memphis that was chartered in April 1999. It is located in a storefront
facility and is an intentional witness with the poor and oppressed.
The Pastor of LCC is J. Herbert Nelson, II.
