With so many ministries and organizations asking for donations for missions and causes that tug at our hearts, and so many scams and frauds coming to our phones and inboxes every day, how do we tell where we can safely and effectively donate our money? Below are two online tools that can help, Charity Navigator and MinistryWatch 1000 Database. Charity Navigator is one website that can help. It works to determine if a nonprofit is effective. All you need to do is enter the

Jonathan’s House in Central African Republic (CAR) was recently awarded a Presbytery Mission Partnership grant for an exciting and important new ministry. In November 2025, Carter Strand and his wife, Julie, went to Jonathan’s House to provide eye exams and eyeglasses to those in need in the orphanage’s neighborhood. What they discovered led to this new ministry to restore vision to the blind and an opportunity to witness to the kingdom of God. People listening to the gospel

Last month as part of our annual Missions and Evangelism retreat we heard a report from Tiffany Beadle, a Community Advocate from the Marshalltown Police and Community Team (MPACT). Currently two women serve as Community Advocates, intervening in non-emergent non-criminal police calls involving mental illness, family conflict, etc. You can read more about MPACT here: https://www.yss.org/mpact/ . We invited Tiffany to join us so we could learn more about the difficulties peopl