As the first Matthew 25 challenge, the Presbytery is confronting the crushing costs of medical care, especially for those living in poverty.  "Medical debt destroys the financial stability of large segments of America's most vulnerable communities: the sick, the elderly, the poor, and veterans. It also targets the middle class, driving many families who are barely getting along into poverty. Medical debt isn't the result of bad decisions. It's a debt of necessity."  [RIP Medical Debt]  By forgiving this debt, we can give those who are struggling a fresh start and help them back towards financial stability.  We can extinguish medical debt for cents on the dollar, and your Presbytery Council has already committed $1500 to do so.  We challenge congregations and individuals to join this effort.  The Presbytery will accept donations through November 6 through normal remittance channels, noting "medical debt payoff" on the form or check.  To learn more about medical debt in the time of COVID-19 and how to help extinguish it, check out this 2020 Medical Debt Summit, recorded by RIP Medical Debt on October 6.  Stories of other churches that have risen to this challenge can be found on our new Medical Care webpage.

Another way to act our your Matthew 25 commitment is by joining Common Ground's Community Health Volunteers project.  You can add to the 46 members calling COVID-positive people referred by the Milwaukee Health Department.  The phone calls are made each day for 10 days to people who are recovering at home and monitoring their health condition.  Common Ground has helped over 250 people to date.  Contact Patricia Obluck, Associate Organizer at patricia.obluck@commongroundwi.org for more information.

At its Sept. 29 Gathering, Milwaukee Presbytery unanimously voted to affirm the denomination's Matthew 25 vision to focus our ministries on building congregational vitality, eradicating systemic poverty, and dismantling structural racism.  We are already doing good work in these areas, but we'll be concentrating our focus at the spaces where racism and poverty intersect and how the church is called to action.  At the same Gathering, the Presbytery began learning about the first of six Matthew 25 topics:  the lack of quality, affordable healthcare, especially for those living in poverty and People of Color.  Between now and our November 12 Gathering, we will offer opportunities for learning and action.  On November 12, we'll share what we've learned and be invited into another topic.  All topics (with clickable links) can be found on the Presbytery's Matthew 25 webpage.  Although this vote applies to the Presbytery at large, every congregation is invited to discern whether to become a Matthew 25 church as well.  We encourage you to join Heritage, Southminster, and Tippecanoe Presbyterian churches, which have already made this commitment!

Look for more on Witness to Hope, Peace, Joy and Love coming soon.