Mission Board Message Board | August 2025

“As you did it unto the least of these, you did it unto me.”—Matthew 25:40

Serving others, both locally and even throughout the world, is at the core of ELPC’s mission, and our Mission Board is always busy organizing and overseeing such work. This month, our Message Board provides updates from our various committees: Justice, Neighbors, Peace, and Facing Systemic Racism.

So read on! As always, there are many opportunities to join with others to support and serve in a wide variety of programs. Any of these committee chairs would be glad to hear from you!

Advertisement of “items” for sale, including Nell and Poll.

Facing Systemic Racism | Lenore Williams, Chair
As part of our church family, the Facing Systemic Racism (FSR) Committee continues to help open our hearts and minds to the past of ELPC and the brightness of the future of our congregation. The recent presentation, Reckoning with ELPC’s Ties to Enslavement, held on June 29, provided another opportunity to grow together in understanding, to admit truths about our past, and to think about how to shape our future. More than 125 people attended the presentation either in person or on Zoom.

If you were unable to join us, you may watch the recording aton YouTube.

What has the story of Nell and Poll inspired you to do? How does it help to mold your vision of our church future? Watch for more details and join us on Sunday, October 26, as part of ELPC’s Mission Month, as we continue this journey.

ELPC had a strong showing at Pittsburgh’s annual Juneteenth Parade on June 21!

Justice Committee | Carol Chonoska, Chair
Empower yourself! You are enough! You can create change right where you are! You can be the voice of God’s Love!

To help to create a more equitable world for all, here are some simple things you can do:

The Justice Committee also is concerned about Encounters with ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). ICE activity has been reported in neighborhoods throughout Southwestern Pennsylvania. ELPC’s partners at Casa San José have provided a few recommendations for anyone witnessing ICE agents—or those claiming to be ICE agents—behaving in questionable or concerning ways toward members of the immigrant community:

  • You are allowed to ask the agents/officers for their ID.
  • You are allowed to ask if the agent/officer has a warrant.
  • You are allowed to record the interactions and should loudly tell the agents/officers involved that they are
    being recorded.

While you are not allowed to impede the agents/officers in their activities or get between the agents/officers and the person with whom they are interacting, bystanders—especially those who are born citizens of the U.S.—can be effective advocates.

If you see anyone in Pittsburgh or the surrounding area being held up by ICE agents, please call Casa San José’s emergency number, 412.736.7167, so they can deploy a team of trained support personnel.

The Environmental Team, a subcommittee of Justice, has planned its next book study and will be reading Human Nature: Nine Ways to Feel About Our Changing Planet by Kate Marvel.

Marvel, an Earth scientist and theoretical physicist, provides a captivating exploration of climate change that uses nine different emotions to better understand the science, history, and future of our evolving planet. She has seen the world end before, sometimes several times a day, in the computer models she uses to study climate change, where it’s easy to simulate rising temperatures, catastrophic outcomes, and bleak futures. But climate change isn’t just happening in those models. It’s happening here. It’s happening to us.

Human Nature is a deeply felt inquiry into our rapidly changing Earth. In each chapter, Marvel uses a different emotion to explore the science and stories behind climate change. As expected, there is anger, fear, and grief—but also wonder, hope, and love. The book is hopeful, heartbreaking, and surprisingly funny.

Our Book Study group will meet in the Highland Room and online on Thursday, September 25, 7 pm. For further information and the Zoom link, contact Nancy Heastings .

Neighbors Committee | Cathleen Malmstrom, Chair
The Chapel Market, a project of the Neighbors Committee, involves many ELPC members and friends, but some of us do not know much about its history or its current activity.

The Market is located in our church’s original Wayfarer Chapel. When the church was designed during the Great Depression, the Chapel was intended to serve as a social ministry, but it didn’t function as such until 1983, when ELPC began to provide a soup kitchen and emergency shelter for homeless men—both in the Chapel and adjacent spaces. The Church continued to provide these services until 2012, when East End Cooperative Ministries (EECM) took on that role.

The refreshed Market was painted in 2024 by a generous team of volunteers from the United Steel Workers, who were doing community service as part of the USW Next Generation conference being held here.

A few years later, member Fran Wilson spearheaded the opening of the present Chapel Market as a free resource for the surrounding community. Primarily focused on clothing for men, women, and children, it also provides necessary basics like shampoo, toilet paper, and diapers. What we have available at any time is completely dependent on donations from the congregation, with modest financial support from ELPC. We currently have a rotating group of more than 20 loyal volunteers who serve 90–100 visitors each month!

The Chapel Market is one of ELPC’s most appreciated programs, by both volunteers and the folks we serve. The reward of seeing a child happily wearing his new-to-him Spiderman t-shirt or a young woman excitedly selecting clothes for a job interview can’t be overstated! And now, with the addition of our Chapel Market Dinners, we are continuing to find new ways to be of service.

To learn more or to volunteer in this ministry, please contact Gerald McClendon or Harold and Linda Deiss.

Peace Committee | Russ Walker, Chair
The Peace Committee asks the congregation to continue to support the efforts of CeaseFirePA to achieve improved gun laws for Pennsylvania. Follow this link to register your support: act.ceasefirepa.org/a/common-agenda.

For over 30 years, the Peace Committee, other ELPC members, and others from Pittsburgh Presbytery have traveled to the country of Malawi and have hosted an equal number of Malawians in our sister churches. The visits have involved relationship building, educational events, pastoral exchange, evangelism rallies, medical mission work, and building construction. The partnership has created deep personal friendships both overseas and within Pittsburgh Presbytery. In 2013, this partnership was expanded to include South Sudan and to become a tripartite partnership where each member can share fruit with each of its two neighbors.

This year, ELPC member Dr. Eddie Willson hopes to return to Malawi for his second visit. You can help Eddie raise the funds through this Go Fund Me link: bit.ly/44xFoa3.