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Home / Mission and Outreach / Benevolence

Celebrating the Emancipation of Enslaved People

March 15, 2019 by Kate Brinkley

On a recent rainy afternoon, many gathered in the Rotunda to celebrate the emancipation of 14,000 enslaved people of a total population of 27,000 in Charlottesville and Albemarle County after the Civil War Rio Hill skirmish and surrender. We were celebrating Liberation and Freedom Day on March 3rd, 2019 with those who are descendants from the enslaved laborers who build the university, ministers, choir group, University architect, Board of Visitors member, faculty, staff and alumni and individuals from the community.

The choir was heartwarming with their message that no one can hold you down and you can make a difference, contribute and each have a valuable life. And James Murray, Vice Rector, told us that the child had been born at the hospital that day and he referred to the child as Hope. He laid out by stages of life what we as a community and the university together could do to give this child and every child here opportunities for a full and rich life. What an empowering proposal for us to work together to make happen in our lives and for the futures of our children.

We also learned of some of the realities of being a in slave labor. That the Rotunda itself took more than 1 million bricks to dig, form, bake, move, and build. And we learned that some of those bricks were made by children because their handprints are still in the bricks. We now have a commemorative vial of soil perfect for making bricks from the construction site marked with the date of the ceremony and the outline of the Memorial.

On site of the memorial one can see a sample slab. Only about 1/4 or so of the enslaved laborers is known their occupation or their name and the rest are slashes, like slashes from a whip as a line for each person. It is stunning.

Westminster Presbyterian Church last year made a gift of $2,000 toward the construction of the Memorial to Enslaved Laborers.  This represents our church’s continued commitment both to the causes of justice within our community and to our ministry to the University of Virginia. This site is important to the community’s and to the University’s ongoing reflection on its past, actions and building stronger relationships going forward.

I personally have been watching the progress on the Memorial as I walk to work each day and looking forward to its completion. The university is also planning a dedication ceremony for the completed project in Spring 2020. I hope you will join in that celebration.

Respectfully submitted,
Kobby Hoffman
Benevolence and Mission Endowment Committee

Filed Under: Benevolence, Mission and Outreach, Uncategorized

Hunger Offering

March 11, 2019 by Kate Brinkley

Every other month, Westminster and the Presbytery of the James invite you to give five cents for each meal you enjoy to relieve hunger locally and globally. A small amount from each of us creates big change. In 2018 congregations in this Presbytery contributed $68,153 to the Hunger Ministry. On Sunday, March 31, an offering will be received during worship with the proceeds going to our support food relief for our neighbors locally and those across the world.

The majority of funds distributed provide emergency food relief to people in need. These include emergency food centers; school backpack programs, and county food pantries. Other funds support efforts to eliminate the causes of hunger, such as agricultural training so that recipients can become self-sufficient.

A small portion of donations support advocacy groups. Bread for the World, a faith-based network, campaigns nationally for policy change. Locally, Virginia Hunger Solutions works to improve food security through state programs and improved policy.

These are some of the programs you support through the Hunger Offering:

  • Advocacy efforts to improve access to free breakfast and lunch programs for Virginia schools
  • Community grain banks for food security in Cameroon
  • Seeds for farmers in Haiti following hurricanes
  • Snacks to support education for child laborers in Guatemala

Filed Under: Advocacy & Organizing, Benevolence, Mission and Outreach, Mission Trips, Peace, Justice & Inclusion

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Welcome

Bach for Lent: Mid-Week Musical Devotion

February 23, 2021 By Ashley Dunn-Jalenak 

Each Wednesday during Lent you are invited to spend some reflective time with organ music by J. S. Bach. Each week a video will be added here on the church website with a chorale prelude played on Westminster’s organ by our organist Jonathan Schakel.  March 3, 2021 Devotion This week’s chorale text takes us back to […]

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“So faith, hope, and love abide, these three;
but the greatest of these is love.”
−1 Corinthians 13:13

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Sustained by grace, we are called to serve Christ, share God’s love, and work for justice in a complex world.

Our Values

With faith, hope, and love as bedrock Christian values, we also cherish the following:
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Westminster follows the Presbyterian Book of Confession and is a confessional church. You can view/read the Book of Confession at the PC(USA) website by clicking on the following link: http://www.pcusa.org/book-confessions.

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