The Colombia short-term missions team returned to Philadelphia on June 29. Thank you for your prayers and support! It was an excellent time of service and fellowship with our Colombian brothers and sisters. In short, we had a plan and accomplished it well. We completed our goals and more and returned to the States knowing that our labor in the Lord was not in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58). There is so much that could be written but let me summarize […]

Son Van is originally from Vietnam but moved to the United States for high school in 2008. While studying Applied Mathematics at Carnegie Mellon University Son started wrestling with questions about the existence of God and how a scientist could be religious. By God’s grace, and through a faithful Christian friend, he ended up at City Reformed Presbyterian church, where he heard the gospel and came to saving faith in Christ. He would go on to attend the same church […]

“Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” Isaiah 55:1b Tenth Presbyterian is re-introducing wine in communion along with the choice of grape juice. The article below attempts to set out the Bible’s view of wine as a good gift, the reason wine in the sacrament of communion is appropriate, and to provide some responses to questions that members and attenders of Tenth may have about this change in practice. The author and Session of Tenth Presbyterian would […]

“Wholeness of the individual inspires and is nourished by wholeness in the community. The church is not perfect, far from it, but we are called to co-labor lovingly and supportively, and when we fail…” — Dr. Redd So writes Dr. Scott Redd in his book The Wholeness Imperative: How Christ Unifies our Desires, Identity, and Impact in the World (p. 34). Never does a week goes by without these three objectives bubbling up in my mind with the longing to […]

As Spring is here, (even though it’s been cold at times!), the Session and I are excited about our upcoming Spring Parish meetings. You might have heard or seen the announcements about it through other communication avenues. This will be a great opportunity to be reminded of our vision as a church, to fellowship with one another, and to hear from pastors and ministry leaders about the work we are doing. You will have an opportunity to ask questions, make […]

Requiem aeternam, dona eis Domine, “Rest eternal grant them, O Lord.” These words are probably familiar, especially if you have attended a funeral at a Roman Catholic or Episcopal church. As Reformed Christians, quotations from the Requiem Mass can raise our spiritual hackles a bit, and rightly so. We do not believe that praying for the dead is something we should do. But taken on its own as a prayer, “Rest eternal grant them, O Lord” is quite appropriate. It […]

Reza (not his real name) arrived in Athens, Greece in 2016 from the Middle East. He was a young teenager and refugee without his family, and he had a great need for community and answers. He began visiting a local Greek evangelical church where for the first time in his life he saw the love of Christ in practice. While exploring the Christian faith, he began attending an intercultural church plant and has been steadily growing in his faith as […]

The acronym SPIO has taken on enhanced meaning for the Mercy Commission’s outreach to the South Philadelphia community. SPIO, standing for South Philadelphia Immigrant Outreach, now umbrellas: SPEAK (South Philadelphia English at Kirkbride), our English language program for adults. the tutoring and vacation Bible school programs for children, sustained by Maranatha. the up-and-coming Hispanic service at Tenth Church.  One of SPIO’s immediate goals has been the compilation of a roster of all the households we have been reaching out to […]

As of December 31, 2021 the Outreach fund had a restricted balance of $788,263. This means that the funds available at the beginning of 2022 exceeded the 2022 Outreach budget of $633,396.  While it is important to begin a year with a healthy balance to ensure there is no interruption in support payments to our partners, the current balance is larger than is needed for that purpose. Following is an explanation of how the surplus got so large and plans […]