Meet Fraternal Missionary RheAnn White

RheAnn White remembers sitting underneath a table in a hotel meeting room over 20 years ago, watching the feet of many Cumberland Presbyterians shuffling by as they browsed through the selection of books her mother brought to the General Assembly. That child never imagined that she would one day attend a General Assembly across the Pacific Ocean in Tokyo, Japan. Nor could she have anticipated that
she would receive a calling to become a missionary in Japan
Presbytery, representing the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

RheAnn’s introduction to the Cumberland Presbyterian Church began in infancy attending Fairfield CPC in Illinois with her family. Later, the Whites relocated to West Tennessee where RheAnn’s father pastored Bethel CPC. As an adolescent and teenager, RheAnn remained very active as a member of Faith CPC near Memphis. She attended church camps, retreats, CPYC, and Triennium as a youth. Then as a young adult, she continued to participate in these functions as a youth leader at Brenthaven CPC near Nashville.

A gifted writer, performer, artist, and public speaker, RheAnn has offered her talents to the church and the community by co-authoring Sunday school curriculum, developing lesson plans for Sunday school and VBS, writing and directing youth-performed Christmas plays, coordinating annual youth-led worship, painting murals, speaking at CPWM functions, and organizing various experiential learning and service opportunities for youth and adults.

RheAnn is a graduate of Naropa University’s Religious Studies program and has lived and worked in Boulder, Colorado, for the past three years, most recently as a residential counselor at a group
home for at-risk teenage girls and as a volunteer with the local homeless community. Her studies primarily centered around group and family dynamics, individuals faced with trauma, and the personal spiritual practices and sacred traditions associated with the world’s major religions.

She looks forward to exchanging thoughts and ideas with the people of Japan and hopes to absorb Japan’s rich history and culture as well as the generosity, sincerity, and kindness of the Japanese people. As a fraternal missionary, she also hopes to reflect the love of Christ to all whom she meets, bringing the same care, compassion, flexibility, and enthusiasm to this calling as she has to each of her other ministries.

Of her journey, RheAnn says, “I have overcome many personal hurdles on the path to becoming your missionary, and have done so being held and guided by the prayers and support of Cumberland Presbyterians around the world. I hope you will continue to hold me in your thoughts and prayers as I embark on the next leg of this journey, so that many lives may be touched through me, just as your lives have touched mine.”