Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

March 28, 2024

While most pastors devote Holy Week to poring over commentaries, planning worship and washing feet, the Rev. Caroline Vickery also washes clothes. At the local laundromat.

March 27, 2024

“Calvinists don’t really do the devil,” Dr. Philip G. Ziegler, professor of Christian Dogmatics at the University of Aberdeen, said on March 18 as he named the “strong sense of human responsibility and the demystifying impulse that marks Reformed theology” before setting out the plan for his six lectures to prove the doctrinal importance of the devil. Ziegler presented his case to about 150 attendees in person and online during the 2024 Annie Kinkead Warfield Lectures.

The Rev. Bronwen Boswell and others say ‘the killing must stop’

March 27, 2024

Mike Ferguson | Presbyterian News Service

Louisville

Together with more than 140 other church leaders from around the world, the Rev. Bronwen Boswell, Acting Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), has signed a letter calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and the halt of arms sales to Israel. Read the letter by Churches for Middle East Peace here.

“As Christians around the world prepare to commemorate the final suffering in the earthly life of Jesus Christ during Holy Week, we stand in solidarity with all in the Holy Land who suffer,” the letter states. “We repent of the ways we have not stood alongside our Palestinian siblings in faithful witness in the midst of their grief, agony, and sorrow.”

March 27, 2024

“Calvinists don’t really do the devil,” Dr. Philip G. Ziegler, professor of Christian Dogmatics at the University of Aberdeen, said on March 18 as he named the “strong sense of human responsibility and the demystifying impulse that marks Reformed theology” before setting out the plan for his six lectures to prove the doctrinal importance of the devil. Ziegler presented his case to about 150 attendees in person and online during the 2024 Annie Kinkead Warfield Lectures.

March 27, 2024

“Between 2 Pulpits” hosts the Rev. Dr. John Wilkinson and Katie Snyder called on the Rev. Dr. Laurie Kraus to wrap up their One Great Hour of Sharing podcast series by highlighting and illustrating the intersections of disaster assistance, ending hunger and the self-development of people.

March 27, 2024

The theme for this year’s Presbyterian Older Adult Ministries Network conference is “The New Face of Aging: Transformative Approaches to Older Adult Ministry.”

March 26, 2024

The PC(USA)’s Asia Pacific Office, part of World Mission ministry, and Burmese churches in diaspora have organized a recorded prayer service for Myanmar to air on the World Mission Facebook page on Saturday at 7:30 pm Eastern (U.S. & Canada), which is Sunday, March 31, at 6 a.m. in Myanmar. The Rev. Pek Muan Cuang, General Secretary of the Presbyterian Church in Myanmar (PCM), will deliver a message and lead prayers and meditation during this Easter Service.

From gun control to poverty, churches address the needs of their communities

March 26, 2024

Rick Jones & Randy Hobson | 226th General Assembly

LOUISVILLE

The number of Presbyterian churches in Utah may be few, but the ministry taking place in those churches is making an impact. From community gardens to feeding and clothing the homeless, pastors have mobilized congregations to help those in need.

For commissioners, advisory delegates, and others attending the 226th General Assembly in Salt Lake City, there will be opportunities to worship in many of the churches this summer.

March 26, 2024

For Pastor Helivao Poget, the situation was familiar. Poget is the director of the National Chaplaincy Program for the 6-million-member Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar,  a PC(USA) global partner, which goes by its Malagasy acronym, FJKM. A social worker and a missiology lecturer at one of FJKM’s theological seminaries, much of Poget’s ministry has been with marginalized people, including those exploited by labor traffickers and Madagascar’s sex tourism industry.

March 26, 2024

“I was glad to see that the church building has become a library to serve the community,” said Sara Jean Jackson as she attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Audubon Regional Library in Clinton, Louisiana, a town of 1,275 people about 45 minutes northeast of Baton Rouge.

March 25, 2024

In her new book “Blessed are the Women: Naming and Reclaiming Women’s Stories from the Gospels,” the Rev. Claire McKeever-Burgett supplies readers with what could have been the backstory for some of most interesting women in the New Testament, including the Canaanite woman and her daughter, whom Jesus heals after first arguing with the woman.

March 25, 2024

The PC(USA)’s Office of the Middle East and Europe, part of the World Mission ministry, is presenting a webinar titled “Roma in Europe: Living on the Margins.”

March 25, 2024

Given the opportunity to talk about the well-known and well-respected work of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, the Rev. Edwin González-Castillo did not hesitate when he took to the Between 2 Pulpits microphone recently.

March 22, 2024

With a presidential election ahead and many other political offices up for grabs, the Presbyterian Office of Public Witness (OPW) held a webinar Thursday that reminded viewers about the power and responsibility they have as voters.

March 22, 2024

During the most recent webinar offered by Presbyterians for Earth Care, available here, Avery Davis Lamb introduced participants to Plastic Jesus.

Support for independent researchers exploring Presbyterian history

March 22, 2024

McKenna Britton | Presbyterian Historical Society

PHILADELPHIA

PHS’s Research Fellowship program awards travel grants of $2,500 for scholars, students and independent researchers who demonstrate a need to work in the society’s collection for a minimum of one week and whose normal place of residence is farther than 75 miles from Philadelphia.

March 21, 2024

The work of Susan Krehbiel, associate for Migrant Accompaniment Ministries with Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, is focused on people on the move.

March 21, 2024

“Rediscovering Lost Treasure: Old Testament Resources for Christian Faith and Life” is the title the Rev. Dr. Dennis Olson gave to an online talk he delivered earlier this month as part of the Synod of the Covenant’s “Equipping Preachers” series.

Parsons and Miller look back at resource that supports and nurtures ruling elders

March 20, 2024

Mari Evans | Office of the General Assembly

"When I encounter healthy congregations of any size, I meet ruling elders who understand that their call is not to be on a board of directors but to be spiritual leaders along with the minister," reflected the Rev. Gradye Parsons, who served as Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) from 2008 to 2016. "Spiritual leaders tend to want to learn how to be more effective and faithful."

This apt observation comes on the heels of the 10th anniversary of the Regarding Ruling Elders resource series, which was created while Parsons was stated clerk.

March 20, 2024

Wednesday’s Chapel Service celebrating Mister Rogers Day drew out the inner child among the national staff of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) as they celebrated the many gifts given by Fred Rogers, the innovative children’s television pioneer and Presbyterian pastor. Rogers was born on March 20, 1928, and Presbyterians celebrate Mister Rogers Day each year on his birthday.