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In this issue: Save the date for the 2027 Annual Conference! Remembering Keith Goering. Job openings. Deportation Defense Response program report for 2026. Messenger 'for wherever this year takes them.' NYC worship resources and playlist. And much more.

— En memoria de Keith Goering, exmiembro de la Junta de Misiones y Ministerios de la Iglesia de los Hermanos , quien falleció el 28 de agosto. Formó parte de dicha junta durante un mandato, de 2011 a 2016. Durante muchos años, fue pastor asociado de la Iglesia de los Hermanos de Bowmont en Nampa,

— Souvni: Keith Goering, yon ansyen manm Konsèy Misyon ak Ministè Legliz Frè yo , te mouri nan dat 28 out. Li te sèvi nan Konsèy Misyon ak Ministè a pandan yon manda, soti 2011 rive 2016. Li te pase plizyè ane kòm pastè asosye nan Legliz Frè yo Bowmont nan Nampa, Idaho, epi kòm

At Festival Compartilhe, WACC partners from four Latin American countries described how climate disinformation lands in their territories – and launched a new WACC publication advocating for community communication to be funded as climate infrastructure. Climate disinformation is no longer mainly about denying that the...

Jonathan Whitsel has been called as district executive minister for the Church of the Brethren’s Middle Pennsylvania District, beginning Jan. 1, 2027. He has served as pastor of Sugar Run Church of the Brethren in Shirleysburg, Pa., since April 2024.

Línea de noticias de la Iglesia de los Hermanos 25 de septiembre de 2026 Jonathan Whitsel ha sido nombrado ministro ejecutivo de distrito para el Distrito Central de Pensilvania de la Iglesia de los Hermanos , a partir del 1 de enero de 2027. Ha ejercido como pastor de la Iglesia de los Hermanos de

The United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry’s EXPLORATION offers young people space for discernment and holy wonder.

Jonathan Whitsel te resevwa apèl kòm minis egzekitif distri pou Distri Mwayen Pennsilvani Legliz Frè yo a , apati 1ye janvye 2027. Li te sèvi kòm pastè Legliz Frè Sugar Run nan Shirleysburg, Pennsilvani, depi avril 2024. Whitsel gen yon gwo eksperyans nan operasyon biznis ak lojistik, avèk 31 ane eksperyans kòm yon travayè endepandan

[Episcopal News Service] Clergy need housing, but housing is expensive in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. One thing the Diocese of Pennsylvania, which spans the five-county metro region, has is available space on which to build. That combination of factors sparked an idea that now has become the diocese’s latest experiment in adaptive reuse of church properties. The diocese recently announced the launch of a new initiative that has identified at least three Episcopal properties for construction of affordable housing units that will be offered for rent to diocesan clergy and for priests who have been called to serve at churches that no longer have rectories. The initiative coincides with the diocese’s ongoing Transformation Initiative. The diocese’s emphasis is on new uses for underutilized church properties, including to ease the financial burden on congregations struggling to maintain aging facilities. The housing sites would be a mix of single-family houses or townhomes centered around a chapel or other worship space. Bishop Daniel Gutiérrez, in an interview with Episcopal News Service, said he envisions a kind of “neighborhood for priests.” Each would live in diocese-owned rental housing resembling a “seminary setting,” Gutiérrez said, with easy commutes to one of the diocese’s 136 congregations. In addition to providing affordable housing, “we also thought this is a good way of building a community of new clergy,” Gutiérrez said. Newly relocated priests often feel isolated and alone in their new city. “They don’t know anyone, and they’re coming from maybe Mississippi or California.” The clergy housing will help break down those social barriers while also offering living spaces for single people, couples and families of all sizes. Gutiérrez declined to provide detailed information about the three prospective sites because discussions are still underway with congregations and zoning authorities, though he specified that one is a diocesan property and the other two would be next to active churches. He added that one site is within the Philadelphia city limits, along with two suburban sites. Similar efforts are already underway through the diocese’s Transformation Initiative. Planners have estimated the diocese has 2.5 million square feet of underutilized space, and the diocese has identified 26 church properties where housing redevelopment projects could be viable — not to replace those congregations, but to make more productive use of their campuses. Under a separate but related branch of the Transformation Initiative, the diocese is working with another test group of congregations to launch a program of diocesan administrative support services. The diocese intends to leverage expertise in a range of tasks, from financial accounting to web design, to relieve local leaders of some of those burdens. The clergy housing initiative, then, represents a third branch of these diocesan efforts toward sustainability, at a time when lack of affordable housing has been identified as a national crisis. In 2023, the diocese’s Board of Trustees authorized $4 million in proceeds from the 2021 sale of the Wapiti diocesan retreat property in Maryland to be used as seed money for the Transformation Initiative, and some of that money will be available to build housing for clergy, Gutiérrez said. Site configurations are still being designed, though Gutiérrez has insisted that a central worship space be incorporated into the plans, so residents can gather for Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer or other services. “I want this to feel like not only a home but a spiritual place,” he said. He expects the initial plans will be finalized in the coming months, so that the diocese can break ground on housing construction by late 2027 or early 2028. – David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at [email protected].

What can churches learn from the Christian response to the Industrial Revolution as artificial intelligence reshapes our societies? That question drove the latest WACC Europe Discussion, “AI and the Social Gospel: Reclaiming a Moral Voice for Advocacy,” led by Christian social ethicist Professor Kate Ott....