MINNEAPOLIS — The annual General Assembly of the National Council of Churches USA (NCC)  and Church World Service (CWS) commenced Nov. 10 amid sober assessments of national and world conditions and calls for renewal of the churches’ historic commitment to unity.

Twenty-eight of the General Assembly’s 35 member communions had registered delegations, said NCC President-elect Peg Chemberlin, who will be installed Nov. 12 as NCC president for a two-year term. Chemberlain is executive director of the Minnesota Council of Churches.

The 2009 General Assembly is presided over by NCC President Archbishop Vicken Aykazian and by Bishop Johncy Itty, chair of …

ATLANTA — The Fund for Theological Education (FTE) has announced that it will provide $1.5 million for the 2010-2011 academic year to theological students across the U.S. and Canada who aspire to be pastoral leaders and professors.  

The FTE Fellowships support talented students who are preparing for pastoral ministry and doctoral students from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups who plan to teach religion, theology or biblical studies.

“Despite economic uncertainty and the multiple challenges of pursuing a theological education, we hear from hundreds of gifted young people who long to pursue the call to ministry and teaching,” said FTE President Trace …

RALEIGH, N.C. — Over the past sixteen months, I have had the pleasure of serving as vice-moderator of the 218th (2008) General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). It is a great honor and privilege to listen, learn, and witness the great things our church is doing to uphold the mission and ministry of Jesus Christ.

In my role, I have traveled extensively. One aspect that has not been so great is airport travel. With security measures, overbooked flights, crowded planes, and potential delays, I can never tell if I will make it to my destination. Just a few weeks …

LOUISVILLE — A familiar face within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is leaving the denomination’s General Assembly Mission Council to lead one of its sister agencies, the Presbyterian Foundation.

The Rev. Tom Taylor, executive deputy director for mission in the GAMC, will begin his new post as president and CEO at the foundation, based in Jeffersonville, Ind., Jan. 15.

“Because of his experience with the General Assembly Mission Council, Tom is in a unique position to appreciate the long-term stewardship of donors’ gifts and make the case between investment and return, because he has seen how gifts of previous donors …

Mark Achtemeier, an evangelical theology professor from Iowa, is in many ways an unlikely candidate for radical change. He’s a white, middle-aged Presbyterian father and husband who grew up in the church, the son of theologically-inclined people. He’s most often seen wearing — of all things — a button-down shirt, coat and tie.

But Achtemeier, to his own surprise, has made a trek through uncertain land over the last eight years, a journey from life-long certainty that homosexuality is “a kind of destructive addiction” to what he is today: a man who sees the Holy Spirit leading the church to …

CINCINNATI — At its Nov. 6 meeting here, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Mission Responsibility Through Investment (MRTI) committee issued a recommendation that the denomination’s General Assembly denounce Caterpillar, Inc. for profiting from the use of its products for non-peaceful purposes in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

The Assembly — the denomination’s highest governing body — meets July 3-10, 2010, in Minneapolis.

The recommendation reads in part, “On the basis of Christian principles and as a matter of social witness, the  219th General Assembly strongly denounces Caterpillar’s continued profit-making from non-peaceful uses of a number of its products.”

The recommendation comes after four …

LOUISVILLE — Folks often wonder how an overture makes its way to a General Assembly. It is not a speedy process, but it’s an effective one that involves discernment through prayer, the study of Scripture, and careful listening to others.

An overture generally starts with an individual idea or inspiration. From there, one of the foundational understandings of our polity is lived out: Decisions are made not by one person, but by people discerning together the mind of Christ.

Often, an overture’s first step involves members of the session of a congregation discerning together whether the issue on their hearts …

CINCINNATI — Isaac Monah knows how valuable education is and how difficult access to it can be in many parts of the world. That’s why he’s trying to build a school near his home village in Liberia.

There was no school anywhere near the rural village where Monah was born in 1970, so as a young boy he moved to Tolee, a city where his uncle lived, to attend school. “I lived there for two years in an apartment with 12 other people, the young man says.

But then he had to drop out of school and support his extended …

LOUISVILLE — A top-ranking retired Presbyterian military chaplain wrote today to the head of the Presbyterian Council on Chaplains and Military Personnel (PCCMP) in the wake of the horrific mass killings at Fort Hood, Texas, yesterday rejecting “the natural and immediate response of retribution.”

Instead, said Brigadier General (Ret.) Wayne H. Hoffman in his letter to PCCMP director the Rev. Ed Brogan,” the challenge is to respond as shepherds of a flock that has been raided, wounded, and some of them killed.” 

Hoffmann is a long term Army Reserve Chaplain. He was the senior Army Reserve chaplain when he served …

CHICAGO — McCormick Theological Seminary has installed one of the first Latino deans of a seminary of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

In his inaugural address, the Rev. Luis Rivera-Rodriguez, who is serving a five-year term as dean, spoke of the efficacy of theological education in today’s world in terms of preparing “interculturally competent” pastors and leaders. Rivera’s previous work as Director of the Center for the Study of Latin American Theology and Ministry and his research in the areas of immigration and diaspora communities has convinced him of the need for seminaries such as McCormick to develop programs and faculty …