What is the place of covenanted same-gender partnerships in the Christian community?
It is a question the General Assembly Special Committee to Study Issues of Civil Union and Christian Marriage is posing to the church for input.
It is also one piece of the mandate the 218th General Assembly (2008) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) gave the committee when the assembly called on its Moderator to appoint the group.
What is the place of covenanted same-gender partnerships in the Christian community?
It is a question the General Assembly Special Committee to Study Issues of Civil Union and Christian Marriage is posing to the church for input.
It is also one piece of the mandate the 218th General Assembly (2008) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) gave the committee when the assembly called on its Moderator to appoint the group.
As of 2009, the total membership of the PC(USA) is 2,077,138, which reflects a roughly 3% decrease, or 63,027 members, from the previous year.
The Reverend Gradye Parsons, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly, said the latest statistics contain both good news and bad.
The Office of the General Assembly has released the 2008 statistics of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The statistical material released includes a comparative summary of the membership, a 2005–2008 summary of receipts and expenditures, and additional miscellaneous information.
The newest statistics report the total membership of the PC(USA) at 2,140,165 members.
Ten thousand is the word limit for reports to a General Assembly.
The limit came up more than once during a recent meeting of the General Assembly Special Committee to Study Issues of Civil Union and Christian Marriage.
This was the group's second meeting since the Reverend Bruce Reyes-Chow, Moderator of the 218th General Assembly (2008), appointed the members less than six months ago.
Rosina Philippe has lived in this area of southern Louisiana her entire life.
And so she’s been around to see firsthand the effects of hurricanes, land erosion and oil pipelines.
For Philippe, a member of the indigenous people Atakapa-Ishak, those changes are personal.
“It’s more than geography,” she said. “It’s a sense of being. It’s who we are.”
The Atakapa-Ishak trace their ties to the area back about 300 years. The surrounding parish has been developed for only about 200 years. The people were originally mound builders, constructing the sacred areas in the forests that used to fill the …
“We’re here!” says the Rev. Hector Rodriguez, General Assembly Council associate for Hispanic congregational enhancement.
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Racial Ethnic Convocation — planned as part of the first-ever Big Tent event — will celebrate the many voices, customs and styles of worship as the denomination strives to reach a goal of 20 percent racial ethnic membership by 2010.
Scheduled for June 11-13 in Atlanta, the convocation’s events will allow time for participation in common Big Tent activities.
The four main sessions of the convocation have been organized as consecutive “acts of the same production or play,” said Mission Communications …
Editor’s note: This is the 23rd in a series of stories about congregations engaged in significant outreach and evangelism ministries, reflecting the General Assembly’s commitment to “Grow Christ’s Church Deep and Wide.” — Jerry L. Van Marter
It’s nice to see a project succeed and grow. It’s even nicer when the product of that success can be used to “pay it forward” to help someone else succeed. It’s perhaps most rewarding of all when those who have been helped wish to do the same for others.
The Rev. Ed Slusser of First Presbyterian Church of Omro in Wisconsin had no …
In an effort to stay ahead of the curve — the curve being the elimination of Mission Partnership Funds (MPF) in 2013 — the Presbyteries of Santa Fe and Sierra Blanca in New Mexico are working diligently to reduce their budgets and at the same time maintain a viable and meaningful presence in the state.
The two presbyteries have been heavily dependent upon the General Assembly Council’s (GAC) Mission Partnership Funds — a percentage of unrestricted money in the General Assembly mission budget — since 1973 when responsibility for “National Mission” sites were turned over to the Presbyterian …
The Presbyterian Health, Education and Welfare Association (PHEWA) — a voluntary membership organization encompassing 10 social welfare networks — is hosting its biennial conference as part of the Big Tent event June 11-13 in Atlanta. In addition to plenary activities and celebrations, each of PHEWA’s 10 networks will hold meetings.
Participants in the PHEWA conference can expect to learn about how their congregations can be involved in ministry, justice and biblical initiatives. The conference will address a wide range of issues, including disabilities, mental illness, human trafficking, HIV/AIDS, domestic violence, substance abuse, immigration, child welfare and health disparities.
Keeping in …