A Wisconsin congregation’s successful fund-raising campaign will both decrease its debt to the bank and increase its investment in mission.

Crossroads Presbyterian Church in Mequon, WI, has raised more than $2 million in cash and pledges that will cut in half the $4 million mortgage on its sanctuary and Christian education building. The congregation also intends to give $200,000 of the campaign’s proceeds to support Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) overseas mission personnel.

Crossroads, like many other congregations, has a tradition of contributing a portion of the funds it raises in capital campaigns to mission causes. Jan Martin, a member of the …

The Rev. Pete Peery’s roots at Montreat trace back to 1952, when as a 5-year-old he traveled from his home in the mountains of southwestern Virginia to vacation with his family in this fabled western North Carolina enclave.

“My uncle, a missionary in China, bought a little house here. I remember a missionary commissioning service back then, but we came for vacations, not conferences,” he says. “Mostly my memories of those days are just running through the place.”

The casually dressed Peery still runs through the Montreat Conference Center, but with greater purpose now — he’s the newly installed …

Editor’s note: This is the latest 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

Organizing 400 Presbyterians scattered throughout eight small churches within a four-mile radius can be a challenge. But with more than 700 combined years of Presbyterian witness, a bit of imagination and a lot of prayerful planning, churches here have designed PUN — Presbyterian Urban Network.

“The Presbyterian Urban Network is a consortium of eight small urban congregations, which began with the pastors gathering …

Here is my suggestion for celebrating John Calvin’s 500th birthday on July 10: Greet a stranger.

Let me explain.

In addition to his huge theological legacy, Calvin left many practical ethical imperatives. One imperative had to do with the treatment of immigrants — perhaps, in part, because of his life experience.

Calvin never forgot that he was from France, not Geneva. The powers-that-be did not make him a citizen of Geneva until 1559, which was eighteen years after his return to that city. He proceeded to create a social safety net for the many immigrants in Geneva, and he convinced …

In the final lecture of the Calvin Jubilee here, Joseph Small, director of Theology Worship and Education, discussed the definition of the word “church” — or the lack thereof.

In his speech, “Calvin and the Shape of the Church,” Small said that there isn’t a cohesive definition of the word and that the variety of mainline, emerging and mega-churches can be confusing and lead to fragmentation.

“What we mean when we use the word ‘church’ is important,” he said.
The Calvin Jubilee, July 8-11, was a celebration of Reformed leader John Calvin’s 500th birthday.

Calvin referred to the church …

The closing plenary of the 2009 Churchwide Gathering of Presbyterian Women was a “Celebration of Wonders.”

Emily Martin presented the interpretation of God’s word, titled “Celebration?”

Martin grew up in Dothan, AL, and graduated from the Alabama School of Math and Science in Mobile. In 2003, she graduated from Williams College in Williamstown, MA, and went on to pursue a Master’s of Divinity from Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, GA.

Between programs, Martin spent a year in South Africa on a Watson Fellowship to study how that country has responded to the AIDS crisis.

Last year, Martin worked as an …

In times of blessing and adversity, God is always revealing God’s self to us, said Randall Zachman in “Calvin’s Doctrine of Providence: The Special Care of God for All Creation,” his July 10 lecture at the Calvin Jubilee.

Zachman, professor of Reformed studies at Notre Dame University, was one of the speakers here to celebrate John Calvin’s 500th birthday July 8-11.

His lecture touched on Calvin’s view of God as a parent and a nursemaid, giving life to and caring for every creature.

“God is directly involved in everything that happens in the universe,” Zachman said Calvin believed, adding …

After a week of exhortations to change the troubled world fueled by strength in numbers, 1,300 Montreat Youth Conference participants prepared to return home today.

Now the trick is to carry the enthusiasm of this gathering back to the everyday life of the average teenager.

“Regardless of whether we want to go or stay, we have to leave,” keynoter Adele Halliday of The United Church of Canada told her youthful congregation. “We are called to go and blaze trails home. Sometimes it will mean taking a stand, sometimes using our voices, but it definitely means staying fired up.”

Speaking out …

I enjoy the opportunity to keep in touch and stay connected to others.

I am a part of virtual social networking sites such as Twitter, Dopplr, Classmates and Flickr, to name a few. The one that occupies most of my time is Facebook because it’s there that I hear from people who are part of my present and past.

Recently, I was “friended” on Facebook by a classmate I had not seen since we were students at Whitworth College in Spokane, WA. We reminisce about the good times and keep in touch occasionally.

Despite living in what I would call …

“God did not intend us to face life’s hardships alone,” Jean Marie Peacock said at the Churchwide Gathering plenary session on the evening of July 13. “That is why God gives us the gift of community.”

The theme for the plenary was “Wonder of Hope.”

Peacock is associate presbyter for congregation development and disaster recovery for the Presbytery of South Louisiana. Her work is focused on hurricane recovery efforts in the greater New Orleans region.

She shared some of the many stories of recovery in the four years since Hurricane Katrina slammed the Mississippi Gulf Coast and floodwaters poured …