What do you like most about living in Peru?
Why are you wearing a sweater in June? Is it cold there?
Why is there so much pollution in La Oroya?
What can we do to help?
Are you really in Peru? It looks and sounds like you’re just next door!
The questions of children. The marvels of modern technology. In this case, Skype, a software that enables free voice and video transmissions over the Internet.
Last month Ms. Bee Ladd’s fourth- and fifth-grade class at P.S. 58 in Brooklyn, NY, invited me to join them via a video conference call …
The idea that had been kicking around in the Rev. Cheryl Goodman-Morris’ head for more than 20 years is finally out — and on stage.
Puah’s Midwife Crisis, a musical expanding on the story of Exodus 1, will have its regional premiere at this year’s Churchwide Gathering of Presbyterian Women July 11-15 here.
The musical tells the story of Puah and Shiphrah, two midwives who defied Pharoah’s order to kill Hebrew baby boys. Goodman-Morris became intrigued by this tale of “civil disobedience” and female strength when she was pregnant with her daughter and was ordered to go on bed …
In March, the congregation at Emmanuel Presbyterian Church, in West Linn, OR, met a resident of Dignity Village, beginning a new partnership and learning a lot along the way.
Dignity Village is a cooperative venture among the city of Portland, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Self-Development of People and a group of homeless folks. It seeks to create a cohesive, self-determining community with temporary shelters.
In his presentation at Emmanuel, resident Joe Palinkas spoke about his path to Dignity Village. Once a master floor and counter cover maker, Palinkas was no longer able to support himself after becoming …
This year’s World Mission Challenge will focus on partnership — and it will put that idea into action in a new way.
As they travel from presbytery to presbytery Sept. 25-Oct. 18, some mission co-workers will be accompanied by International Peacemakers from the same country.
International Peacemakers are people engaged in peacemaking in their own areas of the world. They are invited to by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to visit with Presbyterians in the United States to help explain peace and justice concerns of others around the world, according to the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program’s Web site.
The five …
The role of women in leadership continues to trigger heated debates within the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), which currently forbids women from holding positions of authority over men.
During the PCA’s recent 37th General Assembly here — the 300,000-member denomination split off of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in the early 1970s — church leaders voted 446-427 against appointing a study committee to examine women’s roles in the denomination.
The Assembly agreed with its Overtures Committee’s argument that the role of women is not an unstudied issue and that forming a study committee is unlikely to “break new ground or …
Worshipers filled Anderson Auditorium June 14 for the installation of the Rev. Albert G. “Pete” Peery, Jr. as the 16th president of the Mountain Retreat Association [Montreat Conference Center].
“I believe it’s significant,” said Peery prior to the service, “that the words we’ll use are adapted from the liturgy used to install a minister of Word and Sacrament as a pastor in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).”
In the service, Peery was charged not only to be responsible for the management of Montreat, but “as a minister of Word and Sacrament to assure that the Word may be rightly proclaimed …
Rapidly growing racial-ethnic diversity in the world and the church poses a major stewardship challenge for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), a veteran church fund-raiser told participants in the first-ever Big Tent event here, June 11-13.
The Rev. James Foster Reese, who this fall will celebrate the 60th anniversary of his ordination, told a joint workshop of the Stewardship and Investment Conference and the Racial Ethnic Convocation — two of the 10 conferences gathered under one roof — that “we’re discovering much larger diversity within racial ethnic groups than anyone realizes.”
He said 40 Asian groups, countless Hispanic/Latino groups and some …
A memorial service for the Rev. William Ross Forbes, who was vice-president of church relations and corporate secretary for the Board of Pensions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), has been scheduled for July 7 at Westfield (NJ) Presbyterian Church.
The service will be at 2:00 p.m., EDT.
Forbes, who died June 29 after a five-year battle with pancreatic cancer, served the Westfield Church for many years before going to work for the Pension board in Philadelphia. He served the PC(USA) in a variety of capacities over his 38-year career.
Cards and letters may be sent to Forbes’ wife, Patty, at …
Editor’s note: This is one 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
When the economy takes a turn for the worse, budgets must be trimmed, and the first thing that usually goes is financial support for public assistance agencies.
Unfortunately, when the economy is down, that’s when those services are needed most.
Collegiate and Northminster Presbyterian churches, sister churches in Ames, Iowa, know this, and set out to boost support of a few of the local …
After completing a two-year review of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Medical Plan for church workers, the denominations Board of Pensions (BOP) has approved numerous “modifications” designed to make the plan simpler and more understandable.
And at a time when many health insurers are scaling back benefits, the net effect of the BOP’s changes is $6 million in enhanced benefits, most of it through a new program to cover habilitative services for children with congenital developmental disabilities such as Down’s syndrome, autism, cerebral palsy, intellectual disability and spina bifida.
And it’s being done without a dues increase. Medical Plan dues will …