We usually think of new things as exciting, but for Stillwater United Church in Stillwater, N.Y., old Bible stories are generating fresh excitement.
Eliana Maxim has joined the staff of Seattle Presbytery as director of multicultural ministries.
In his selection of 24 new cardinals, Pope Benedict XVI has ensured that half of the college that elects the pontiff will be Europeans, although the number of Roman Catholics is growing in Africa and Asia, whilst declining in Europe.
About half of Muslims surveyed worldwide believe the West does not respect them, according to a new Gallup report, and many say not desecrating the Quran and portraying more “accurate” Muslim movie characters could improve a strained relationship.
At the annual national transition gathering for The Company of New Pastors at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, recent seminary graduates were encouraged to nurture their spiritual life by allowing scripture to form and shape them as they begin their pastoral vocation (some are still in the call process, others have already begun their first year of pastoral ministry). "This transition event is one of our most significant because these recent graduates are in some of their most teachable moments," says Company of New Pastors program director Quinn Fox. "The shift from seminary to first call contains a real sense of anxiety for so many. This time together gives us the opportunity to reassure them of God's call, to remind them not to forget the voice they heard, and to reiterate the theological nature of their pastoral vocation as they make the transition from the culture of syllabus to the culture of session."
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy (ACSWP) is seeking nominations of persons to serve on two task forces mandated by the recent 219th General Assembly to study the global economic crisis and the church’s peacemaking witness.
A Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)-backed global coalition that works for revenue transparency in the oil, gas and mining industries has been honored by a development agency.
The head of the Sudan Council of Churches has been calling for close scrutiny of out-of-country referendum registration processes in Kenya, Uganda and Egypt, while also reporting that police recently stormed the council offices breaking down doors, and conducted a search.
A long-awaited report on the possible repeal of the military’s ban on openly gay members says the chaplains corps has “some of the most intense and sharpest divergence of views” on the issue.
Wrapping up a three-day gathering of the Association of Presbyterian Mission Promoters, a noted missiologist emphasized several keys necessary to doing mission in Africa and Latin America.