Four women have been named recipients of the 2010 Women of Faith Awards by the General Assembly Mission Council of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Recipients were approved by the council at its meeting on Feb. 26. The women will be honored at the Women of Faith breakfast, July 4, during the 219th General Assembly (2010) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in Minneapolis, Minn.

The Women of Faith Awards were established in 1986 to honor women in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) whose lives exemplify their Christian commitment through witness, service and leadership. The theme for this year’s awards is “Women with …

The General Assembly Mission Council (GAMC) has approved the recommendation that the 219th General Assembly (2010) renew its commitment to Grow Christ’s Church Deep and Wide.

The recommendation, which came at GAMC meetings on Feb. 24-25, calls for the Assembly to extend a churchwide commitment to participate in God’s activity through Jesus Christ in transforming the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) through the 2011-2012 biennium. The recommendation would also encourage synods, presbyteries, sessions, and all agencies, entities and networks of the church to commit to foster growth in evangelism, discipleship, servanthood and diversity.

“What’s new in this recommendation is that …

Four years ago, the General Assembly Mission Council had just undergone a major downsizing and budget reduction — 75 layoffs and $9 million worth. The staff structure at the Presbyterian Center had been dismantled and the entire senior GAMC staff saw their positions eliminated.

And then the council elected Linda Valentine, an elder from Chicago, as its new executive director.

Undaunted, “We began putting a new organization in place, with mission at its core,” she told the council Feb. 25 after being unanimously re-elected to a second four-year term, subject to confirmation by the upcoming 219th General Assembly.

“Linda has …

The General Assembly Mission Council of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) approved a recommendation today (Feb. 26) to denounce “Caterpillar’s continued profit-making from non-peaceful uses of a number of its products.”

The 24-9 vote on the recommendation from the denomination’s Mission Responsibility Through Investment committee came after some GAMC members voiced concerns about the effect the denunciation would have on the Presbytery of Great Rivers, where Caterpillar’s headquarters are located.

MRTI’s focus has been on Caterpillar’s profit from “non-peaceful uses of its products” in Israel/Palestine, such as the demolition of buildings in Palestinian Occupied Territory and the construction of settlements and …

Four women have been named recipients of the 2010 Women of Faith Awards by the General Assembly Mission Council of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

Recipients were approved by the council at its meeting on Feb. 26. The women will be honored at the Women of Faith breakfast, July 4, during the PC(USA)’s 219th General Assembly (2010) in Minneapolis.

The Women of Faith Awards were established in 1986 to honor women in the 2.2 million member PC(USA) whose lives exemplify their Christian commitment through witness, service and leadership.

The theme for this year’s awards is “Women with a Peaceful Heart: Guiding …

In the face of a radically changing ministry context and a great hunger for leadership throughout the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the General Assembly Mission Council and the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly met here Feb. 24 to embark upon a frank and far-reaching examination of leadership needs for the church.

This dialogue began in the spring of 2009, when the Committee on Theological Education called the GAMC and COGA to join with it in looking at the church’s leadership needs, thereby forming the Joint Committee on Leadership Needs. 

At the same time, Barbara Wheeler — former president …

Although the origins of the Middle Eastern church date back to antiquity, the newness of life offered through Jesus Christ continues to be experienced by believers in the region, according to a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) mission worker.

Their faith enables them to endure wars, economic hardship and persecution, says Nuhad Tomeh, the PC(USA)’s regional liaison to Syria, Lebanon and the Gulf.

“The Christians in the Middle East are still there because they believe in the power of the Resurrection and, in spite of what’s happening, we believe that after the ‘Sad Friday’ as we call it in Arabic, is the …

The staff of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s General Assembly Mission Council is asking the council’s elected members to approve a set of nine guidelines for planning decisions.

In the Feb. 24 opening plenary of the GAMC’s three-day meeting here the council discussed the proposed guidelines, which aim to focus and prioritize the council’s ministries to “serve the mission of the whole church.”

“There’s a loud cry for us to focus our work,” said Linda Valentine, executive director of the GAMC.
 
“We are at a point in the church’s history where change is inevitable — and not that easy,” added …

On the eve of the Bi-Partisan Health Care Summit in Washington, D.C., Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) General Assembly Stated Clerk Gradye Parsons and the Presbyterian Washington Office have joined thousands of faith community leaders and organizations urging the Obama administration and Congress to “complete the task at hand on behalf of the millions who are left out and left behind in our current health care system.”  

In addition to the Feb. 24 letter to the President and Congress — under the umbrella groups Faithful Reform in Health Care and the Washington Interreligious Staff Community — the religious leaders are running …

The relationship between the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s General Assembly Mission Council and the Presbyterian Foundation is moving toward a new, improved model.

“What a difference two years makes,” GAMC Executive Director Linda Valentine told the council’s Executive Committee here Feb. 23.

The two agencies were in “a bad place” at the last General Assembly, in 2008. Conflicts had festered over the years, chiefly around spending formulas and interpretation and use of restricted funds

“We’ve set a whole new tone in terms of the communication and collaboration that is happening,” Valentine said.

She filled the committee in on recent meetings of …