Presbyteries in North and South Dakota, Missouri, Kansas, and Mississippi have been selected as ministry settings for the inaugural year of “For Such a Time as This,” an innovative Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) pastoral residency program designed to serve underserved congregations and develop missional pastors.
The presbyteries of Heartland, St. Andrew, Northern Plains and South Dakota — the latter two contiguous presbyteries working in partnership — will compose the pilot program’s initial group of ministry settings for 2010. In order to qualify as partner presbyteries, each was asked to identify several small churches that would serve as especially good …
The Rev. Kirk McCormick believes strongly that the church’s primary calling is to make disciples, and he has led his Boca Raton, Fla., congregation toward that goal for more than 10 years.
Becoming a more missional church focused on efforts including community outreach and evangelism has been a long-term process, but the congregation has become so committed to transforming itself that it changed its name last year.
First Presbyterian Church of Boca Raton — in the Presbytery of Tropical Florida — became Grace Community Church in March 2009, and the church now sees roughly 600 regular worshippers, far more attendees …
Applications to participate in a study tour of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh are now being accepted by the Jinishian Memorial Foundation, a ministry of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to the people of Armenia.
The study tour is June 13-24 and will offer participants the opportunity to:
Imagine bringing people of all faiths, ages and races together to address problems common to everyone within a city.
And then imagine re-energizing the church and exciting the desire of citizens to right social wrongs once and for all.
This is the goal of Revive!, an effort by the Presbytery of New Brunswick. The event is scheduled for June 11-13 in Trenton, N.J.
The idea began with the presbytery’s Social Witness Committee, said the Rev. Marcia MacKillop, the presbytery’s hunger action advocate and Revive! coordinator.
“We did some immigration workshops in 2008, and they went very well so we decided …
It’s not like prostitution is a career choice, says Doris Miller Johnson. It’s the default choice in a life gone wrong, a life deeply bruised by abuse, addiction or homelessness, mental illness or desperation.
A downward spiral.
Miller Johnson saw that life up close and personal until she walked away. So when she heard about a project in North Minneapolis to establish a drop-in space for women and teens engaged in prostitution, she signed on to help. “They need somewhere to go and eat and to change their panties, a place just to be loved, just for a moment. And …
Independent folk musician Bryan McFarland is used to asking his friends, fans and family to help fund his albums.
But when he began thinking about recording his third CD, McFarland took a different route. A friend told him about Pledge Music, a company that allows fans to finance musicians through online pledges. The musicians can also designate a charity to which to give a percentage of the funds raised by their fans.
The more McFarland learned about Pledge Music, the more his project began to grow.
“This project was bigger than just my music,” he said. “The Holy Spirit …
Twenty-two members of the Presbyterian Women (PW) delegation to the 54th meeting of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW) in New York last week witnessed the creation of a new U.N. entity for women March 10 in New York.
The Gender Equality Architecture Reform (GEAR) recommendations of the UNCSW were adopted March 10 as thousands came from around the world on the 15th anniversary of the Fourth World Women’s Conference held in Beijing, China.
Both the anniversary and the new structure were hailed by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon during the U.N.’s Women’s Day event.
Members …
The Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson II, a third-generation Presbyterian pastor, has been named the new director of public witness for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Washington Office. Nelson has 25 years of experience in congregational ministry. The past several years, he has worked in a new church development at Liberation Community Presbyterian Church, a ministry with the urban poor of Memphis, Tenn. Nelson also often preaches and serves as a keynote leader at Presbyterian youth and adult conferences.
The Presbyterian Washington Office is the public policy information and advocacy office of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The …
In her church of thousands, Susan Radulovacki felt alone.
She and her husband were dealing with the stress and pain of infertility and struggled with not finding a community within the church where they could share their experiences. And so when they joined a new church, Peachtree Presbyterian in Atlanta, Radulovacki vowed to be open about her infertility to help others avoid the isolation she had felt.
After seeing a note in the church bulletin about a group for infertile couples, Radulovacki felt compelled to attend. Even though she had children by that point, she hoped she could offer support …
Though the global financial meltdown has been tough for most educational institutions, McCormick Theological Seminary President Cynthia Campbell says the crisis has become “an opportunity” for her Chicago school.
“I think we’ve turned the corner,” Campbell told the Presbyterian News Service in an interview here while she attended the recent General Assembly Mission Council meeting of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). “We’ve been able to reaffirm our core mission and explore some innovative opportunities.”
Not that it’s been easy. Campbell said McCormick’s endowment lost 35 percent of its value in the months after the fall 2008 collapse.
“Even if people saw …