As the Crystal Cathedral tries to find its footing without any members of founder Robert H. Schuller’s family at the helm, the only son and one-time successor says “sibling rivalry” played a key role in the California megachurch’s decline.

As he travels around the world presenting his film “The Mill and the Cross,” Polish director Lech Majewski finds himself discussing the many religious themes in the work.

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Self-Development of People (SDOP), Presbyterian Hunger Program (PHP) and Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) ministries of the Compassion, Peace and Justice ministry area are leading the way in the reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts in Liberia and Sierra Leone, and the world is taking notice.  The West Africa Initiative (WAI) was one of 800 nominations from 113 countries recently selected to receive the prestigious Equator Initiative Award.  The WAI is a SDOP, PHP and PDA–led partnership between several U.S. denominations, including the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), the United Church of Christ (UCC), and the Disciples of Christ, and ecumenical partners in Liberia and Sierre Leone.

Company of New Pastors, a program of the Office of Theology and Worship, has announced a new leadership team for the highly successful transition into ministry program.  Four regional mentors, the Rev. Dave Rohrer, the Rev. Jim Kitchens, the Rev. Kristin Frederich, and the Rev. Jeff Ugoretz, will work with faculty mentors and pastor mentors as they form and lead individual groups. Company of New Pastors (CNP) administrative work will be coordinated by Karen Russell, program associate in the Office of Theology and Worship.

Presbyterian mission co-worker Sharon Curry’s heart sank when in January a South Sudanese official told her: “We can’t guarantee that we can keep you safe. You should go now, while you can get out.”

“I sat trying to hold back tears and comprehend that this was really happening,” Curry says. She had been in Akobo, South Sudan, less than a month when she learned she had to evacuate. Fighting between two ethnic groups was moving closer to Akobo. Curry was sent there to work alongside South Sudanese partners in Community Health Evangelism, an initiative that integrates community-based development, evangelism, and discipleship.

Her days in Akobo were “the time of my life,” says Curry, a member of St. Philip Presbyterian Church in Hurst, Texas. “I was busy meeting with church leaders, learning the language and getting to know people. I was intent on proving this American girl really can cook with a wood fire, find my way to the latrine in the dark and bale water for showers with a flashlight sticking out of my mouth.”

“¡Agua sí! ¡Oro no! ¡Agua sí! ¡Oro no!” (“Water yes! Gold no!”) The chant vibrated through the thin Andean air as a regional demonstration against the Conga Gold Mine Project took place March 22 to honor World Water Day.

Thousands of residents of this mountain town gathered at the Laguna Azul, one of many high-altitude lakes on the proposed Conga Mine site, in effort to protect their water resources from exploitation and contamination.

The mix of the modern and the medieval in the restricted life of Saul Timisela is dizzying.

A Synaxis of the Primates of Eastern Orthodox Churches in the Middle East met in Cyprus on March 27 to discuss the situation of Christians in the region and to agree on common approaches to solidarity and strengthening the support of Christian communities, according to a World Council of Churches press release.

The moderators and vice moderators of the 20 committees for the 220th General Assembly (2012) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) have been named. The leadership was chosen from the 688 commissioners to this year’s assembly, to be held June 30-July 7 in Pittsburgh, Pa.

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Presbytery of Yukon has formally apologized to the Alaska Native residents of Gambell, Alaska ― a Yu’pik village on St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea 36 miles from the coast of Siberia ― for a now discredited mission policy that sought to stamp out native language and culture as part of the church’s evangelization efforts in Alaska.