On Sept. 2, 2014 five activists chained themselves to train tracks in Everett, Wash., in an effort stop the transport of oil and coal trains through the Pacific Northwest. One of the five is Abby Brockway, a ruling elder at Woodland Park Presbyterian Church in Seattle. Abby and her colleagues, known as the Delta 5, were arrested for criminal trespassing.

Each year, Presbyterians and other denominations gather in the nation’s capital to pray, debate and lobby over specific social justice issues. More than 1,000 people within the ecumenical Christian community are expected to attend Advocacy Training Weekend, which will be held April 15-18 in Washington, D.C. This year’s topic is “Lift Every Voice: Racism, Class and Power.” The weekend consists of the PC(USA) Compassion, Peace and Justice Training Day (April 15) followed by Ecumenical Advocacy Days (April 15-18). 

나는 시카고 주변에서 자라면서 열렬한 시카고 컵스 팬이었고 지금도 그러하다. 나는 일찍 부터 내 주변에 두 가지 유형의 야구 팬들—시카고 컵스 팬과 시카고 화이트 삭스 팬--이 살고 있다는 것을 알게 되었다. 이 두 팀이 모두 같은 도시에 근거지를 두고 있지만 사람들은 이 둘 중 하나를 선택한다.

<한국어> <Espaňol> Growing up just outside of Chicago, I was, and remain today, an avid Chicago Cubs fan. I learned early on that living around me there were two types of baseball fans—Chicago Cubs fans and Chicago White Sox fans. It was one team or the other even though both teams were from the same city.

The Executive Committee of the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board (PMAB) met yesterday to make preparations for its upcoming Feb. 3-5, 2016 board meeting, anticipate the needs of the April board meeting, and plan for required actions at the 222nd General Assembly (2016) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in June.

Representatives from the Howard University School of Divinity (HUSD) have traveled to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to return a sacred 14-15th century manuscript to Debre Libanos Monastery, one of Ethiopia’s holiest sites.

The Presbyterian Writers Guild (PWG) is accepting nominations for its 2016 David Steele Distinguished Writer Award. The award is given biennially in even-numbered years to recognize the cumulative work and influence—regardless of genre or subject matter—of a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) writer. The award will be presented at the PWG luncheon at this summer’s 222nd General Assembly (2016) in Portland, Ore.

When Jill Bolander Cohen’s stepdaughter called her one afternoon, she didn’t expect her stepdaughter to be asking for her to help a high school victim of human trafficking. “This young woman’s mother sold her to a trafficker for $25,000,” Cohen says. “Her mother needed the money to open and operate her business, and the young woman’s trafficker was shipping her around the country as she worked to pay back her mother’s debts.”

Cohen, whose roots run deep in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), is the founder of the Lifeboat Project, a Florida-based nonprofit that works to fight human trafficking—and a recent addition to the 1001 New Worshiping Communities initiative of the PC(USA).

Applications for the 2016-17 1001 New Worshiping Communities apprenticeship and residency program are now being accepted through March 25.  

A compilation of news from Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) seminaries including Austin Seminary, Columbia Theological Seminary, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, Princeton Theological Seminary and Union Presbyterian Seminary; and other pertinent seminary news.