Three outstanding Presbyterian clergywomen who are “woke” were honored for their determined efforts to challenge systemic racism and oppression during today’s Women of Faith Awards Breakfast at the 223rd General Assembly (2018) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in St. Louis.
It took commissioners four ballots Saturday evening to elect an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher and a mid-council executive as the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s second-ever co-moderators.
Vilmarie Cintrón-Olivieri of the Presbytery of Tropical Florida and the Rev. Cindy Kohlmann of the presbyteries of Boston and Northern New England gained their victory at 9:01 p.m. Central Time over two pairs of challengers – the Rev. Eliana Maxim of the Presbytery of Seattle and the Rev. Bertram Johnson of the Presbytery of New York City, also standing as co-moderator candidates, and Chantal Atnip, a ruling elder who stood for moderator, and the Rev. Ken Hockenberry, her vice-moderator running mate from the Presbytery of Chicago.
For 200 years, the Presbyterian Outlook has spoken out boldly on issues in church and society, Outlook editor and publisher Jill Duffield told an overflow crowd of subscribers and supporters of the magazine at the 223rd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
The 223rd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) convened Saturday with an opening worship service buoyant with music and prayer and punctuated with calls for community-based acts of social witness.
Befitting its “River City” location, the liturgy, hymns and sermons shared a leitmotif of water: The Gathering Words, Prayer of Invocation and Thanksgiving, Call to Confession, Assurance of Forgiveness and Anthem — “Shall We Gather at the River?” — referenced water’s potential to baptize, wash, destroy, sustain and renew.
Progressive Presbyterians encouraged commissioners to the 223rd General Assembly (2018) to adopt overtures calling for direct action on social witness concerns rather than creating study commissions.
“I thank you for your service,” Rhashell D. Hunter, acting co-executive director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency (PMA), told a predominantly female audience at the Women’s Orientation Breakfast Saturday.
Hunter expressed gratitude for all Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) members who provide energy, wisdom, insight and responsible leadership.
Coffee is a major agricultural product of Mexico, the beverage of choice among millions of people in the U.S., and a link in a mission partnership that transforms people in both countries.
Commissioners to the 223rd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) are being informed by the perspectives of 14 ecumenical advisory delegates and eight missionary advisory delegates.
Being cutting edge and entrepreneurial is in Andy James’s nature.
Only two years into his position as associate for small-church ministries and technology for the Presbytery of New Hope in Raleigh, N.C., his latest brainchild — in collaboration with Kevin Veldhuisen, transitional mission coordinator and stated clerk of the Presbytery of South Dakota — is a collective known as the Youngish Mid Council Leaders.
After the June 12 Singapore summit between U.S. and North Korean heads of state, South Korean church leaders say they’re increasingly optimistic about the chances of reunification up and down the Korean peninsula ― of nations and of families.
“Because of your presence, we Korean churches can sustain our long march toward peace and reunification,” the Rev. Jaecheon Lee, general secretary of the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea (PROK), said during a General Assembly news conference Saturday. “I am pleased to talk about how you have stood by my church for a long time.”