A new HIV/AIDS awareness mission toolkit is available just in time for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s World AIDS Sunday, June 24, and National HIV Testing Day, June 27.

Greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels are the major cause of climate change. Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) leaders overwhelming agree on that.

What’s more contentious is what to do about it.

In keeping with the last two General Assemblies (GA221 and 222 in 2014 and 2016), this year's GA223 in St. Louis will debate whether or not the church should divest from companies heavily involved in the fossil fuel industry. The forum for those discussions is the Assembly’s Environmental Issues Committee, which holds its first meeting June 17.

Many questioned whether it could be done. As the Church was weighing in on issues of racism, immigration, fossil fuels and the stormy political climate in Washington, two women took a step in faith and made history in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Denise Anderson and Jan Edmiston decided two were better than one and became the first co-moderators for the General Assembly at the 222nd General Assembly (2016).

With an expanded focus – and a new name reflecting its broader mission – the Assembly committee customarily charged with considering matters related to theological issues and institutions will now also encompass church growth and Christian education.

“The new name speaks to the needs of the church today, and how a focus on theological institutions is also a commitment to theological issues and church growth,” says the Rev. Lee Hinson-Hasty, senior director of funds development for the Theological Education Fund (TEF) at the Presbyterian Foundation. “If you care about congregations growing spiritually and numerically, then I would imagine you would want to support future ministers at our Presbyterian seminaries who will play key roles in that growth for generations.”

Reclaiming the prophetic voice of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) for social, racial, and economic justice, the 223rd General Assembly (2018) [GA223] will take an unprecedented active role in addressing conditions in St. Louis and other cities that devastate the poor and oppressed. The assembly meets June 16–23. The call for the PC(USA) to be a “Matthew 25 Church” was issued by the 222nd General Assembly (2016).

General Assembly Stated Clerk, the Reverend J. Herbert Nelson, II, who was elected to the denomination’s top post in 2016, has challenged the denomination to do more than just meet as committees and worship, but to also put our polity and statements and faith in action. “We don’t want the Presbyterians to be simply another convention that comes to town, meets, spends some money, and then leaves without engaging the people and communities” says Stated Clerk Nelson.

The Presbyterian Hunger Program’s (PHP) Advisory Committee gathered this spring at Stony Point Center in New York to see some of the anti-hunger work taking place there. They toured the gardens and greenhouses and heard about plans for the center to start working additional farm land nearby.

The 2018 Presbyterian Older Adult Ministry Network national conference, titled “Savoring the Journey,” begins today at the Zephyr Point Presbyterian Conference Center.

The National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon (NESSL) shares with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) not only its deep faith in Jesus Christ, but also a connection to the reformer and insightful theologian John Calvin, who had a special heart to reach God’s people from all backgrounds with the multifaceted gospel message.

The long and sometimes contentious work of three groups – the Way Forward Commission, the All-Agency Review Committee and the 2020 Vision Team – will shape much of the debate and discernment The Way Forward Committee will undertake during the 223rd General Assembly, which meets June 16–23 in St. Louis.

The first two groups recommend restructuring the denomination’s A Corporation, the corporate structure of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). They also seek to strengthen the role of the stated clerk, who they say “speaks to and for the church in matters of faith and practice except as the General Assembly directs otherwise.”

한국을 위한 장로교 평화 네트워크는 한반도 긴장을 완화하고 그 지역의 평화에 대한 희망을 제기 한 2018년 초반의 중요한 발전에 기뻐하고 있다.