The largest crowd in several decades packed the biennial Peace Breakfast Wednesday at the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
They came to celebrate and award Peaceseekers.
They came to support causes important to members of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship.
A change in terminology from “racial ethnic people” to “people of color” was approved by Committee 11 of the 223rd General Assembly on Monday and will be moved forward to the full Assembly.
Quick and grateful approval was extended by the 223rd General Assembly Wednesday afternoon to actions recommended by its Assembly Committee on Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations. It was the first Assembly committee to complete its work in St. Louis.
As hundreds of Presbyterians took to the streets Tuesday afternoon, a smaller group remained in the plenary hall to participate in an alternative act of public witness. A “teach-in” led by Presbyterian Mission Agency staff members offered an opportunity for learning and conversations on issues related to mass incarceration and racism.
Chaplains are expected to provide spiritual nurture for people of all ranks, including senior leadership, she said. In addition to serving as a “moral compass” for senior officers, she says chaplains often are the only people in whom they can confide when they feel lonely and afraid.
— “We are called to change things, and to change the world as well,” said the Rev. Najla Kassab, president of the World Communion of Reformed Churches, preaching Wednesday morning at the Ecumenical Service of Worship of the 223rd General Assembly.
New and old worshipping communities comprising the entire church life cycle were represented during a Presbyterian Mission Agency luncheon Tuesday.
Congregations and presbyteries representing the entire church life cycle ― from 1001 New Worshiping Communities to the Revitalization Initiative of the Office of Vital Congregations ― shared the spotlight.
Representatives of diverse religious traditions gathered Tuesday evening at an ecumenical dinner hosted by Stated Clerk the Rev. J. Herbert Nelson, II, and moderated by Associate Stated Clerk the Rev. Robina Marie Winbush. The occasion provided a platform for the presentation of ecumenical and interfaith service recognition awards on behalf of the General Assembly Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations (GACEIR).
Statements from advocates of divestment presented testimony about the human impact of pollution and climate change in the United States and around the world, from India to Nigeria to Nicaragua. Voices on both sides of the divestment issue spoke about last year’s climate-change-linked devastation in Houston and Puerto Rico.
Historian and author Crystal R. Sanders left Presbyterians feeling proud about a 50-year-old chapter of their social witness, telling the Presbyterian Historical Society (PHS) luncheon how the Church supported a fledgling Head Start program in 1960s Mississippi.