As a boy growing up in Brazil, the Rev. Dr. Cláudio Carvalhaes said he was afraid of the dark. At bedtime it comforted him that his father had the light on in the next room. “I could see the light where he was, and that was my resting place,” said Carvalhaes, associate professor of worship at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, during last week’s “Responding to an Exodus: Gospel Hospitality and Empire” celebration of 35 years of ministry by Presbyterian Border Region Outreach’s Frontera de Cristo. Carvalhaes led a Friday morning workshop he called “Preaching from the Darkness” at First Presbyterian Church in Douglas, Arizona.
Visitors attending the 224th General Assembly (2020) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) next summer in Baltimore will have the opportunity to put their hands and feet to work during the assembly. The Center, a mission outreach of the Presbytery of Baltimore, will be offering hands-on service opportunities for youth groups and others. Registration is now open for Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, June 22, 24–26.
Early in September, an ambitious denomination-wide effort was launched. A comprehensive survey, labeled appropriately the Minister Survey, allows Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Research Services to ask questions about issues of deep importance to the denomination.
Raised in both Douglas, Arizona and nearby Agua Prieta, which is just south of the U.S.-Mexico border, artist and community college instructor M. Jenea Sanchez has an interest in the kind of public art that’s a simultaneous expression of hope and resistance.
The Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is asking the United States to reconsider its plans to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement. The Reverend Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II is sending a letter this week to U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo.
In the Mission Yearbook message for this Veterans Day, the Rev. (Capt.) Lyman M. Smith, director of the Presbyterian Council for Chaplains and Military Personnel, (PCCMP) writes, “More than 18 million veterans live among us. And of those 18 million, some 18 are likely to die by suicide today.”
In mid-August, a video crew supported by Blessed Tomorrow, a Presbyterian Hunger Program partner, filmed chapel service at the Presbyterian Center in Louisville. Portions of the service, as well as an interview with the Rev. Dr. Diane Moffett, Presbyterian Mission Agency president and executive director, are featured in a new climate action video, “Jesus Calls Us.”
Recent flooding in South Sudan and ongoing political unrest in Haiti have prompted the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to provide humanitarian aid to partner organizations in those countries to help individuals and families affected by the crises.
Recent flooding in South Sudan and ongoing political unrest in Haiti have prompted the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to provide humanitarian aid to partner organizations in those countries to help individuals and families affected by the crises.
Congregations seeking renewal for their pastor are invited to apply for the Lilly Endowment Clergy Renewal Program at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, Indiana.