There is a point in “Flint: The Poisoning of an American City” where we have seen and heard how the Michigan city’s water system was contaminated with lead and the many ways in which public officials caused or allowed the tragedy to happen, and it’s easy to ask, “How has nobody gone to jail for this?”
When Laura Mitchell receives a nudge from God, she sees it through. “Sunrise of Hope,” a one-day mental health summit hosted by La Jolla Presbyterian Church in California this past spring, was one of those nudges.
How do ministers fulfill their call? Who are they? What did they learn in seminary? What didn’t they learn in seminary? How are they impacted by changes in society and their communities? Moreover, how do changes in the life of the church and in society as a whole affect the emotional and physical well-being of a minister? These are important questions. Right now, the church is unable to answer them, but that is about to change.
Ten of 12 international peacemakers commissioned Wednesday are set to fan out over about 50 presbyteries in the coming four weeks, sharing the work and witness they’re doing to promote peace and justice.
Since she was in her early 20s, Erlinda Maria Quesada Angulo has been an advocate for environmental justice and human rights. She initially became involved in social ministry at the Roman Catholic parish in the small village of La Guácima, in the Caribbean region of Costa Rica.
On behalf of Presbyterian Mission Agency, during its latest grant cycle the Mission Development Resources Committee (MDRC) recently approved 19 Mission Program Grants to worshiping communities.
Sometimes you have to step back and listen for God’s voice. Members of the Vision 2020 Team found that out recently during a visit to Louisville. The group held its second face-to-face meeting of the year to work on the proposed guiding statement to be presented at the 224th General Assembly (2020) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) next summer.
The three-day meeting included time for Sunday worship, and, for this visit, the group chose to join worshippers at Grace Hope Presbyterian Church in Louisville’s Smoketown neighborhood, a mile-and-a-half southeast of downtown. The historically black community is bounded by interstate and CSX railroad tracks. The community got its name from the large number of smoke-producing kilns during the early days of brick-making.
Maryville College in Maryville, Tenn., long affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), has been listed in U.S. News & World Report’s “2020 Best Colleges” guidebook, ranking third overall in the “Best Regional Colleges-South” category.
In the wake of recent shootings in Gilroy, Calif., in the Texas communities of El Paso and Odessa and in Dayton, Ohio, and with the advent of the Season of Peace, the Compassion, Peace & Justice Ministry programs of the Presbyterian Mission Agency (PMA) are providing congregations and mid-councils a robust package of resources to help congregations put thoughts and prayers about gun violence into obedient action.
Without the support of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the Rev. Denise McLeod isn’t sure she would have survived. A widowed minister serving a small church, Trinity Presbyterian, in Key West, Florida — and raising a son who is now a senior in college — she applied for the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s Loan Forgiveness for Pastors.