Using technology that performed flawlessly Monday, three entities approved eight recommendations to send to next month’s online General Assembly concerning the impacts of lower than anticipated giving brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
The move from an in-person to an online General Assembly has impacted a number of planned luncheons and breakfast meetings next month. However, organizers for the Ruling Elder Luncheon have made other plans. The luncheon is now a Zoom webinar to be held in July.
As churches and pastors have discovered in the past two months, social distancing doesn’t mean putting ministry on hold. The work continues in new, innovative ways.
The Reverend Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), urges pastors to be sure they take care of themselves while caring for others.
Presbyterian pastors are busy ministering to their flocks in a pandemic, but few had the big weekend that the Rev. Jenny McDevitt just turned in.
Just as congregational and mid council giving and budgets are being hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, so will the current and near-term income streams of the Presbyterian Mission Agency, Office of the General Assembly and the Administrative Services Group.
The Rev. Fred Davie, executive vice president at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, has been appointed chair of the New York City Civilian Complaint Review Board by both Mayor Bill de Blasio and City Council Speaker Corey Johnson.
Congregations looking for ways to be the church together during and even after the pandemic might well find what they’re looking for in the early church practice of house churches.
In the last few weeks, I have been gathering virtually with my home church in San Francisco while I live in Atlanta. Not being able to share bread and cup with any community has been personally challenging. It is a scenario that many in our denomination can understand as we have had to adapt our worship during the COVID-19 pandemic. At a time when we are not able to gather in community for worship and receive the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper in person, my reflection has turned to what it means to be in community, even if from a distance, and the impact of community on the sacrament.
나는 애틀랜타에 살면서, 지난 몇 주 동안 샌프란시스코의 내 모교회와 화상으로 모임을 가지고 있다. 공동체의 어느 누구와도 성만찬을 할 수 없다는 사실은 개인적으로 도전이 되었다. COVID-19 유행병 기간에 예배 형태를 바꿔야 할 때 우리 교단의 많은 이들이 이해한 바로 그 상황이다. 예배를 위해 공동체로 모이지 못하고 직접 성만찬을 받지 못할 때, 원격으로라도 공동체에 있는 것이 무슨 의미인지, 또 성만찬에 대한 공동체의 영향은 무엇인지 생각하게 되었다.
En las últimas semanas, me he estado reuniendo virtualmente con mi iglesia local en San Francisco, mientras vivo en Atlanta. No poder compartir el pan y vino con ninguna comunidad ha sido un desafío personal. Es un escenario que muchas personas en nuestra denominación pueden entender, ya que hemos tenido que adaptar nuestra adoración durante la pandemia de COVID-19. En un momento en que no podemos reunirnos en comunidad para adorar y recibir el sacramento de la Cena del Señor en persona, mi reflexión se ha enfocado en lo que significa estar en comunidad, incluso desde la distancia, y el impacto de la comunidad en el sacramento.