At 5 p.m. Eastern Time Thursday as part of BLACKOUT Day during the  Presbyterian Week of Action, a COVID-19 memorial  service will be held via Zoom — and also streamed  live on the PC(USA) Facebook and Week of Action pages.

Part 3 of the Awakening to Structural Racism online conversation Monday dealt with Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) efforts to dismantle structural racism and white supremacy — even when those efforts are placed on hold during the most recent General Assembly, held online and without the usual committee work because of the pandemic.

As the Office of the General Assembly continues to look for ways to meet a shrinking budget, two interim leaders have agreed to extend their time with the agency. Julia Henderson, interim director of assembly operations, will remain in her position through October. Dianna Wright, interim director of ecclesial and ecumenical ministries, will continue until summer of 2021.

In 2014, the Pew Research Center’s Religious Landscape study revealed that nearly 8% of the U.S. population comprised adults who had been raised evangelical but had either switched to another religious tradition or no longer identified with any religious tradition at all, roughly 25 million Americans. White evangelicalism, in particular, has seen many leave the faith in droves, especially after white evangelical support of Donald Trump coalesced during the 2016 election. Many of those who have left have branded themselves #exvangelicals, exvangelicals, or post-evangelicals. How should these post-evangelicals move forward? Many wonder if they should leave Christianity and Jesus altogether. 

As in the U.S., COVID-19 has caused a huge disruption in the lives of families in Guatemala, resulting in lives lost, jobs vanished and plans put on hold. The Western Highlands, where the Association of Mam Christian Women for Development is headquartered, has been hit especially hard because of widespread poverty and nearly nonexistent health systems. As a result, high levels of chronic malnutrition and food insecurity in rural Guatemala persist.

Sorrow and outrage over the death of George Floyd and other victims of police brutality extend beyond the shores of the United States and around the globe.

During the final worship service at the Vital Congregations virtual gathering last week, the Rev. Shanea Leonard challenged nearly 100 participants to become co-conspirators in the work of the gospel.

With the 224th General Assembly (2020) in the history books, leaders in the Office of the General Assembly have begun to look at how future church gatherings will be held. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, church leaders were forced to pull together an online assembly in June.

Everything we once knew as “normal” has changed — including the ebb and flow of the church calendar: welcome to “anything but” ordinary time.

The last Saturday before school starts has come to be known as Back-to-School Fair day for Nottingham Presbyterian Church in Nottingham, Pennsylvania. This year the tradition continues with the 11th annual event set to provide 850 to 900 elementary through high school students in the Greater Oxford Area with grade-specific essentials, allowing financially disadvantaged students to begin the year on an even playing field with their peers.