The Presbyterian Office of Public Witness issued a statement Monday decrying racism against Asian Americans and calling for acts of hate against them to stop.

Some changes have come to seven presbyteries in New Jersey. Last week the Administrative Commission on Mid Councils approved a plan to re-imagine the previous seven into four new missional communities/ecclesiastical presbyteries.

The future of the church, says the Rev. Catherine Neelly Burton, is in deep rural Kansas.

The final session of the Presbyterian Foundation Day of Learning last week focused its attention on “Practical Tips for Church Budgeting.” Presented by Olanda Carr, Jr., East Region Ministry Relations Officer, and the Rev. Dr. Jonah So, Minister of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, the workshop provided tools to help churches and their leadership build and present budgets that tell a compelling story of the ministries in which they engage.

A Virginia congregation created handprint stoles as a way to virtually lay on hands on newly installed elders and deacons.

Closing worship for the NEXT Church national gathering on Sunday brought together two ways of being community that you wouldn’t necessarily associate — Luke’s description in Acts 2 of how the early church functioned and the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, which have been adapted to other addictions as well.

The Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III remembers the heartbroken grandmother of a man in denial of his drug addiction. “Son,” she told him one day, “until you name the demon, you ain’t never gonna be free.”

Picking up on the NEXT Church national gathering theme, “Breaking, Blessing, Building,” Dr. Christine Hong wondered how people will come out of “survival mode” inflicted by the pandemics of coronavirus and racial injustice and rally for a future of blessing and building.

The Rev. Lenny Duncan, who delivered a powerful and at times anguished and angry keynote Friday during the NEXT Church national gathering, said he agreed to speak because the Rev. Denise Anderson asked him to.

Opportunities are broken, the Rev. Bertram Johnson told the NEXT Church gathering Friday, when we worship anything but God. And for anyone who needed proof, he cited Exodus 32:1-20, the story of the tablets that Moses broke, furious that while he was atop a mountain to receive the Ten Commandments, Aaron allowed the people to construct a golden calf to worship. Moses was so mad upon his return he took the image and burned it. Then he grounded it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink the water.