As part of my work with the General Assembly Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations (GACEIR), I had the opportunity to attend two national meetings over the Fourth of July and Labor Day weekends this summer. Not only did I make the acquaintance of many sisters and brothers working to strengthen ties across religious traditions, but I rekindled some longstanding friendships.
What does hunger advocacy look like at home and beyond? The Presbyterian Hunger Program’s Jennifer Evans and Eileen Schuhmann helped young adults learn more about both spheres Saturday during a workshop held as part of “Jesus and Justice,” the Young Adult Advocacy Conference. Young adults came to the Presbyterian Center and gathered online for the first-ever conference, sponsored by PC(USA) advocacy ministries in Washington, D.C., and at the United Nations.
#GivingTuesday, a global day of giving which falls this year on Nov. 28, is a day when Presbyterians are once again invited to be radically generous on behalf of a world in need.
When a mass shooter killed five people in an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, grieving people graffitied Dr. James Dobson’s Focus on the Family headquarters with the words “Their blood is on your hands.” Such an accusation against evangelicalism comes as no surprise to Amber Cantorna-Wylde, whose father is a Focus on the Family executive and cast Amber out of her family when she came out in 2012. For the first time, Amber will name her father in this book.
In a workshop on advocating for gender justice offered during “Jesus & Justice,” last weekend’s Young Adult Advocacy Conference, the Rev. Denise Anderson turned to the biblical account to demonstrate how long and how difficult — even confusing — the struggle has been.
Every two years the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) gathers. It is an event where profound and prophetic things can happen, and one that would be easy to let happen without much interrogation about why it exists in the first place. For some, the assembly may not seem relevant to the daily work of their congregation. For others, it may feel like a familiar friend who has always been there. As Director of General Assembly Planning, I am challenged to reflect each day on what God is calling us into through the practice of assembling in this …
After stepping down from a platform to be closer to young people gathered for an advocacy conference at the Presbyterian Center, the Rev. Shavon Starling-Louis lifted up the words of the biblical prophet as a call to Christians to speak out for the marginalized.
“Jesus and Justice,” the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s first-ever Young Adult Advocacy Conference, got underway Friday at the Presbyterian Center and online. Eighty young people registered for the free three-day conference, including an online cadre of about 30 young adults.
In the midst of ongoing demonstrations of support for Guatemala’s recently elected leader, the former college professor Bernardo Arévalo, CEDEPCA, World Mission’s partner in Central America’s most populous country, held an informative webinar Thursday to discuss the support being offered to the demonstrators, who are under the leadership of indigenous Guatemalans.
The General Assembly Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations (GACEIR) gathered with heavy hearts in Louisville as war continued in Israel/Palestine this week. In a Zoom conference call requested by the committee, Douglas Dicks, Regional Liaison to Israel, Palestine and Jordan, gave an update and some history to the group.