Along with a group of ecumenical partners, a delegation of PC(USA) associates met with a Cuban delegation at the United Nations 78th General Assembly High Level Week to discuss topics that included economic sanctions, climate change, and how to deepen the partnership between PC(USA) and its sister church the Iglesia Presbiteriana — Reformada en Cuba — the Presbyterian Reformed Church in Cuba (IPRC). The Cuban delegation included President Miguel Díaz-Canel, the foreign minister, and the Cuban ambassadors to the United States and the UN.

Wednesday, the first of three days of online meetings for the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board, began with worship and ended with a devotion. In between, board members heard reports, held fearless dialogues with the Rev. Dr. Gregory Ellison and team, and celebrated the work and ministry of James Rissler, the president and CEO of the Presbyterian Investment and Loan Program (PILP), who is retiring at the end of the year.

The Rev. Shanea D. Leonard, director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s Racial Equity & Women’s Intercultural Ministries (RE&WIM), has been doing the work of dismantling oppressive systems for more than two decades.    In their work they found that this requires white people teaching and facilitating white people. The hard conversations and unfiltered truths that come from fully embodying this work is often a lighter burden when white people are doing this self-work together without the emotional labor of their Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) siblings. Leonard’s discovery led to the formation of the White Ally Network — a working title — which met last week for the first time in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Liz Lin, the director and co-founder of Progressive Asian American Christians said during the “A Matter of Faith” podcast last week that the group, which has both online and in-real-life components, helps Asian American Christians to maintain both their theology as well as their race and culture.

The Stated Clerk Nomination Committee will select its nominee no later than 60 days before the opening of the 226th General Assembly (2024). The full assembly will then elect the next clerk to a four-year term.

The Rev. Dr. Sallie Watson, SCNC moderator, said, “the task of our committee isn’t that different from the last Stated Clerk Nomination Committee,” which ended with the selection of recently retired stated clerk the Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II. “We’re bound by standing rules, which give us deadlines for nominating a candidate. But in other senses it’s not the same at all.”

Pastors and leaders across the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) are still finding new, innovative ways to be church in a post COVID world. In-person attendance may be down from where it was four years ago, but thanks to advances in technology, combined with some creativity, a new church is emerging. The Rev. Bronwen Boswell, Acting Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the PC(USA) recently reflected on where the church was during the pandemic, and her hopes for where it is going.

Even as they look forward to Advent in a few weeks, Presbyterians will be peeking into Lent by mid-February. With her book “Pause: Spending Lent with the Psalms” scheduled for publication by Westminster John Knox Press on Jan. 2, 2024, the Rev. Dr. Elizabeth Caldwell discussed the rhythms of the Lenten season recently with Simon Doong and the Rev. Lee Catoe, who host “A Matter of Faith: A Presby Podcast.”

“It’s not about the money — it’s about the mission.” That was the theme of the Rev. Peter Reuss’s session, “You want me to donate? Why? Building blocks for an impactful appeal.”

The 226th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has its first candidate to stand for moderator. The Rev. Dr. Marian McClure Taylor has announced her intentions to run at next year’s assembly in Salt Lake City.

Taylor is no stranger to the work of the national offices of the PC(USA), having served as director of the Worldwide Ministries Division of the Presbyterian Mission Agency (PMA) from 1997 to 2006. In addition to international work, she has focused on hunger, disaster assistance and self-development ministries.

Twenty-nine U.S. denominations and faith organizations have joined together to launch One Home One Future, a multi-faith campaign to strengthen vitality, relevance, and community connection across generations — to care for our shared home — in local congregations nationwide.