How disheartening to hear a ruling elder say, “I am just a ruling elder.” As leaders we can’t afford, nor can the church, to downplay the importance of our ministry.

Ruling Elder Frances Lin, stated clerk for the Presbytery of San Diego, and I often lament the use of the qualifier “just” in this way. Is it because ruling elders may not feel capable of fulfilling their responsibilities? Are they trying to avoid the perception of privilege? We cannot imagine a scenario where someone would say of a teaching elder, “Oh, they are just a minister of Word and Sacrament.”

The Rev. Dr. Diane Givens Moffett, president and executive director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency, offers us this homily she delivered via Zoom Wednesday as part of the PMA’s Chapel Service. Click on the link above to view Moffett’s 15-minute homily.

Staying on top of budget and expenses is the job of DeAmber Clopton, associate director of Finance Administration in the Office of the General Assembly. Clopton says she loves numbers and uses that fascination to help OGA reach its goals.

“Imagine what our real neighborhoods would be like if each of us offered, as a matter of course, just one kind word to another person,” the Rev. Fred Rogers, known to millions as Mister Rogers, once mused while reminding his audience as he often did that there are many ways to say, “I love you,” from greeting someone to feeding a hungry neighbor or cleaning up common spaces.

Union Presbyterian Seminary’s annual Sprunt Lecture Series will be held at the seminary’s Richmond campus May 1-3.

“The grief continues to be heavy,” says the Rev. Ray Thomas, executive presbyter for the Presbytery of Middle Tennessee. “Many of our churches had members, friends or families whose children attend, or once attended, the Covenant School,” where last month’s shooting took the lives of four adults and three children.

Hundreds of people gathered outside of the Muhammad Ali Center in downtown Louisville, Kentucky, on a warm, sunny Wednesday afternoon to remember those killed and wounded in Monday’s mass shooting. This time of the year usually finds the city preparing for a massive influx of attention for the Kentucky Derby with visitors and media from around the world, but not on this occasion.

Dr. C. Mark Eakin, a retired oceanographer with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told about 75 people attending a webinar Tuesday that a recent climate assessment contains both bad news and good ideas for what Presbyterians and others can do to help restore Creation.

Dr. C. Mark Eakin, a retired oceanographer with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told about 75 people attending a webinar Tuesday that a recent climate assessment contains both bad news and good ideas for what Presbyterians and others can do to help restore Creation.

The Presbyterian Mission Agency’s World Mission ministry announced Wednesday that the Rev. Cheryl Barnes will become the agency’s new Africa Area Coordinator effective June 19.