Presbyterian Mission Agency mission co-workers the Revs. Shelvis and Nancy Smith-Mather are in the United States this week to meet with several entities at the United Nations to create awareness around the critical needs of those living in South Sudan under the barrage of continued violence and near-civil war. Hosted by the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations, the Smith-Mathers led the Thursday morning chapel service for a group of in-person and online worshippers via Zoom.
At the Presbyterian Foundation Board of Trustees meeting on June 15 in Louisville, Troy Marables was promoted from Vice President to Senior Vice President of Human Resources.
Dr. Rita Nakashima Brock, an acclaimed author and theologian and a senior vice president and director of the Shay Moral Injury Center at Volunteers of America, is serving this summer as the McClendon Scholar-in-Residence at New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. On Wednesday, she gave an online lecture, “Moral Injury and Climate Change: Reclaiming Our Love for This Earth.”
Reading and seeing the testimonies of thousands of migrants who have survived crossing the Darién Gap jungle on foot, their exposure to hunger, bug bites and infections of all kinds, getting lost without being found, being victims of extortion, robbery and sexual abuse by mafias on both sides of the jungle under the complicit indifference of the authorities is a social scandal and degrading to human dignity.
On Monday, pastors from a new worshiping community joined a pair of scholars in the studios of KDKA, the CBS affiliate in Pittsburgh, to discuss a recent study of why people are leaving faith communities and what those communities might try to reverse the trend.
The Office of Christian Formation of the Presbyterian Mission Agency has received a grant of $1.25 million from Lilly Endowment Inc. to come alongside parents, caregivers, churches and worshiping communities to provide skills, opportunities for connection and relationship building, and the resources needed to enhance and prioritize sharing faith in households.
The Rev. Martha Sadongei encourages Native American siblings who follow Christ to blend their faith with their Indigenous practices, and she had a ready story to illustrate just how during last week’s episode of “A Matter of Faith: A Presby Podcast,” which can be heard here. Sadongei comes in at the two-minute mark.
Our denominational response to the Matthew 25 call to aid those less fortunate is lived out through the foci of strengthening worship communities, eradicating systemic poverty and combating racism. An old proverb states that a long journey is made step by step. And so it is that our partners in the Presbyterian Community of Kinshasa (CPK) in the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are taking steps to improve formal education systems and provide life options that will lead to a more productive and healthy society.
In July 1954, the Rev. Dr. Walter Soboleff (1908-2011), pastor of Memorial Presbyterian Church in Juneau, Alaska, was broadcasting his sermons and general news updates in Tlingit, offering messages to those who had few opportunities to hear their native tongue.
Soboleff had been pastor of Memorial since 1940. The church was founded in the 19th century as a segregated congregation for Alaska Natives in Juneau. Under Soboleff’s leadership, his dedication to his community and his passion for communicating in his native tongue, the church grew into a formidable institution. In 1962, it was forcibly closed by the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (UPCUSA) Alaska Presbytery, and Board of Missions.
Calvary Presbyterian Church in San Francisco celebrated Father’s Day this year in an innovative and memorable way not commonly seen in churches across the PC(USA).