Work is underway on the Presbyterian Historical Society’s grant-funded digitization project that will make 22,500 images, newspaper clippings and related documents from the Religious News Service Photograph Collection available online. The work— funded by a 2023 National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Humanities Collections and Reference Resources Implementation grant — began last summer and will continue through December 2025.
Mary Alice Birdwhistell and Tyler D. Mayfield’s “Hard and Holy Work” takes readers through a unique Lenten journey, encouraging us to see those who are marginalized or suffering as God sees them; contemplate how privilege, fear, risk, and feelings of uncertainty can cloud our attention; and practice endurance for the messy middle of justice work, leaning on God’s provision and rest when the way forward is unclear.
“Church is service,” says Thomas Hartley, interim director of Children’s and Family Ministry at St. Andrew Presbyterian Church in Iowa City, Iowa.
Jamie Bruesehoff, the most recent guest on “A Matter of Faith: A Presby Podcast,” recalled the first day her transgender daughter, Rebekah, came to church as herself. The one person whom Bruesehoff feared might cause problems for her and her husband, the pastor of the church, made a beeline for the pastor following worship.
“Nothing is constant but change,” says the philosopher, and we might as well add, “…changing ever faster.” Wherever we look today the world is changing and at an unprecedented rate. Much of that change is alarming, but there is also some good news, such as for our prison system. In my home state of New York, the state prison population in the last 25 years has been reduced from 70,000 in the late 1990s to around 30,000 today.
With crayons at the ready and voices lifted high, the PC(USA)’s chapel coordinating team called members of the national staff together for online worship Wednesday to celebrate the Epiphany of the Lord/Día de los Reyes (Day of the Three Kings), which is observed on Jan. 6.
In response to user feedback from presbyteries and call-seekers, the Office of the General Assembly's Church Leadership Connection (CLC) released two system updates in November/December, with an additional two slated to launch in the first quarter of this year.
Among the handful of clergy authors published by Cyclical Publishing is the Rev. Ryan Althaus, the Hunger and Inclusion Advocate for the Presbytery of San Jose, whose latest book carries the provocative title “The Expanse: Homos, Hobos, and the Holy Hereafter.”
A queer psychotherapist who wrote a recent book about how people can rediscover their faith after a harmful church experience was the guest last week on “A Matter of Faith: A Presby Podcast.” Listen to the 35-minute conversation that hosts Simon Doong and the Rev. Lee Catoe had with Matthias Roberts, author of “Holy Runaways: Rediscovering Faith After Being Burned by Religion,” by going here.
Ministry can take many forms, from pastoring a church and working in the mission field, to helping ensure the denomination’s vision is clear. In this week’s OGA In Focus, Kerry Rice, Deputy Stated Clerk of the Office of the General Assembly, shares how his work can make a difference in the larger church.