In Colombia, the Protestant evangelical churches and Christian organizations that are part of the Inter-Church Dialogue for Peace — DiPaz — have been organizing for about 10 years, working to overcome violence and achieve peace through dialogue based on an understanding of the gospel that calls us to commit to nonviolence and antimilitarism, the search for truth and justice that make reconciliation possible in our country.
Four Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) pastors were among those invited to the Washington National Cathedral for a moving service remembering the seven World Central Kitchen workers killed on April 1 by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza.
The Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, a Presbyterian pastor who co-founded the Poor People’s Campaign and directs the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights & Social Justice, took 75 minutes Wednesday evening for the first of two scheduled Zoom conversations on the Matthew 25 Movement’s foci of eradicating systemic poverty and dismantling structural racism.
“I always see people in our congregations eager to do some kind of service with our neighbors. Their first thought is often that that’s meeting a basic need, some sort of hands-on giving someone food or drink or clothing or shelter,” said the Rev. Rebekah LeMon, senior pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Atlanta. “But we have to ask ourselves, as people of faith, why our systems don’t allow everyone to have food, clothing, shelter and welcome.” For the past six years, LeMon has served on the board of Presbyterians for a Better Georgia (PBG). “Advocacy is the way we try to create systemic change that would better support all of our neighbors.”
Fifty years ago, at the 1974 General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (UPCUSA), David Sindt rose from his seat and bravely and hopefully held up a sign with a single question: Is Anyone Else Out There Gay?
In 2014, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance’s Associate for Story Ministry, David Barnhart, met Lisa Horne, Director of Community Ministry at First Presbyterian Church of Flint, working on what would become the award-winning documentary, “Flint: The Poisoning of an American City.”
The church can’t afford to become irritated, blasé or condescending about church trauma. As the phrase indicates, this phenomenon is the result of harms perpetrated in and by the church. We need to take religious trauma very, very seriously.
There’s no time like the present to apply to host an International Peacemaker. The deadline, May 1, is just a few days away, though late applications still will be reviewed if space remains on peacemakers’ calendars.
On March 22, the Inter-American Human Rights Court found the State of Peru responsible for violating the rights of residents of the Andean town of La Oroya, who had been exposed to decades of toxic emissions from a metallurgical complex located in the heart of the town.
Tomas (not his real name) is a church minister in Manipur, Northeast India. He had teary eyes when he recalled what happened on May 3, 2023. “I have never seen such violence in my lifetime,” he said. “They systematically ransacked our places. That first night, they burnt down a church nearby. The sky turned red by flames.” A few months later, it was reported that 250 churches of different denominations had been burnt. For several weeks, the manhunt continued. Over 100 people died. The trauma is unimaginable, especially among women and children.