It is the season when volunteer work trips kick into high gear as groups from churches and other partners of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance show their love and compassion by helping with rebuilding projects in communities affected by disasters. For groups that have one of these trips in their future, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance has put together a free, downloadable how-to guide to assist with planning.

What gives someone the will to do what is right in the face of possible death threats, intimidation or loss of comfort? One could offer it’s the power of the Holy Spirit, and yet following the nudge of the Spirit is still a choice. In the postbellum South, a Presbyterian minister recognized an opportunity to educate Black men and prepare them for ministry. This conviction took him all the way to the 1875 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, which voted to authorize the inception of the Tuscaloosa Institute.  The Rev. Dr. Charles Allen Stillman’s legacy is deeply rooted and connected to the history of what is now known as Stillman College.

The pictures of the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from Gaza being forced by the Israeli military to evacuate the northern part of the Gaza Strip heading south evoked old memories of the 1948 Nakba. In 1948, Jewish Israeli terror groups destroyed and erased over 500 Palestinian villages and displaced nearly 800,000 Palestinians,¹ including more than 50,000 Palestinian Christians who had to flee, thus becoming refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan and Lebanon.

Meeting for much of Thursday as a committee of the whole in executive (closed) session, the Unification Commission announced Thursday afternoon it has selected a consultant to help it with the work of unifying the Office of the General Assembly and the Presbyterian Mission Agency.

The Presbyterian Historical Society (PHS) will use a $94,750 grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to develop a traveling exhibit of photographs from its Religious News Service Collection.

The planning grant will fund the design and fabrication of an exhibit prototype that explores how the Religious News Service covered the interplay of religion, domestic politics and foreign affairs from 1936 to 1983.

Just days after an airstrike killed seven World Central Kitchen workers in Gaza and as experts says famine is imminent in northern Gaza, the PC(USA)’s Office of Public Witness held a webinar Wednesday on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Nearly 300 people attended.

As a fundamental pillar of our Christian experience and testimony, justice is inseparable from peace and a fulfilling life for every human being as proclaimed by the good news of the Kingdom of God. Currently, there is a grave deficit of both justice and peace in many countries around the world, particularly in Central America.

Women should consider their life expectancy — and the fact that they tend to live longer than men do — when thinking about and planning for their financial futures. Those were some of the takeaways from “Empowering Older Women as Consumers,” a virtual event held in conjunction with the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. The March CSW68 summit included delegates from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and Presbyterian Women as well as women from around the world.

Now is the time eager applicants await their college acceptance letters. Individuals and families start to consider not just what institutions to attend but also how they will realistically pay for them. Churches around the country add these young adults and their families to their prayer lists and prepare to celebrate the members graduating in May or June. But for many seeking a degree, the PC(USA) can do more than just pray for their acceptance and ongoing education.

Congregations will have greater flexibility and choice when the new Benefits Plan of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) takes effect Jan. 1, 2025. The plan, redesigned to better support congregational ministry in the Church of today, received approval last month from the Board of Directors of The Board of Pensions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).