As wagons of corn—not to mention truckloads of gravel and dirt—circle the United Church of Crawsfordsville, Iowa, surely the harvest is nearing. Or at least the church’s eagerly-awaited harvest supper and auction is. Read more »
October 27, 2016
Harbingers of the harvest
As wagons of corn—not to mention truckloads of gravel and dirt—circle the United Church of Crawsfordsville, Iowa, surely the harvest is nearing. Or at least the church’s eagerly-awaited harvest supper and auction is. Read more »
When the Rev. Terilyn Lawson was installed on Sunday, October 23, as associate pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Great Falls, Montana—and concurrently as the first resident in the Chaplain Candidate Residency Program newly launched by the Presbyterian Council for Chaplains and Military Personnel (PCCMP)—she had to marvel at what God had done. 
It was November 8, 2013 when one of the strongest tropical cyclones ever recorded, slammed Southeast Asia, particularly the Philippines. The result: more than 6,000 dead, towns and communities were destroyed and millions of people were left homeless, with no food and little hope. 
My Father’s Affairs
In Luke 2:41-52, Joseph and Mary search desperately for their young son Jesus. There is a certain irony here: Jesus’ parents think he is lost, when at a deeper level he has found his calling, which is “to be about his father’s affairs.”
In Luke’s Gospel, the “father’s affairs” entail expanding people’s understanding of family and community. It starts in this story itself. Jesus’ parents have a particular understanding of his place in the family, and he challenges that notion by envisioning for himself an identity that reaches beyond his family. Throughout the third Gospel, Jesus subverts the narrow identities attributed to him and claims for himself a more expansive identity. 
In August of 2013, President Obama announced the possibility of military action in Syria. Our Syrian Church partners urged the Presbyterian Church (USA) to speak out against military action, arguing that the situation would only become more violent as more weapons were funneled into the country. Mary Mikael, our church partner from the Evangelical Church of Syria and Lebanon, came to Washington, DC and the Office of Public Witness organized visits with key members of congress and the administration. She asked them to give “Syrians a chance to live.” 
At the Presbyterian House in Merida, Venezuela, Dr. Edgar Moros- Ruano, a former Presbyterian mission co-worker, says “the gospel is proclaimed not only by word of mouth, but also through deeds.”
Moros-Ruano serves as pastor of the Congregation of the Resurrection and is a tenured professor of philosophy at Universidad de Los Andes in Merida. In both his pastoral work and his seminary teaching, Moros-Ruano says he has integrated leadership development as an evangelistic effort to share the gospel of Jesus to his congregations and students. 
In the spirit of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., three northern NJ churches have rehabilitated a church in need of repairs.
Over the MLK holiday weekend in January 2016, the Presbyterian Church at Tenafly and Old Bergen Church of Jersey City teamed up for a construction project at the Mideast Evangelical Church in Jersey City to remodel, insulate and paint a fellowship hall, reinforce a hand rail, share in a delicious MiddleEastern meal, hear stories, and commemorate the MLK Day of Service. 
Rhonda Kruse and William McConnell recently accepted positions as mission engagement advisors with the Presbyterian Mission Agency (PMA) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) 
In West Louisville, Ky., Westwood Presbyterian Church came up with a creative way to address what generations of African AmericansWest have come to believe, “that life is cheap, and the cheapest of all are black lives.” By hosting a drama camp for African American kids earlier this year, Westwood took them back to a time when African American culture was thriving. 
As part of its ongoing mission to foster a culture of discipling–central to Christian life and practice–the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s office of Evangelism has announced plans for its annual Disciple Making Church Conference.
The 2017 conference–based on John 15:4 and titled “Abide in Me … A Spiritual Purging”–is designed to introduce participants to a variety of spiritual practices and help them live fuller mental and spiritual lives in order to bear more fruit for Jesus Christ and Christ’s church. The conference will be held January 16-19, 2017, at the TradeWinds Island Grand Resort, St. Pete Beach, Florida.