The Synod of the Covenant, in partnership with Alma College, Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary, and the Presbytery of Cincinnati, has received a grant of $1.25 million from Lilly Endowment Inc. to help establish the Cultivating the Gift of Preaching initiative. Read more »
November 6, 2023
The PC(USA)’s Synod of the Covenant is awarded a $1.25 million grant from the Lilly Endowment
The Synod of the Covenant, in partnership with Alma College, Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary, and the Presbytery of Cincinnati, has received a grant of $1.25 million from Lilly Endowment Inc. to help establish the Cultivating the Gift of Preaching initiative. Read more »
Leland Presbyterian Church in Mississippi welcomed four members of the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) National Response Team on Sunday, Oct. 29, as part of a commissioning ceremony for the church’s recently established disaster recovery volunteer host site as well as for the site’s coordinator. 
“People are looking for meaning in their lives,” said Nathan Heimer, who with his wife, Mindy, have found more success opening up deep conversations on a paddleboard, in a yoga class or in a coffee shop instead of a traditional church. That’s why the Heimers, started a paddleboard ministry named A Stoked Life in Colorado rather than waiting for people who have grown up in secular households or who have been hurt by the church to walk through a sanctuary door looking for a good sermon. They see themselves as a bridge between nature-lovers and communities that seek to be God’s love in the world. 
Registration is now open for the Spanish online Annual Event of the Association for Partners in Christian Education (APCE) to take place Jan. 24–27, 2024. The event coincides with APCE’s annual hybrid and in-person events hosted in St. Louis. The Presbyterian Mission Agency’s Office of Christian Education has made this event free to those who register through a partnership with Global Language Resources. All worship and plenary sessions and four workshops will be interpreted in Spanish. 
Pyoca Camp and Retreat Center, located in the Presbytery of Ohio Valley, announced this week that they received a $451,505 grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to launch an innovative day camp program for local youth. The program is funded through the Strengthening Youth Programs in Indiana initiative, which is aimed at improving the academic, physical and social well-being of young people, ages 5 through 18. 
Earlier this week, a Matthew 25 workshop on eradicating systemic poverty focused viewers’ attention on the importance of being willing to dig in “for the long haul” to help address deeply rooted problems in international communities. 
The PC(USA)’s Militarism Working Group has assembled resources that can aid congregations and individuals in reflecting on the costs of war this Veterans Day. 
As the preacher On All Saints’ Day during Chapel Worship held online for the PC(USA)’s national staff, the Rev. Dr. Andrew Pomerville offered up tender insights into some of the saints in his own life, including his father and a visiting scholar from India. 
After a summer of interviews, discernment, and prayer, Presbyterian Peace Fellowship introduces the Rev. Dr. Laurie Lyter Bright as its new executive director. She began her new duties on Oct. 23. 
An Action Alert calling for an immediate cease-fire in the war that’s raging in the Israel-Palestine region has been issued by the Presbyterian Office of Public Witness (OPW).