Ellen Smith, World Mission’s regional liaison for Eastern Europe, recently returned from a visit with partners in Germany, the Czech Republic and Poland to see firsthand how they are coping with the enormous task of caring for refugees fleeing Ukraine and how the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) can accompany them. Read more »
July 19, 2022
‘The sensitivity of the people I met for these refugees was just really impressive’
Ellen Smith, World Mission’s regional liaison for Eastern Europe, recently returned from a visit with partners in Germany, the Czech Republic and Poland to see firsthand how they are coping with the enormous task of caring for refugees fleeing Ukraine and how the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) can accompany them. Read more »
Many readers know of someone in their family, congregation or community who has been impacted by domestic violence in one way or another. To address the topic that is not often discussed or preached from many pulpits on Sunday mornings, the Hispanic/Latino-a Intercultural Congregational Support Ministry created the Gospel, Pastoral Care, and Domestic Violence series, an educational encounter series that addresses domestic violence and the faith community. 
First things first.
During her appearance last week as the guest on “A Matter of Faith: A Presby Podcast,” Margaret Mwale, Associate for Community Development and Constituent Relations for the Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People, offered up an SDOP definition for podcast hosts the Rev. Lee Catoe and Simon Doong. 
Union Presbyterian Seminary has been awarded a $50,000 grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to plan and develop a program that focuses on nurturing and sustaining the preaching of pastors who are in the first seven years of their preaching ministries after graduation. 
The Rev. Adriene Thorne, leader of First Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn, has been voted in by the congregation of The Riverside Church in the City of New York as the eighth senior minister in the church’s history. Thorne is the first African American woman to serve as senior minister. She will begin her post on Oct. 1. 
What keeps you hopeful? That’s a question Presbyterian News Service posed to the Rev. Dr. Chris Hedges, Minister of Social Witness and Prison Ministry at Second Presbyterian Church in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Hedges has been teaching courses in a college degree program offered by Rutgers University in the New Jersey prison system since 2013. 
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has signed onto an interfaith letter urging Congress to make “stopping the bloodshed” in Ukraine a top priority as reports of injuries, death, displacement and destruction from the war with Russia continue. 
The Rev. Dr. Judy Fentress-Williams, the McClendon Scholar in Residence this summer at New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C., said at the outset of her captivating online talk Thursday that she was workshopping material eventually intended for a commentary on Genesis. 
As they did earlier this year, three thought leaders in the Synod of the Sun joined their hearts, minds and voices this week while recording the most recent edition of Sunspots, the synod’s podcast. Listen to their conversation here. 
Marking the Matthew 25 millennial milestone was Highland Presbyterian Church in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.