The Rev. Ryan Althaus, the founder of Sweaty Sheep and the Hunger Advocate for the Presbytery of San Jose, convened a thoughtful and moving webinar over the weekend on mental illness and the church. His first-person story is told with candor and grace in the sidebar below. Read more »
August 17, 2020
Mental health from the trenches
The Rev. Ryan Althaus, the founder of Sweaty Sheep and the Hunger Advocate for the Presbytery of San Jose, convened a thoughtful and moving webinar over the weekend on mental illness and the church. His first-person story is told with candor and grace in the sidebar below. Read more »
At 7 p.m. Eastern Time on Sunday, Aug. 30, the Presbytery of Santa Fe will host an online memorial service for the Rev. Richard Avery, half of the Avery and Marsh songwriting duo who published more than 150 hymns, carols and anthems. 
The plight of Black and brown farmworkers during the global pandemic will be the focus of an Aug. 27 webinar by the Presbyterian Hunger Program and the Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People. 
If you’re looking for a congregation that personifies the spirit of Matthew 25 congregational vitality, you will find one in White Rock Presbyterian Church (WRPC) in White Rock, an unincorporated community of nearly 6,000 people in Los Alamos County in north-central New Mexico. 
U.S. Senator Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat and a longtime Presbyterian, doesn’t hesitate to share his faith — even in front of a pair of Presbyterian pastors and an online audience containing dozens of his fellow Presbyterians. 
So many things are “different” in 2020, and different can be a wonderful opportunity for transformation — which is something we heard quite a bit about during day one of Gender Summit 3, coordinated by ISAAC (Innovative Space for Asian American Christianity) and held virtually. 
When a mission co-worker is invited to speak at a Sunday service, the road that takes them there and the service itself can look very different than what we are used to. 
Church and worshiping community leaders, are you looking for ways to support families in faith formation at home during a time of pandemic? Would you like your community to have access to a children’s Bible, hymnal and prayers in their home? 
How would the political landscape change if the needs and demands of poor and low-income voters were better represented in the electoral process?
That’s what a report issued this week by The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, attempts to answer. 
While the apocalyptic genre might seem relatable in some ways during these times we’re living in, the characters I have found myself relating to most during the pandemic are those found in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s account of life in 19th century America that she writes about in “Little House on the Prairie.” Letting out the hem of last year’s dress to make do for a growing child totally makes sense now. Who needs new clothes when you never leave home? Sitting around the fire at night for a sing-along with Pa while Ma does the mending?
And then there’s Sundays.