When the Rev. Carol DeVaughn welcomed the congregation of Faith Des Peres Presbyterian Church to virtual worship on a recent Sunday, those watching could hardly believe what they were seeing. Read more »
June 12, 2020
After accident, ‘Surprise!’ from the pulpit pleases congregation members
When the Rev. Carol DeVaughn welcomed the congregation of Faith Des Peres Presbyterian Church to virtual worship on a recent Sunday, those watching could hardly believe what they were seeing. Read more »
“Racism … is an essential part of economic injustice and hierarchical visions that deny that all human beings were created in the image and likeness of God.” 
A little under a year after it launched, the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program’s gun violence prevention webinar series concluded Tuesday afternoon with a discussion about domestic violence. 
The third in the series “COVID At The Margins,” a discussion series by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) created to shed light on the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on communities of color and what the church and people of faith can do to respond, highlighted the impact of the virus on the LGBTQIA+ community. 
During the Vital Congregations lament worship service Wednesday, nearly 50 participants were asked if they were willing to weep if they saw a sibling in pain — or if they were just content to be a lens. 
The Rev. Morgan Schmidt serves First Presbyterian Church in Bend, Oregon, as the associate pastor of teens and 20-somethings. When she launched the Facebook site Pandemic Partners on March 12, little did she know the extraordinary impact that using crowdsourcing to help fill some of the needs brought on by the coronavirus would have on her Central Oregon community of about 98,000. 
As churches, worshiping communities and their leaders continue to grapple with the spread of COVID-19, some are finding ways to live into their commitment to the Matthew 25 invitation. 
G.W. Rolle, pastor of justice ministries at The Missio Dei, a new worshiping community in the Presbytery of Tampa Bay, was in his second week of a self-imposed quarantine. 
Remembering “the least of these” takes on greater significance during the coronavirus pandemic.
With many Americans losing the ability to work, school being canceled for millions of children, and child-care centers being shuttered in many places, the challenges of people already living on or near the edge of society become magnified. 
“I have faith that God will dry up the Rio Grande so that I may safely cross,” he said. He had been on the journey from Honduras to the U.S. for a month and a half when we met him in a migrant shelter in Arriaga, Mexico. His teenage son was traveling with him. He told us about the pressure on his son to join a gang and the lack of lawful means to support oneself in his nation. He talked of seeing people murdered in the street.