The coronavirus has inflicted any number of health crises on Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) congregations — but in some tangible ways it’s also enhanced their ecclesial health. Read more »
April 23, 2020
Despite the pandemic, churches find they’re maintaining ecclesial health
The coronavirus has inflicted any number of health crises on Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) congregations — but in some tangible ways it’s also enhanced their ecclesial health. Read more »
The Rev. Dr. Ray Jones III turned to history and the cinema to open a conversation about congregational vitality at the February meeting of the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board.
Jones was 9 years old, he said, when he first encountered the story of Harriet Tubman, who saved more than 70 people from slavery. But the scene he invoked was from the Oscar-nominated biopic “Harriet,” which came out last fall. Tubman is ready to flee her home and master for the first time, and she goes to her church, where her pastor counsels her. 
In the latest installments of Everyday God-Talk, So Jung Kim, the associate for Theology in the Presbyterian Mission Agency, hosts a two-part video conversation about what the late Presbyterian minister and television host Fred Rogers might say and do during the current pandemic. 
May Friendship Day, a Church Women United initiative, is most often celebrated on the first Friday of the month of May around a theme of shared concern for Christian women and their communities. The predecessor to May Friendship Day, May Fellowship Day, began in 1933 after two Christian women’s groups planned gatherings based on similar concerns: child health and children of migrant families. These groups united and over the years eventually became what we now know as Church Women United. The May celebration has been continually observed since 1933; in 1999, Church Women United changed the name from May Fellowship Day to May Friendship Day. 
“Crocodile’s Crossing: A Search for Home,” a brand-new picture book from Flyaway Books, sensitively exposes readers to the struggles faced by refugees. 
As technology continues to impact and influence our daily lives, Flyaway Books is proud to release “Babbit and Joan, a Rabbit and a Phone,” a new picture book that provides a balanced message about healthy technology usage. 
When asked how the current pandemic changes the way he interprets Scripture, the Rev. Dr. Brian K. Blount speaks of hope in the midst of struggle. 
Part 2 of the “A Year with Matthew for a Matthew 25 Church” resource is now available for the nearly six months between Trinity Sunday on June 7 and Reign of Christ Sunday on Nov. 22. 
Take a minute to look back on your life. Who all have you lived with? In the earliest parts of our lives, we might live with parents or grandparents or other caring adults. Perhaps siblings. Over the years, we might live with friends and extended family, family of choice or even sometimes with strangers. And sometimes we might find ourselves living alone. 
In 2012, the General Assembly made a bold commitment — to create an environment within the denomination that would lead to the flourishing of the existing church and the birth of at least 1,001 new communities of worship and witness. The Presbyterian Mission Agency went to work creating a system of resources to support this call to equip presbyteries, help potential leaders discern God’s call, develop a system of grants, build leadership capacity, and create a network of coaches prepared to accompany a new worshiping community through all the stages of development. Establishing partnerships and collaboration with other North American denominations, the reach of these resources extends far beyond the PC(USA).