As the United States approaches the anniversary of the mass shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, Presbyterian Peace Fellowship announced this week that its 2019 Peaceseeker Award honors Lincoln Park Presbyterian Church and First United Church of Oak Park, both in the Chicago metropolitan area, for exemplary ministries to prevent future gun violence. Read more »
December 6, 2019
Presbyterian Peace Fellowship honors Chicago congregations for gun violence prevention
As the United States approaches the anniversary of the mass shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, Presbyterian Peace Fellowship announced this week that its 2019 Peaceseeker Award honors Lincoln Park Presbyterian Church and First United Church of Oak Park, both in the Chicago metropolitan area, for exemplary ministries to prevent future gun violence. Read more »
I’ve been spending a lot of time with Genesis 11:1–9 lately, or the story of Shinar and the so-called “Tower of Babel.” It’s a popular Sunday school lesson, an etiology we recount to children to explain why humanity is so varied in language and location. We don’t engage it as much when we get older. For that reason, how we read and are taught the story as children often stays with us well into adulthood. 
The Rev. Everdith (“Evie”) Landrau has been named the new coordinator of the Young Adult Volunteer program. 
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) partners from the Assembly of Evangelical (Presbyterian) Churches in Iraq are sharing, in their own words, about the Matthew 25 ministries to which they have been called. 
Three churches in the Presbytery of Philadelphia were at a crossroads — each considering their future for different reasons. 
A new downloadable resource from the Office of Theology & Worship provides analysis and theological reflection on the Reclaiming Jesus Statement. Signed in 2018 by leaders of several denominations and organizations, the statement and ensuing movement calls on Christians in the United States to “reclaim Jesus” by focusing on what followers of Jesus are required to do. 
Once rescued, survivors of human trafficking are often reluctant to talk about their experiences. That is usually out of self-protection for fear of being blamed by family and community for the exploitation and abuse they’ve suffered at the hands of bosses and employment agencies. But that is not so for Juliette (not her real name). Out of concern for other women who may fall victim to profiteers, she even agreed to have her account recorded, trusting that we would share her story with sensitivity. 
When more than 50 people representing 31 congregations gathered to prepare for the Presbytery of New York City’s launch of the Vital Congregations initiative, the Rev. Robert Foltz-Morrison, the executive presbyter, felt the Spirit moving. 
With political campaigns nationwide ramping up for the 2020 elections, two staffers at the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations recently reflected on the varied work they put in each day. 
A congregation without a building but with a proven record of innovation for serving the Rochester, New York, community — especially those living in the city’s margins — has accepted the Matthew 25 invitation.