From Sept. 1 to Oct. 4, Christians around the world celebrate the Season of Creation. Some of us pray, some of us do hands-on projects, some of us advocate. We all protect creation. It’s powerfully good work that’s urgently needed. Read more »
August 21, 2019
Hillsborough Presbyterian Church works to take care of the Earth
From Sept. 1 to Oct. 4, Christians around the world celebrate the Season of Creation. Some of us pray, some of us do hands-on projects, some of us advocate. We all protect creation. It’s powerfully good work that’s urgently needed. Read more »
“At a time when fear and uncertainty are looming in the air, at a time when emotions have overtaken reason, at a time when the sacredness of human life has been defiled, at a time when we are creating more enemies than friends, at a time when division seems to be destroying the unity of our people, and at a time when we do not seem to trust each other, we are here again to remind all Presbyterians and the people of Cameroon of our collective responsibility and role as a Church and as a people in these trying moments of our nation and history.” Thus, starts the Oct. 10, 2017 official statement of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon (PCC) concerning the crisis in Cameroon, often referred to as the Anglophone Crisis. 
During her nearly nine years as pastor of Washington Shores Presbyterian Church in Orlando, Florida, the Rev. Erika Rembert Smith has placed the Great Commission at the front and center of her vision for the congregation. 
In his poem “In the Soul of the Serene Disciple” Trappist monk Thomas Merton flips the reader between two vantage points of a shared condition — one in which “poverty is a success” and one where it is “no achievement.” That poverty could be a success in any way is a difficult premise to accept. When we think of poverty, we think about a crushing system of social and economic deprivation that isolates and destroys lives. That is a reality for too many and a challenge that the church is called to help address. But the discipline of Christian poverty, in which a disciple might willingly give up a life of excess and extravagance in order to better focus on all that God provides, is another thing altogether. 
What’s the use of the Social Creed for the 21st Century? Yes, the Social Creed gets cited in books that deal with ecumenical social ethics, but how many read those after they leave seminary? Well, actually, Cynthia Rigby’s book “Promotion of Social Righteousness” (2010) did get broader circulation, and it reprints the Social Creed as the key illustration of what the church stands for in its social witness. Her title is one of the six “Great Ends of the Church” and it means both social justice and public integrity. 
When talking about his work, Mark Hare knows how to capture your attention.
A mission co-worker in the Dominican Republic, he was sharing the details of his project with Mouvman Peyizan Papay (MPP), a grassroots organization in Haiti. At the heart of his presentation was the goal of introducing Community Health Evangelism (CHE) in the ecovillages built in Papaye, about 75 miles north of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. 
The Presbyterian Church of the Siuslaw in Florence, Oregon, displays a large Celtic cross on its property. That cross inspired a unique ministry for longtime church member Andy J. LaTomme Jr. For nearly three decades, the 99-year-old has been giving out wooden replicas of that cross to church members and visitors alike. 
In the minds of many Presbyterians, the concept of stewardship is forever linked to the church’s fall fundraising campaign to support the budget. This multi-week drive culminates in “Stewardship Sunday,” during which pledge cards are brought forward and prayers are offered that the money represented there will be enough. This process makes some people so uncomfortable that they confess to skipping church, claiming, “I don’t want to listen to talk about money for an entire month.” 
The Board of Trustees of Columbia Theological Seminary has appointed David Huffine, a certified fundraising executive, to be the seminary’s vice president for Advancement, according to a seminary news release. 
Until last weekend, the Rev. Sean Chow, the Western region and training associate for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s 1001 new worshiping community movement, had never someone so little being baptized.