Some Sundays, five or 10 people show up for worship at Yaphank Presbyterian Church on Long Island, N.Y. The church, established in 1851, has 41 members on its rolls. The average Sunday attendance is about 15.Yet the session of the historic church, whose sanctuary was destroyed by a December 2013 fire, has embraced the invitation to become a Matthew 25 church. Its chosen focus is eradicating systemic poverty. Read more »
May 3, 2019
A small church with a big passion to actively engage in the community
Some Sundays, five or 10 people show up for worship at Yaphank Presbyterian Church on Long Island, N.Y. The church, established in 1851, has 41 members on its rolls. The average Sunday attendance is about 15.Yet the session of the historic church, whose sanctuary was destroyed by a December 2013 fire, has embraced the invitation to become a Matthew 25 church. Its chosen focus is eradicating systemic poverty. Read more »
Art Cullen, winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize and the editor of the Storm Lake (Iowa) Times, will speak at Central Presbyterian Church in Des Moines at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 30. 
The Rev. Cheryl Barnes was at her computer getting ready to go teach Bible school when the Lord sent an email. 
With the many conflicts causing suffering around the world as well as the troublesome policies in the United States, our brothers and sisters in South Sudan are oftentimes forgotten. Church leaders there are working faithfully to shore up South Sudan’s fragile peace and head off new humanitarian crises, even as international agencies find evidence of continuing abuses. 
How do you feel about the communications you receive from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)? Do you struggle to find what you’re looking for on pcusa.org? Do you share information you receive with friends and colleagues on social media? Do you get too many e-newsletters or maybe none at all? 
One day ahead of Thursday’s National Day of Prayer, the Rev. Chris Iosso urged worshipers during the weekly Chapel service at the Presbyterian Center Wednesday to work toward a new ecumenism that bridges the widening gap between humanity and the planet they inhabit.“The climate crisis gives urgency to ecumenism, and makes divisions more problematic than ever,” said Iosso, coordinator of the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy. “It is not a struggle we can overcome on a national basis.” 
At age 16, Kalief Browder found himself on New York’s Rikers Island, awaiting trial for a crime he says he didn’t commit. Returning from a party in the Bronx, Browder was accused of stealing a backpack holding a credit card, an iPod Touch, a camera and $700. At his arraignment, he was charged with second-degree robbery. Bail was set at $3,000. Browder didn’t have the ability to “bond out” — pay the fee. He would spend the next three years in jail before being released, with his charges dropped. 
The carnations were placed in vases on a table near the front door of the church. As the congregation filed out of the sanctuary and shook hands with the pastor, members of the worship committee handed carnations to women in celebration of Mother’s Day. Not all women received a flower, however. Only those who had children. I still remember the look of pain on one woman’s face who was denied a flower. She was approaching her mid-40s, yet she still clung to hope that she would have a child one day. I was still just a seminary student, but that began my questioning as to how the church should handle Mother’s Day (and Father’s Day, for that matter). 
The Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis was delivering an impromptu sermon at the end of a long, hot day riding around Western Kentucky on a bumpy bus when she turned to the story of a leper who approached Jesus.“The leper said, ‘If you choose, you can heal me,’” Theoharis said. “’If you choose, you can heal me.’“Now that leper had gone a lot of places up to that point. He went to the HMOs of his day, and they turned him away. He went to the hospitals nearby, they had closed down. But Jesus traveled around the land opening up free healthcare clinics, never charged a co-pay. The leper said to Jesus, ‘If you choose, you can heal me.’“The question before us this afternoon is, ‘Do we choose?’” 
Dr. Love Sechrest, Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty at Columbia Theological Seminary, announced Tuesday that Wonchul Shin will be called as the Visiting Professor of Ethics and Theology, and Louisville Institute Postdoctoral Fellow effective Aug. 26.