The National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA joins its hearts and voice to those who have suffered in the mass shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand. This horrible tragedy is a toxic combination of gun violence, Islamophobia, anti-immigrant xenophobia, and white racist nationalism. Read more »
March 18, 2019
National Council of Churches calls for global effort to combat racist violence
The National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA joins its hearts and voice to those who have suffered in the mass shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand. This horrible tragedy is a toxic combination of gun violence, Islamophobia, anti-immigrant xenophobia, and white racist nationalism. Read more »
To many people, Rosa Parks’ life was one day long, David LaMotte says. 
The work involved with creating and implementing your Presbyterian church’s stewardship program just got a whole lot easier.Stewardship Navigator, an educational website launched this month by the Presbyterian Foundation, is a free online tool for Presbyterian congregations. You can find it at stewardshipnavigator.com. 
Concluding its meeting Saturday, directors of the Board of Pensions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) voted a 3.6 percent experience apportionment for the Pension Plan for the seventh consecutive year, despite tumultuous market. 
God of our weary years and our silent tears,We are shattered by the deaths of 49 Muslim neighbors in New Zealand, cut down in the midst of Friday prayers.We are horrified, angry, despairingWe struggle with a knowledge that our prayers alone are not enough our silence in the face of intolerance and fear is complicity a fear that we do not know a way forward that will help an emptiness: we have been here before, too many times,and we know we will walk this bloodied path again. 
Why is it important for church leaders to have a voice in public media? This is among the topics to be explored by seminary students, pastors, church communicators and others during a March 20 event jointly sponsored by the Presbyterian Writers Guild and Columbia Theological Seminary. 
To hurt the Earth is to hurt the poor, Gordon Aeschliman wrote in “The Green Bible: Understanding the Bible’s Powerful Message for the Earth.” He added: “It shouldn’t be surprising that creation and justice are inextricably linked” and that to keep the garden, as humans are told to do in Genesis 2, is the same notion as the Numbers 6:24 blessing: The Lord bless you and keep you. 
Westminster John Knox Press has announced that “Resist and Persist: Faith and the Fight for Equality” by Erin Wathen and “Transforming: The Bible and the Lives of Transgender Christians” by Austen Hartke have been recognized as finalists in the 21st annual Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards. 
Sara and I live on the edge of Jerusalem. Often, our paths take us near the Mount of Olives. Tourists and pilgrims come from all corners of the globe and pose for photos on a terrace there, with the breathtaking sight of the “Holy City” in the background. 
Their amazement at the Secretary-General of the United Nations’ openness to questions from the crowd was second only to their amazement that they got in.