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Congregational Vitality
A Garden Remembrance Memorial has been installed on the front courtyard of the Presbyterian Church of Dover, 54 S. State St., Dover, Delaware. It’s a temporary tribute, a space for healing, reflection and prayer to honor the lives of more than 1,600 Delawareans lost to COVID-19 from March 2020 to the end of May 2021.
I donned a new T-shirt — imprinted with Springdale Presbyterian Church on the front and the watchwords “open, loving, thinking, doing” on the back — as I headed out a few years ago to walk the eight blocks from my office to the staging area. I was about to march in my first Pride Parade.
As the COVID-19 virus spread across the country, statistics show that it impacted African Americans at a disproportionally high rate. In hot spots like New York, Detroit, New Orleans, and Chicago, Blacks are dying at alarmingly high rates.
Two years ago, before the pandemic, a pastor at a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) church in Texas was thinking about retiring at age 70. Now he hopes he can make it for 17 more months to reach the retirement age of 66 years and 4 months.
John Knox Presbyterian Church in Louisville held a dry run Sunday as it seeks to reopen for in-person worship on Mother’s Day, May 9. A dozen of us — all fully vaccinated — masked up and sat only in the pews marked with green streamers to take in the dry run, worship our risen Savior and make suggestions for next week’s opener.
Highlighting worship efforts during the pandemic ranging from high-tech and labor-intensive to one church’s “Call ‘Em All” telephonic approach, Thursday’s webinar on Hybrid Ministry: The Scattered Church was a balm for clergy and worship leaders who’ve struggled mightily with pandemic-induced issues including pastoral care, trauma and self-care.
In the spirit of the Easter season, First Presbyterian Church in Greensboro, North Carolina has put together its first ever dancing music video. After an opening shot of the church’s Gothic Revival cathedral in the city’s historic Fischer Park District, pastors Jill Duffield, Dolly Jacobs and Neil Dunnavant are shown dancing in their robes to the music of “High Hopes” by “Panic! At the Disco.”
Seven presbyteries and one congregation have been selected to be part of the third wave of the Vital Congregations Initiative in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A).
It’s the Year of Leader Formation in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and on Wednesday about 225 Presbyterians celebrated by tuning in to hear the Rev. Michael Gehrling deliver an engaging 90-minute talk on identifying and cultivating one’s individual talents and then coalescing those talents in a group setting, such as a church session, board of deacons or ministry team.
After seeing the Gallup Poll study, which came out during Holy Week, that for the first time church membership in the U.S. has declined to less than half the population, Presbyterian News Service reached out to the Rev. Brian Heron for some insight. As Presbyter for Vision and Mission in the Presbytery of the Cascades, located in Portland, Oregon, Heron lives and works in one of the least religious cities in the nation.
