The Rev. Kamal Hassan used a cartoon to open his turn to lead Saturday’s edition of The Preaching Lab, a five-part online workshop offered by New Hope Presbyterian Church in Anaheim, California.
Applications from interested presbyteries are now being accepted for the third wave of the Vital Congregations Initiative. And for the first time since the initiative began with a pilot program in 2017, individual churches may also apply — if they have the blessing of their presbytery.
The Preaching Lab, a five-part online workshop offered by New Hope Presbyterian Church in Anaheim, California, through a grant by the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship in Grand Rapids, Michigan, opened Saturday by asking participants to define what preaching means to them. Their definitions included:
Jazzy Christmas, a highly-anticipated yuletide concert put on each year by New Hope Presbyterian Church in Anaheim, California, can’t, because of the pandemic, be held in person this month.
For more than a decade, the Rev. Dr. Kevin E. Frederick has been a leading figure in the Waldensian movement in the United States. On March 30, 2021, he will be retiring as pastor of the Waldensian Presbyterian Church in Valdese, North Carolina. The following interview, courtesy of the American Waldensian Society, is one of several interviews with Frederick that will be published between now and in March 2021.
Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia, has received a grant of $969,528 from Lilly Endowment Inc. to help establish the “reKindle: Congregational Development in a Post COVID-19 Era” program through its Center for Lifelong Learning.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s preeminent voice on infectious diseases, paid a house call via Zoom Tuesday evening on Roxbury Presbyterian Church in Boston, dispensing 30 minutes of wisdom and encouragement to a crowd of up to 2,300 registered viewers.
During the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) #GivingTuesday 12-hour digital telethon set for Dec. 1, the Rev. Dr. Kathryn Threadgill and team will celebrate their Vital Congregations ministry. Along with dismantling structural racism and eradicating systemic poverty, building congregation vitality are the three foci of the denomination’s Matthew 25 invitation.
In 2000, eight retirees led an effort to plant a new Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) congregation in the mountains of north Georgia. Today, Faith Presbyterian Church – Blue Ridge has 159 members and is one of the fastest-growing congregations in Cherokee Presbytery and the Synod of the South Atlantic. Last year, Sunday morning worship attendance averaged 109.
Each Wednesday at 3 p.m. Eastern Time, the office of Vital Congregations of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) hosts an online “vital conversation” via Zoom and Facebook Live. The current series is focusing on the Seven Marks of Vital Congregations, such as Wednesday’s conversation “All Voices on Deck,” which examined the role of the church’s translation services ministry in empowering servant leaders for the church.
