Hagar’s Community Church, a 1001 New Worshiping Community in Olympia Presbytery located inside the Washington Corrections Center for Women (WCCW), is currently unable to meet for worship due to social distancing required inside the prison during the COVID-19 health crisis.
Refugees waiting for the possibility of resettlement go through an exhausting, disconcerting process which can take many years to navigate, usually while waiting in a dangerous place.
On Monday, pastors and other leaders from dozens of churches were eager to share their most recent virtual worshiping experiences from the day before, and the Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow was up to the task.
Three leaders from Falls Church Presbyterian Church in Virginia subtitled the NEXT Church national gathering workshop they offered on Tuesday “Practical Principles for Elder-Led Congregational Change,” and they delivered as advertised.
The NEXT Church national gathering roared to life Monday with heartfelt hymns of praise and powerful preaching from the organization’s director, the Rev. Jessica Tate.
When the Rev. Dr. Jeri Parris Perkins became pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Clinton, South Carolina, she knew the congregation needed to revitalize. It’s what the Pastor Nominating Committee was looking for when the church called her in 2014.
The Rev. Dr. Ray Jones III turned to history and the cinema to open a conversation about congregational vitality on the first day of the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board’s February meeting on Wednesday.
As Brian Frick, an associate for Christian Formation working with camp and conference ministries in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), began planning a retreat with Ghost Ranch leaders to see how they might learn from and align their work with mission initiatives of the Presbyterian Mission Agency, he began to ask questions.
When Gail Cafferata faced closing the church she pastored, her experience brought to mind a million questions about her call, leadership and future. Inspired by her experience and wanting to explore other pastors who were called to serve churches that closed, she embarked upon a sociological study, diving into the experiences of more than 130 pastors in five historically established denominations (Episcopal, Lutheran, United Methodist, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and United Church of Christ). Westminster John Knox Press is proud to announce the release of her book, “The Last Pastor: Faithfully Steering a Closing Church,” which explores the hard-won lessons of the pastors she interviewed about their journeys through church decline and closing.
Now retired after serving the First Presbyterian Church of Libertyville, Ill., the Rev. Roberta Dodds Ingersoll described during a workshop this week how congregants at First Church became more comfortable talking about their death, or that of a loved one.
