The Rev. Dr. Chip Hardwick, director of Theology, Formation and Evangelism conducted a lively interview with the Rev. Dr. Doris García Rivera, president of the Seminario Evangélico de Puerto Rico (SEPR) on the PC(USA)’s Facebook page yesterday afternoon.
A $10,000 DREAM Grant check was presented to the Boriquen Synod in Puerto Rico to enhance the distance learning technologies at the Seminario Evangélico de Puerto Rico (SEPR). Tony De La Rosa, interim executive director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency, offered the check to SEPR President, Dr. Doris J. Garcia Rivera, during the afternoon plenary of the spring 2017 meeting of the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board (PMAB).
After months of effort, and a mandate by the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board, a comprehensive grant system has been implemented for the Presbyterian Mission Agency. The new processes have been in place since March 1, and are being further described to members of the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board (PMAB) meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico this week.
Each year, on a Sunday during Lent, Presbyterians take a day to celebrate the mission and ministry of the Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People (SDOP). For nearly 50 years SDOP has helped poor, oppressed, and disadvantaged communities by establishing partnerships within those communities to address issues such as mass incarceration, labor and worker rights, clean water and natural resources, youth empowerment, and ending the exploitation of immigrants.
The National Committee of the Self-Development of People wrapped up its first meeting of the year by voting to re-configure some of the processes of completing its work. Reduced giving and the retirements of nearly half the SDOP staff in 2016 have prompted the committee to make changes to better meet the needs of communities seeking assistance.
In the first full day of their meeting last week, members of the National Committee on the Self-Development of People threw the word “new” around quite often. During an opening Bible study, SDOP Coordinator Alonzo Johnson and Committee Chair Rebecca Reyes referred to Isaiah 43:16-21. In the scripture, God speaks of not dwelling on the past, but instructs followers to move forward.
Business is looking good for a group of Somali refugee women seeking to support their families in Columbus, Ohio. The group is part of the Capital Park Women’s Empowerment Project, working to give low income women an opportunity to forge their own path and market their business.
He’s only been on the job three months, but the Rev. Alonzo Johnson is already deep into the work of the Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People. For the past two years, Johnson served as mission associate with the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program.
The intersection of faith and art. That is what Rev. Shawna Bowman, cofounder of the Creation Lab calls this intentional space. “It grew out of a selfish desire of its creators to have and share a space that can serve as a creative outlet and safe space for experimentation,” says Bowman. “It’s about making, collaborating, and failing together.”
