Woods Memorial Presbyterian Church in Severna Park, Maryland, is also known as “The Church on the Hill.” Hilltop views can be lovely when the sun is out, but when it rains a large volume of runoff runs down the hill and into the storm drains. The stormwater runoff then flows into Cypress Creek and eventually into the Chesapeake Bay. While there are underground cisterns collecting water from the church’s roof, the congregation felt they could do more to lessen the environmental impact the runoff was having on the bay.
Last September, the Youth Advocates Through Theater Arts, a group of thespians I work with, organized a webinar titled HIV HIV Haway (Haway is a local term that means “leave”). YATTA had partnered with the U.N. Population Fund, the Center for Health Solutions and Innovations Philippines and Y-PEER Pilipinas to promote HIV Combination Prevention. The initiative came with the assessment that the Philippines had one of the fastest-growing HIV epidemics in the world, mostly affecting young, marginalized people not easily reached by mainstream health services and programs.
Human beings often forget that all life is sacred.
On this day in 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) declared the sacredness of all human life due to its “inherent dignity” and its “equal and inalienable rights.”
Add churches — and more and more Black churches — to the list of organizations that are seen by social impact investors as financial anchors in their neighborhoods and communities.
Posting your ministry happenings on social media is great, but it can be even better (translation: more folks seeing what you have posted) with the use of a hashtag.
My Christmas ritual is viewing “Black Nativity: A Gospel Christmas Musical Experience.” Adapted from Langston Hughes’ Christmas classic “Black Nativity,” the production is a powerful rendition of the Christmas story. It is filled with thrilling voices, exciting dance, spectacular costumes and glorious gospel music. Hughes originally wrote “Black Nativity” in 1961, at the height of the civil rights movement; it is more moving with every production.
When heavy rain led to flooding in the Mississippi Delta in June, members of First Presbyterian Church of Cleveland, Mississippi, were among the volunteers who streamed into nearby Mound Bayou to help residents begin the process of recovery.
About 20 minutes into a recent webinar on prophetic preaching, the Rev. Dr. Kenyatta Gilbert paused to answer questions. After one about preaching in “purple” churches (a mix of political conservatives and progressives in the pews), Gilbert got this question from one of the 30 participants, a pastor also serving a purple congregation: Have I spent enough time understanding the complexity of the lamentation of these people?
Over the course of the past year, churches across the globe have wondered what coming out on the other side of the COVID-19 pandemic looks like. Many have wondered how to make the best decisions for their worshiping communities. As the pandemic pushed churches to make difficult decisions, many churches saw an opportunity to try new things.
