I still remember the first words from the first church leader I met as I first arrived in Manila: “You are welcome here, but
you are not needed here.” Those words, spo0ken with wisdom and love almost two decades ago, would shape the course of my time as a Young Adult Volunteer (YAV) in the Philippines. I didn’t know it then, but that same sentiment shaped the YAV program at its inception. And it continues to guide our vision for the program as volunteers serve around the world and witness the holy ways the Spirit is leading them.
Fasting clergy and staff from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) joined with congregation and community members for a Jan. 18 vigil at a Wendy’s restaurant in Louisville. The witness was one of nearly five dozen taking place at Wendy’s restaurants across the U.S. on the National Day of Fasting and Witness. As many as 160 clergy and faith leaders took part in the fast.
To be relevant in the 21st century, the church must read Scripture differently — to determine who is left out of the biblical texts and reach out to those people, the Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson II told Seattle Presbytery on Jan. 16 in a thunderous sermon that electrified a full house at Mercer Island Presbyterian Church.
Women are in leadership roles throughout the church, serving as clergy, Christian educators, elders, deacons and as living testaments to our Brief Statement of Faith, which acknowledges that the Holy Spirit “calls women and men to all ministries of the Church.”
Westminster Presbyterian Church opened its spacious new wing in Minneapolis on Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, with more than 1,100 people celebrating the connection of their 121-year-old church to a new building full of sunlight and color.
With “home” as its theme, the 2018 Montreat College Conference (Jan. 2–5) urged students and their ministry leaders to consider the many ways the word impacts their lives. “What makes a place home? What does it mean to leave home? What does it mean to feel like you don’t have a home?” the conference introduction asked. “What about those who
do not have a home and cry out for justice and mercy?”
NO GUN RI, South Korea — In March 2015, the Rev. Ed Kang and the Rev. Earl Arnold of Cayuga-Syracuse Presbytery visited the No Gun Ri Peace Park, the site of a tragic killing of civilians in the early days of the Korean War. Deeply moved, they vowed to take action. Two years later they returned with the entire Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) standing alongside them.
Government leaders from several countries around the world are receiving mail from Presbyterian churches containing prints or paper cut-outs of red hands. It’s part of the Red Hand Campaign — an initiative to encourage countries to stop the practice of turning children into armed soldiers.
The Rev. Jimmie Hawkins packed his bags in early 2017, said goodbye to his North Carolina congregation at Covenant Presbyterian Church in New Hope Presbytery, and made his way to the nation’s capital as the new director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s Office of Public Witness. His new appointment coincided with the swearing in of a new U.S. president.
Samantha Williams’ passion for her organic pancake-mix business is not driven solely by entrepreneurial ambition. It is also fueled by her sense of Christian vocation, which began to form more than a decade ago while she served as a Young Adult Volunteer (YAV).
