More than 100 members of Myers Park Presbyterian Church (MPCC) and the Charlotte community celebrated 75 years of ministry in Congo in November. The two-hour celebration included ministers, the church’s Congo Ministry Team, members of the Congolese community and church members and friends.
In November, the Presbytery of Milwaukee celebrated the completion of a two-year focus on Congregational Vitality during its final standing meeting of 2023.
The presbytery, which meets four times each year, structured its meetings over a two-year period to highlight and investigate one of the Seven Marks as described in the Vital Congregations Initiative.
World Interfaith Harmony Week is observed every year by the United Nations during the first week of February. It was unanimously adopted by the U.N. in 2010 and is based on the pioneering work of The Common Word initiative, which began in 2007. According to the website, the initiative “called for Muslim and Christian leaders to engage in a dialogue based on two common fundamental religious Commandments; Love of God, and Love of the Neighbour, without nevertheless compromising any of their own religious tenets.”
Technology has the power to connect people, but only when it is working and is scaled for growing with a community.
Recognizing how important technology is to spiritual leaders of communities, the Presbyterian Foundation has expanded its technology grant awards to include leaders of new worshiping communities this year.
U.S. Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, one of 11 Presbyterians in the Senate, recently spent an hour with the Rev. Jim Wallis talking about how his faith has helped carry him this far. Listen to his conversation with Wallis, director of Georgetown University’s Center on Faith + Justice, by going here. Coons appeared as part of the Center of Faith + Justice’s “Higher Calling” series.
Ghost Ranch Education & Retreat Center, related to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), has appointed David Evans as chief executive officer, effective Jan. 15.
“We have to be about the business of taking care of young people. It can’t be all about just us here within the church confines. It’s got to be about other people,” said the Rev. Dr. Ralph Galloway, co-pastor of Liberty Community Church.
The Rt. Rev. Sally Foster-Fulton, moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, recently took her turn in front of the “A Matter of Faith: A Presby Podcast” microphone, chatting with hosts Simon Doong and the Rev. Lee Catoe about some of the ways the “Mother Church” and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) are similar and yet different. Listen to their 53-minute conversation here. Foster-Fulton is introduced at the five-minute mark.
Ahead of the publication of their Westminster John Knox Press book “Wounded Pastors: Navigating Burnout, Finding Healing and Discerning the Future of Your Minister,” authors the Rev. Carol Howard and the Rev. Dr. James Fenimore told the hosts of the podcast “A Matter of Faith: A Presby Podcast” that one helpful step congregations can take to help ease the anxiety present in many congregations is to stop blaming their pastors for not doing enough.
