Presbyterian News Service

Intergenerational Valentine’s Day event celebrates women’s friendships

The last thing that Laura Raffle wants to do on Valentine’s Day is have dinner out at a crowded restaurant. “Although we of course recognize the holiday, I find Valentine’s Day to be a bit overrated in terms of romantic love,” says Raffle, a member of the 1,300-member First (Scots) Presbyterian Church in historic downtown Charleston, S.C. “What I really love is the fact that it’s a fun day for my kids to get a special treat and to make Valentine’s Day cards, especially my four-year-old daughter, who is just learning how to write. For me it’s all about showing my love

2020 Vision Team holds its first meeting in Texas

The 2020 Vision Team of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) met here last weekend to begin the work requested of them by the Way Forward Committee of the 222nd General Assembly (2016) in creating a vision statement for the denominatio

Rural Kentucky congregation opens its doors for community prayer service

The small town of Lebanon (pop. 5,800) sits 70 miles southeast of Louisville in the heart of central Kentucky. Surrounded by lush farmland, the area is known as a hub for bluegrass music, manufacturing facilities and bourbon production. It’s also home to United Presbyterian Church, which hosted a prayer service last Friday in response to President Donald Trump’s January 27 executive order on refugees and immigration.

Way Forward Commission receives updates from sub groups

The Way Forward Commission of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) met last night via conference call to discuss its members’ progress and continue mapping strategies for evaluation of and recommendations on the denomination’s structure.

Advocacy committees voice concerns over proposed PMA Board representation

In a letter issued today by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Advocacy Committee for Women’s Concerns (ACWC) and the Advocacy Committee for Racial Ethnic Concerns (ACREC), the groups challenged a recent proposal by the Governance Task Force (GTF) of the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board (PMAB) to dramatically reduce the board size and remove formal representation in advocacy groups.

Presbytery of New York City urges president to rescind order on refugees

The Presbytery of New York City, in solidarity with Rutgers Presbyterian Church and its partners assisting in the resettlement of Syrian refugees, approved a resolution yesterday “protest[ing] the deeply flawed, un-American and immoral Executive Order aimed against refugees of the Muslim faith.”

Top ten ‘spiritual and ethical’ films of 2016

Like other film critics, each year I compile a Top Ten Films list once the major films open at last in my city in “fly-over” Ohio. As in other years, my list differs greatly from others because the criteria are not primarily aesthetic, but spiritual and ethical.