Racial Justice

Rock of ages

The Rev. Floretta Barbee-Watkins got off to a rocky start during Tuesday worship at the national gathering of NEXT Church.

The courage to connect

Two friends living in Cincinnati — the Rev. Troy Bronsink, a white Presbyterian pastor, and Pastor Daniel Hughes, who’s a black United Methodist clergyman  — have helped numerous Cincinnati-area residents to hold difficult, courageous conversations about race since 2017, when unrest in their city erupted following the death of an unarmed black youth at the hand of a white police officer.

Presbyterian campus ministry group makes a commitment to Matthew 25

The Presbyterian Campus Ministry at the University of Georgia (UGA) is not new. It’s been around since 1940 and housed in the current space since 1959, which served as a safe space for African American students during the tumultuous 1960s.

Pursuing justice, both locally and nationally

Alexis Presseau Maloof, who teaches English at a private Islamic school, is an engaged member of the United Presbyterian Church of Peoria in Peoria, Ill. Currently she is serving as a ruling elder in her church and was the co-chair of the Pastor Nominating Committee for a new pastor that just recently wrapped up. Maloof has also been a member of her congregation’s Missions Committee, taught adult education and led a racial justice book club discussion on Debby Irving’s book,  “Waking Up White.”

A journey of reconciliation leads to an apology

A formal apology by the Presbytery of Giddings-Lovejoy to African Americans for what the presbytery calls “the sin of slavery and its legacy” occurred this month following a “Journey of Reconciliation” last fall to two institutions in Montgomery, Alabama, dedicated to telling the stories of enslaved black people and those terrorized by lynching and humiliated by Jim Crow.

Presbyterian Center celebrates Black History Month

Carlton Johnson, an associate for Vital Congregations and a worship leader for the Black History Month service at the Presbyterian Center Wednesday, opened the service with a soulful rendition of the hymn “A Charge to Keep I Have.” The hymn served to remind worshipers that during the time of slavery, those enslaved were killed for knowing how to read — and therefore much of the communication had to be done through song.