As a lifelong advocate of the connectional church, the Rev. Ben Franklin Whitfield might never have expected that this denominational doctrine would one day prove indispensable to him at his own time of greatest need.
Samuel Polanco is no stranger to the power of walls — especially their potential to exclude and keep people like him from being their best selves. But the 2022 graduate of the Menaul School — a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)-related college preparatory school in Albuquerque, New Mexico — credits his educational experience as being instrumental in breaking down many barriers.
When we gather with friends and family at Christmas, we celebrate the many gifts that we have both given and received. Looking toward the Star of Bethlehem, we give thanks for the blessings of the past year and anticipate a future filled with hope and possibility. We live in hope that the Christmas gift we offer is exactly what that special person has been hoping for. Yet for those of us celebrating Advent’s expectation, we know that the only perfect gift ever given is the one we receive in Jesus Christ.
Together with her husband, Dr. Gordon Govens, the Rev. Ruth-Aimée Belonni-Rosario Govens has led the Presbyterian Pan American School in Kingsville, Texas, for the past two years or so, helping to prepare 90 international students each year for lives of Christian leadership in the global community. PPAS is among the institutions supported by the Christmas Joy Offering.
As he strode purposefully down Broadway against the cold, New York City air last Sunday, the Rev. Chris Shelton had a song in his heart.
One he had written himself.
Gifts given through the Christmas Joy Offering go in part to the Assistance Program of the Board of Pensions, and two officials there were happy to appear on Between Two Pulpits Monday to talk about ways that assistance is being enhanced beginning Jan. 1, 2022, to benefit even more workers in ministries affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
Together with her husband, Dr. Gordon Govens, the Rev. Ruth-Aimée Belonni-Rosario Govens has led the Presbyterian Pan American School in Kingsville, Texas, for the past 18 months or so, helping to prepare 90 international students each year for lives of Christian leadership in the global community. PPAS is among the institutions supported by the Christmas Joy Offering.
Like most people, the Rev. Meg Shoeman subscribed to the myth that clergy are superhuman.
“People tend to think if you’re in ministry in some capacity that you’re probably fine and you don’t have any needs,” said Shoeman, “but we’re all human and needs do arise.”
Just as they did for her.
At first, nothing about Stillman College reminded Johnykqua Bevans and Rayondre Roberts of their home on the tropical island of Grand Bahama: not Alabama, not the food, not their classmates and not the as-yet unfamiliar Presbyterian tradition in which the college is steeped.
But then there was the choir.
