Make A Donation
Click Here >
covid-19
When the pandemic stopped her choir from singing, Kathie Mades used her creativity to write a children’s book to teach empathy and compassion.
Over the course of the last year, churches across the globe have wondered what coming out on the other side of the COVID-19 pandemic looks like. Many have wondered how to make the best decisions for their worshipping communities. As the pandemic pushed churches to make difficult decisions, many churches saw an opportunity to try new things.
Long before the pandemic and the social upheaval of 2020 following the murder of George Floyd, the church had been preparing and mentoring leaders who could lead communities in faithful means of protest. The New Poor People’s Campaign, co-chaired by Presbyterian pastor the Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis and Disciples of Christ pastor the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, is one such visible and contemporary example of this work.
During the COVID-19 crisis, Lonce Bailey, a university professor and member of Shepherdstown Presbyterian Church in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, discovered that the church building really does matter to many people.
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Office of Christian Formation (OCF) recently introduced two new resources designed to help congregations, church leaders, communities and organizations navigate the post pandemic world.
“We started our curriculum discussions asking what kind of person do we want to graduate,” said the Rev. Dr. Jacqueline Lapsley, Dean and Vice President of Academic Affairs and Professor of Old Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary.
That sort of design thinking has led to curriculum innovations across Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) theological institutions including Columbia Theological Seminary, Princeton Theological Seminary, and Union Presbyterian Seminary.
During the year 2020, Knox Presbyterian Church in Baltimore faced both the start of the pandemic in March and the loss of its pastor, the Rev. Michael Moore, who accepted a call from the denominational headquarters in September.
The offices of Women’s Leadership Development and Leadership Development for Leaders of Color of the Racial Equity & Women’s Intercultural Ministries are hosting three upcoming listening circles on
July 15 at 7p.m. Eastern Time
August 18 at 2 p.m. Eastern Time
September 14 at 4 p.m. Eastern Time
Congregations are discovering what “together” means and what being there for one another can look like in a post-pandemic world.
To vax or not to vax has become a life-and-death question for millions of Americans — especially people of color. Tuesday’s panel put on by Union Presbyterian Seminary’s Center for Social Justice and Reconciliation and the Katie Geneva Cannon Center for Womanist Leadership explored ways communities of color can use trusted voices to both drive up vaccination rates and boost access to health care proved both engaging and informative. Watch the hour-long discussion here or here.
