Picking up on the NEXT Church national gathering theme, “Breaking, Blessing, Building,” Dr. Christine Hong wondered how people will come out of “survival mode” inflicted by the pandemics of coronavirus and racial injustice and rally for a future of blessing and building.
When the togetherness of a worshiping community is ripped out, churches have to create doorways for giving, said Karl Mattison in the second of three Presbyterian Foundation Day of Learning events: Virtual Campaigns and Online Giving.
The Rev. Aisha Brooks-Lytle enjoys nothing more than cheering on the Herculean online worship efforts being made each week during the pandemic by churches of the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta, where she’s the executive presbyter.
Since conflict and violence began in Syria in 2011, at least two-thirds of Christians and two-thirds of health professionals have left the country, according to the Jinishian Memorial Program (JMP), a long-time partner of World Mission and Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA).
During a “Church Leaders Vaccine and Regathering” webinar held Wednesday, Massachusetts pastor Meagan Manas laid out ideas for the care of clergy souls while Sean McHugh, a registered nurse in psychiatric medicine, took care of commonly-asked questions about the coronavirus vaccine.
After comparatively low rates of COVID-19 infection throughout most of 2020, Southern Africa experienced dramatically increased caseloads in the wake of the holiday season.
Nearly a year ago, Doylestown Presbyterian Church in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, accepted the invitation to become a Matthew 25 church. The predominately white congregation chose to concentrate its efforts on dismantling structural racism and its intersectionality with poverty. Members and friends knew they wanted to learn how to be allies with people of color who have been so adversely impacted by these issues, two of the three Matthew 25 foci (the other is building congregational vitality).
Member communions of the National Council of Churches contributed to “Words of Comfort, Prayers for the People,” a 21-minute video released on YouTube and Facebook on Wednesday.
