In an effort to deepen its commitment to the Matthew 25 invitation, Anchorage Presbyterian Church in Louisville, Kentucky, has been holding a series of weekly sessions it’s calling A Place at the Table. Sunday’s discussion on affordable housing in and around Louisville featured Tony Curtis, executive director of the Metropolitan Housing Coalition. Curtis’ slides are here and his talk may be viewed here, along with a previous talk by retired attorney Bill Wilson about the history of housing and redlining in Louisville.
A Presbyterian delegation that will be taking part in a United Nations gathering on gender equality and environmental issues met online Friday for a virtual kickoff that included remarks by the Rev. Dr. Diane Moffett, president and executive director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency.
In the final of three forums celebrating Black History Month last week, the Rev. Dr. Alonzo Johnson, coordinator of the Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People (SDOP); the Rev. Carlton Johnson, coordinator of Vital Congregations; and Christian Brooks, the representative for domestic issues at the PC(USA)’s Office of Public Witness, addressed the 2022 theme “Resiliency to Recovery.”
Certain stories are unforgettable.
Like this one, which was first told by the Rev. Mary Kay Collins at First Presbyterian Church in Richmond, Virginia, in 2018. Before baptizing the sextuplets of Adeboye and Ajibola Taiwo, she spoke of the couple’s longing to have children. Introducing their story, she asked, “Is anything too wonderful, too great, too difficult or too tough for God?”
Two presbytery executives who have seen firsthand what the Matthew 25 invitation can do to make ministry and evangelism more effective and more inclusive joined the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s president and executive director, the Rev. Dr. Diane Moffett, Thursday for the second edition of Being Matthew 25. The conversation is hosted each month by the Rev. DeEtte Decker, the Mission Agency’s social media strategist. Watch Thursday’s episode here or here.
“How Long, Not Long” is the popular name given to the speech delivered by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the steps of the Alabama state Capitol in Montgomery on March 25, 1965. King delivered this speech after the completion of the march from Selma to Montgomery. When asked how long it would take to see social justice, King replied, “How long? Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
Because of the ongoing pandemic, the 2022 Presbyterian Youth Triennium, which had been scheduled for July 24-27 in Indianapolis, Indiana, has been canceled.
After discussing the proposed 2023-2024 Mission Work Plan in both small groups and all together Thursday, the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board will vote Friday on the plan that will guide much of the mission agency’s work as it seeks to take on additional areas of concentration while maintaining and expanding efforts regarding the three foci of the Matthew 25 invitation: building congregational vitality, dismantling structural racism and eradicating systemic poverty.
The Rev. Dr. John Cleghorn used skills honed as both journalist and banker — his jobs before hearing God’s call to ministry in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) — to write his first book, “Resurrecting Church: Where Justice and Diversity Meet Radical Welcome and Healing Hope,” published last year.
