“Truly eye-opening” is how the Rev. Dr. Yushin Lee describes the first CREDO conference for Korean pastors, sponsored by The Board of Pensions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) last spring.
People sensing God’s call to be a catalyst for change in their community can consider enrolling in “Lead Change: A Certificate in Community Faith Formation,” a new certificate in community faith formation being offered by Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary. The inaugural cohort of 15 learning partners, as the seminary calls its students, will begin in March and finish in late November.
The Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II noted that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. celebrated his final birthday on Jan. 15, 1968, helping to plan the Poor People’s March that he would not live to see. Meeting in the basement of the historic Ebeneezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, King’s staff presented the civil rights leader with a birthday cake and a few gag gifts. “They cut his birthday cake and they laughed for a while,” said Nelson, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), “and then he said, ‘Let’s get back to work.’ On his last birthday he reminded us there is still work to be done.”
The Board of Pensions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has appointed the Rev. Dr. Jerry L. Cannon as Vice President, Ministry Innovation, effective Nov. 1. The appointment of Cannon, most recently pastor and head of staff at C.N. Jenkins Memorial Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, one of the largest Black congregations in the PC(USA), strengthens the agency’s commitment to serve more and serve better in support of a changing Church.
Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary announces the commemoration of its 155th anniversary to celebrate the school’s legacy and continuing commitment to providing faith and justice education. The year-long commitment and fundraising effort is in partnership with its Board of Trustees and prominent alumni, leading philanthropists and program sponsors.
Rick Ufford-Chase, a ruling elder and the Moderator of the 216th General Assembly (2004), and the Rev. Ashley DeTar Birt, who last spring co-founded, along with Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary and the Presbytery of Utica, co-founded the Center for Jubilee Practice, appeared last week on A Matter of Faith: A Presby Podcast. The two talked about their work studying, among other things, how churches might facilitate conversations around reparations in light of the wealth gap between Indigenous and African American families and white families in the U.S.
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.
Thoughtful, moving and imaginative worship was front and center during the national event of the Association of Presbyterian Church Educators Thursday afternoon, when more than 1,000 people from four continents joined for an online opening worship service anchored by prophetic preaching from the Rev. Aisha Brooks-Lytle.
The four-week Matthew 25 course “Civil Initiative and the Engaged Church” concluded Monday with a presentation on being more aware of and reducing the destructive damage done by hate groups and the intolerance they help to foster.
