The Board of Pensions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has named a longtime servant of the denomination to the position of Vice President, Church Relations. The appointment of the Rev. Dr. Douglas Portz, most recently a Senior Church Consultant at the Board, bolsters the agency’s ongoing efforts to provide strength and stability to support the changing Church.
A desire to see the prison industrial complex replaced with a more equitable and caring system has brought together a group of like-minded people who are having meetings and raising funds to be donated to organizations that work with incarcerated individuals and their families.
“Scoot a little closer to the screen,” the Rev. Nannette Banks, vice president for Community Engagement and Alumni Relations at McCormick Theological Seminary said to an online crowd Saturday, “and lean into the power of transforming theological education and the life of Howard Thurman. Lean in and enjoy.”
Three churches in southern Indiana have separate focuses to their Matthew 25 work. But through a thoughtful process of establishing a cohort to strengthen each of the three ministry efforts, the three congregations — First Presbyterian Church in Bloomington, First Presbyterian Church in Columbus and Fairlawn Presbyterian Church in Columbus — have begun, in the words of the Rev. Kelley Jepsen, transitional associate pastor at FPC in Bloomington, “to think creatively, to dream more broadly and to find concrete ways to begin moving from learning into action.”
To set the stage for her “Circles of faith, Circle of Empowerment” message from Hebrews 11:23-28 on Friday, the Rev. Dr. Lis Valle-Ruiz proclaimed during the recently renamed Association of Partners in Christian Education conference that attendees were going to experience the Holy Spirit throughout their whole body.
McCormick Theological Seminary has been awarded a $1 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. in support of McCormick’s Trauma Healing Initiative (“THI”).
Speaking to McCormick Theological Seminary students as they launched the 2021-22 academic year on Monday, Dr. Jennifer McBride preached the theology of hope made famous by the German theologian Jūrgen Moltmann and exemplified by the biblical accounts of Jesus’ post-resurrection encounters with Mary Magdalene at the tomb and later with two followers on the road to Emmaus. That second encounter gave McBride the title for Monday’s address: “We Had Hoped: Theological Education After Devastation.”
Filmmaker David Barnhart, Associate for Story Ministry in Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, has been named McCormick Theological Seminary’s 2021 Distinguished Alumnus.
Once upon a time, theological institutions were seen as stewards of self-sufficiency. Aside from a visiting professor now and then, tenured faculty formed the core of the identity and mission of most seminaries. Students sought out specific professors as mentors and advisers. Aside from denominational affiliation, a school’s internal prowess in missiology, homiletics, liturgy, music, pastoral counseling or evangelism was often the main draw for new students.
