According to a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report, “Mental Health & COVID-19,” one in four people aged 18-24 has seriously considered death by suicide in the last 30 days.
Presbyterians began their 12-hour #GivingTuesday telethon as they’re wont to do during the pandemic — with a 30-minute online worship service that included prayer, hymn-singing and Scripture.
The Rev. Dr. Ralph Basui Watkins has no doubt preached in many settings over his long career in ministry and in training ministers to be.
Add the former garage he’s transformed into a garage gym to the list of his preaching venues.
With a 30-pound pack on his back and a mission in his heart, the Rev. Zachary Morton, pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Morgantown, West Virginia, set out Sept. 21 on an eight-day, nearly 150-mile walk to the state capitol in Charleston.
The Rev. Ryan Althaus, the founder of Sweaty Sheep and the Hunger Advocate for the Presbytery of San Jose, convened a thoughtful and moving webinar over the weekend on mental illness and the church. His first-person story is told with candor and grace in the sidebar below.
During a Zoom conversation Wednesday with the founder of Homeboy Industries, Father Gregory Boyle told hundreds of leaders connected to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s 1001 New Worshiping Communities movement that in the midst of twin pandemics, “we must stand in the right place — with the poor, the powerless and the voiceless.”
The physical distancing and isolation occasioned by COVID-19 has taken a heavy toll on churches. They must name their grief, mourn their losses and strive to find hope.
In an effort to provide access to marriage and family therapy resources during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Louisville Seminary Counseling Center (LSCC) will begin offering services free of charge to its clients via phone and the online Zoom meeting platform beginning June 29. The seminary’s counseling center has been closed since March 16 due to the need to implement coronavirus social distancing protocols.
The Rev. Dr. Trace Haythorn, now the CEO and executive director of the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education, learned his first pastoral care skills at the tender age of 13 after his friend died of leukemia.
He drives up the Philadelphia Turnpike for his semi-annual appointment with the allergist, and sneezes. Not unusual for this time of year. Should he, a senior, be nervous? He’s not anxiety-prone, but with the advancing virus constantly in the news, how can he not have dying at the back of his mind?
“Am I as ready as I can be for whatever comes?” he ponders.
