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After two attempts to encourage the General Assembly to go “fossil free” did not go as they hoped, First Presbyterian Church of Tallahassee, Florida, decided to take matters into their own hands, or, more specifically, their own footprint.
Power comes and goes in parts of Puerto Rico that are still recovering from last fall’s devastating Hurricane Maria. While electricity and running water are slowly coming back to communities across the island, the long list of repairs, updates and recovery will keep volunteers and disaster officials busy for years.
An ecumenical panel that includes leadership of the World Communion of Reformed Churches has taken further steps to determine, in its words, how “to build a world that better resembles God’s true kingdom.”
In the early dawn of Sunday, June 25, 1950, without any warning, the Soviet-backed North Korean armed forces crossed over the 38th parallel (an arbitrary line chosen by the World War II victors in Potsdam) and pressed swiftly southward toward the city of Seoul, defying the orders of the Security Council of the United Nations to cease hostilities and withdraw back to the 38th parallel. So began the Korean War, which was one of the bloodiest and most destructive in modern history, leaving millions dead (including some 36,000 Americans) and roughly 43 percent of industrial capacities and 33 percent of residences of South Korea demolished. An estimated 150,000 Christians were also either killed, missing or taken by the North Korean Red Army against their will because of their faith.
Tomorrow members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) will join in prayer to commemorate the beginning of the Season of Prayer and Reflection in the Korean Peninsula. The annual observance will conclude on Aug. 15.
The theme for mission partnership between the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana (EPCG) and Lake Erie Presbytery is “Joining Hands in Faith and Friendship.” Since 2012, this theme has defined our partnership in mission and our relationship with the Ghana Mission Network, a collaborative of Presbyterian churches in Ghana and the U.S.
“It is with a sense of importance and urgency that I ask for your help, participation and wisdom to make visible a vision of unity, lest the black witness in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) will soon perish,” said the Rev. Thomas Priest Jr., president of the National Black Presbyterian Caucus (NBPC). Priest recently met with African-Americans in leadership roles at the Presbyterian Center in Louisville for a visioning session on the future of the caucus. He wanted to learn more about the staff and resources available at the national Church level to help the organization accomplish its mission.
Is mission a one-way street? Not to people in Denver Presbytery or the Presbytery of Zimbabwe of the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa (UPCSA). These two presbyteries have been faithful witnesses to the unity of the body of Christ for more than a decade, despite the nearly 10,000 miles between them.
June 20 is designated as World Refugee Day. Over the years the significance of this day has grown. For Presbyterians, it is a day to connect or reconnect with our own refugee heritage through our faith ancestry. As Scripture tells us, “You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Deut. 10:19). Throughout our church history we can find those who have fled persecution for their faith and those who have responded to the call to welcome the stranger: Abraham and Sarah; Moses, Miriam, Aaron and the people of Israel; Ruth; Jesus, Joseph and Mary; the apostle John.
It’s another major crack in the ceiling. That’s how Rob Fohr, director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s Office of Faith-Based Investing, describes progress with Noble Energy Corporation of Houston. Fohr presented a shareholder resolution last month that called for a climate change scenario analysis. This continues the momentum from the 2017 proxy season, which saw record high votes on climate change resolutions including one at ExxonMobil that received 62 percent of the shareholder vote.
