In 2008, Dorene Seidl, a beloved, long-term member of Briargate Presbyterian Church in Louisville, Kentucky, was killed by her husband when she was attempting to leave their relationship of over 40 years.
That’s when domestic violence visited our church. It was heartbreakingly real.
Two years ago Presbyterian mission co-workers John and Gwen Haspels were driving down a road in Ethiopia when a man carrying an assault rifle jumped out in front of them. As the couple drove on, the man fired at them, severely injuring both of them. Gwen Haspels recently reflected on that fateful day and on what reconciliation means in the aftermath of such an attack.
Five weeks after fire ravaged a century-old Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, those affiliated with the church have responded with resilience.
For more than a century, Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church stood tall in the city’s Overbrook neighborhood. Now only the charred outer walls of the building remain after fire raged through the church during an early Monday morning in late August.
The lives of nearly 80 young adults were transformed recently as the 2016–2017 Young Adult Volunteer (YAV) class gathered at Stony Point Conference Center in New York to begin their YAV experience; each had signed up for “a year of service for a lifetime of change.”
When Rev. Dr. Nancy Jo Dederer earned her Doctor of Ministry degree in parish revitalization, she had no idea that church transformation would become her calling.
And not only her calling, but also a blessing to the people of Homewood, Illinois.
Niger has consistently ranked at the bottom of the United Nations Human Development Index. Indicators that
reflect that ranking include the following:
• Only 40 percent of men and 20 percent of women are literate.
• There is one doctor for every 50,000 people.
• One in seven women dies in childbirth.
• 40 percent of children under age five are malnourished.
• 20 percent of children die before their fifth birthday.
• Up to 90 percent of the population is involved in subsistence agriculture.
If all God’s children have a place in the choir, First Presbyterian Church of Dallas is well on its way to filling the risers.
By combining its Sunday school and children’s choir programming into a new Sunday Club—an expanded, holistic 90-minute session on Sunday mornings for elementary-age children—the church hopes to involve many more children and families in its ministries of faith formation.
A shared faith and joint worship are building a bridge that is helping two Denver congregations cross a racial divide. Central Presbyterian, a predominantly white congregation, and Peoples Presbyterian, a predominantly African American one, began this journey on Martin Luther King Day this year. Central members traveled the 2.3 miles that separate the two congregations to worship with Peoples. The following Sunday, Peoples visited Central.
In September of 2015, thousands of Syrian refugees found themselves stranded at a Budapest train station, making their way across Hungary toward the Austrian border. For most, the travel had been difficult, as they were turned away from other countries or settled in communities that were not very welcoming.
Chris Lim, a ruling elder at Indonesian Presbyterian Church in Seattle, wanted nothing less than what God wants—that God’s kingdom come. In fact, he wanted to use his expertise in technology to hasten its coming.
