The Rev. Edwin González-Castillo, director of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, spent most of his time on a recent Special Offerings podcast, “Between 2 Pulpits,” talking about pigs and partnerships in the Dominican Republic.
If home is where the heart is, then Sue Anne Fairman’s heart is blessed to call several places home.
For the Presbyterian ruling elder and deacon, for whom a call to mission has defined her entire life, New Wilmington, Pennsylvania, is home.
From Sarah Dianne Jones’ perspective, Christian education “is everything the church does.”
“The church teaches from the pulpit, at the table, at the font, through our actions and in our words,” Jones, program associate for the Center for Excellence in Christian Education at Union Presbyterian Seminary, told hosts the Rev. Lee Catoe and Simon Doong during an episode of “A Matter of Faith: A Presby Podcast.” “When the church is behaving as the church should, everything is teaching.”
Presbyterian hymn writer and pastor the Rev. Carolyn Winfrey Gillette has written “Now There Is War” to help Presbyterians as they sing, pray and act for peace.
On Feb. 3, 1943, four U.S. Army chaplains from different faith traditions selflessly gave up their life jackets to others on the USAT Dorchester as it sank from a strike by an enemy torpedo. Survivors recall seeing four chaplains, arms linked together, praying as the ship slipped beneath the waves. Since that date, Feb. 3 has become an observance called the Four Chaplains Day and serves to bring together people of diverse backgrounds to recognize our common humanity.
More than 100 members of Myers Park Presbyterian Church (MPCC) and the Charlotte community celebrated 75 years of ministry in Congo in November. The two-hour celebration included ministers, the church’s Congo Ministry Team, members of the Congolese community and church members and friends.
In November, the Presbytery of Milwaukee celebrated the completion of a two-year focus on Congregational Vitality during its final standing meeting of 2023.
The presbytery, which meets four times each year, structured its meetings over a two-year period to highlight and investigate one of the Seven Marks as described in the Vital Congregations Initiative.
World Interfaith Harmony Week is observed every year by the United Nations during the first week of February. It was unanimously adopted by the U.N. in 2010 and is based on the pioneering work of The Common Word initiative, which began in 2007. According to the website, the initiative “called for Muslim and Christian leaders to engage in a dialogue based on two common fundamental religious Commandments; Love of God, and Love of the Neighbour, without nevertheless compromising any of their own religious tenets.”
Technology has the power to connect people, but only when it is working and is scaled for growing with a community.
Recognizing how important technology is to spiritual leaders of communities, the Presbyterian Foundation has expanded its technology grant awards to include leaders of new worshiping communities this year.
U.S. Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, one of 11 Presbyterians in the Senate, recently spent an hour with the Rev. Jim Wallis talking about how his faith has helped carry him this far. Listen to his conversation with Wallis, director of Georgetown University’s Center on Faith + Justice, by going here. Coons appeared as part of the Center of Faith + Justice’s “Higher Calling” series.
