September 2019: My first trip to Armenia with the Jinishian Memorial Program (JMP) and I knew almost nothing about their work. On one of our excursions in the Armenian countryside, we stopped to visit a dilapidated building, the concrete crumbling, windows broken, stairs not safe to walk on, the grounds overgrown with weeds. It was difficult at best to see the JMP’s vision for this place. That vision was to establish the Sevan Rehabilitation Center (SRC) assuming all the necessary pieces of the project, including funding, came together. The local team’s enthusiasm was apparent and contagious as they described the plans for this endeavor.
The Welcome Church in Philadelphia, a church without walls, is served by an Evangelical Lutheran Church in America pastor and by the Rev. Schaunel Steinnagel, a Minister of Word and Sacrament with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the associate pastor of The Welcome Church. It’s recognized as a community ministry by the Presbytery of Philadelphia and is a congregation under development in the ELCA’s Synod of Southeastern Pennsylvania.
This World Communion Sunday, let us remember the Christ who we meet at the Table of Grace and affirm that in Christ all Christians are one, regardless of nationality, race or ethnicity.
Author, activist, speaker and songwriter/musician David LaMotte, who’s spoken and performed at many PC(USA) gatherings over the years, has a unique take on how true change occurs in the world.
It’s generally not because some superhero swoops in at the last minute to save the day. Rather, it’s through the often tedious but productive and faithful work of committees.
Shortly after 7 p.m. on Sunday, July 28, a historic transformation occurred inside a historic sanctuary in the Manhattan neighborhood of Washington Heights: The Trinity Presbyterian Fellowship was officially chartered as Trinity Presbyterian Church in Fort Washington Heights within the Presbytery of New York City.
The Rev. Brendan McLean is associate pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Tyler, Texas, one of the communities shrouded in darkness for nearly two minutes during the April 8 solar eclipse.
Only just before it happened, someone forgot to urge the clouds over Tyler to go away.
The first week in October has been designated as Mental Illness Awareness Week since 1990. People of faith, especially pastors, are especially important to those who live with mental health concerns. Christian clergy have often been identified as “frontline mental health workers” since it has been found that as many as 25% of people who seek treatment turn to their pastor. Faith leaders can provide referrals and encouragement to their church members who need mental health services.
“Kairos is an ancient Greek word, describing a time of great change when the old ways of the world are dying and new ones are struggling to be born,” said Pauline Pisano, organizer for the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights and Social Justice. “It’s clear we are living through exactly such a time today.” Pisano called this time “full of grave danger and rare opportunity” and described the work of the center in lifting up leaders and activists to take bold, prophetic and imaginative action to break free from the “intolerable conditions of poverty, systemic racism, militarism, ecological devastation and more.”
Even though she’s 101 years old, Mary Conklin of Winnebago, Minnesota has not attended every edition of Synod School, which debuted in 1954. But she has been a part of most of the past 50 or so versions of the beloved gathering, put on each year by the Synod of Lakes & Prairies and attended by about 540 people this year, ranging in age from 5 months to 101 years.
In the winter of 2023, a team of archivists at the Presbyterian Historical Society began the process of reparative description on the records of Tucson Indian Training School. Over the next six months, they worked not only to remove outdated and harmful language, but to enhance the descriptions of students so that their full names, tribal affiliations and experiences are better represented in the collection.
