When the Rev. Dr. Jeri Parris Perkins became pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Clinton, South Carolina, she knew the congregation needed to revitalize. It’s what the Pastor Nominating Committee was looking for when the church called her in 2014.
Yesterday, a wise worshiper at the church I serve requested prayers “for all leaders as they work through difficult times ahead.” That request rings in my head as I think about “empowering servant leadership,” which is one of the seven marks of congregational vitality identified in the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s Vital Congregations program.
A few years back, the 130 or so members of First Presbyterian Church of South Lyon, Michigan, decided to turn their focus outward into their community about 40 miles west of Detroit.
The Rev. Dr. Tom Bryson, who is part of the Vital Congregations (VC) writing team, said he was floored at what he heard at VC gatherings in Denver and Atlanta the last two weeks.
As Dr. William P. Brown, professor of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary, confessed his personal anger and lament, Fairfield Hall at First Presbyterian Church in Atlanta went silent
During Tuesday’s devotion/reflection at the Vital Congregations East Coast gathering in Atlanta, Dr. Anna Carter Florence, preaching professor at Columbia Theological Seminary, shared a personal experience that she said changed her life.
Now that churches in South Carolina’s Trinity Presbytery have gone through the seven marks of congregational vitality, as part of their participation in the two-year Vital Congregations initiative pilot program, pastors are beginning to notice a difference in their congregations.
Fourteen Presbyteries were selected this week to be part of the first wave of a national launch of the Vital Congregations Revitalization Initiative in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) — which is designed to help their churches live more faithfully as disciples of Jesus Christ.
One of the first Presbytery of San Jose meetings the Rev. Sammie Evans attended as the new pastor at Stone Church of the Wooded Glen was to hear a presentation from the Rev. Dr. Kathryn Threadgill on Presbyterian Mission Agency’s Vital Congregations Revitalization Initiative, which is designed to help churches live more faithfully as disciples of Jesus Christ.
