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St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church in Beachwood, Ohio, was recently awarded a woman’s leadership development grant from the Women’s Leadership Development and Young Women’s Ministries, part of Racial Equity & Women’s Intercultural Ministries, because of funds raised through #Give8/28 during the 2020 Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Week of Action.
The Rev. Dr. T. Janel Dixon exudes a positivity and boundless energy that give the impression that she can do it all. And, in many ways, she does.
During a Pastors and Church Leaders Mental Health panel discussion held this week, four church leaders discussed ways that stress has manifested itself in their lives — and in the lives of those they serve.
Trinity White Plume just turned 13.
Like the gardens she has newly learned to plant and tend, she has also grown in unexpected and extraordinary ways.
A year of shepherding God’s people through a pandemic has put a strain on pastors as they have had to rethink how to do everything from pastoral care to worship. And the strain of constantly thinking differently and creatively while tending flocks that are eager for some sense of normalcy can result in developing compassion fatigue.
Some of the best worship and most meaningful preaching the Rev. Landon Whitsitt has seen and heard during the pandemic has come from preachers and other worship leaders willing to share themselves in an authentic way with those attending the online services they’re creating each week.
As the Rev. Jacoba Vermaak — people call her Pastor Kobie — talks with people who have begun lining up for a week of free groceries at 5 o’clock each Monday morning, she spends a few moments listening to each person describe how they never imagined they would be standing in line for a handout. Simply put, it was beyond what they expected for themselves.
Behind the admittedly corny saying that graces many a collectable coffee mug, “Ministers never retire, but are simply put out to pastor,” there lies a grain of truth — retiring church workers face some very real challenges.
Or so the Rev. Dennis Davenport and his Christian educator wife, Emma Sue, recently discovered.
To our Cuba Partners Network family,
On Sunday, thousands of people took to the streets all over Cuba, and the news of protests has held us in the United States captive as we wonder what it means for our partners in Christ, the church, and the country of Cuba. It is simply just too early to tell.
Lisa Allgood, a commissioned ruling elder and the executive presbyter for the Presbytery of Cincinnati, sometimes refers to herself as “the accidental presbyter.” After a 36-year career in the pharmaceutical industry, the trained immunocytochemist accepted a planned three-month stint when the presbytery called her to leadership.
