Who are the “nones,” the more than 50% of the U.S. population who told Gallup pollsters last year they no longer belong to a church, synagogue or mosque?
The Rev. Dr. Robert H. Meneilly, the founding pastor of Village Presbyterian Church in Prairie Village, Kansas, one of the largest congregations in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), died Tuesday at age 96.
Long before the pandemic and the social upheaval of 2020 following the murder of George Floyd, the church had been preparing and mentoring leaders who could lead communities in faithful means of protest. The New Poor People’s Campaign, co-chaired by Presbyterian pastor the Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis and Disciples of Christ pastor the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, is one such visible and contemporary example of this work.
Pittsburgh Theological Seminary’s Board of Directors has voted to appoint the Rev. Dr. Asa J. Lee as the next president of the Seminary. Lee currently serves at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., as vice president for campus administration, associate dean for community life, and director of African American studies.
Trinity Presbytery recently announced that Rev. William Anderson passed away peacefully on March 22 at the Clinton Presbyterian Community in Clinton, South Carolina. He and wife Lois, who preceded him in death, served as mission co-workers in Africa for 49 years (1951-2000), 37 of those years in Sudan and South Sudan. The couple also served for brief stints in Kenya and Uganda.
At age 97 and with 71 years of ministry under his belt, the Rev. Dr. Jim Reese had a story or two to tell the Rev. Dr. Lee Hinson-Hasty during a Facebook Live event hosted last week by the Presbyterian Foundation and Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, Reese’s seminary alma mater (Class of 1949).
In the first episode of season seven of the 1001 “New Way” podcast, host the Rev. Sara Hayden and guest the Rev. Karen Rohrer anticipate their own journeys through Lent, which begins next week on Ash Wednesday.
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.
God’s mission clearly includes charity: a cup of cold water given in Jesus’ name; the Samaritan’s extraordinary care for the victim of highway robbery; the traditional “alms for the poor” that has characterized the institutional church through the millennia. Charity is clearly biblical and a hallmark of Christian faithfulness. After 35 years of working with Presbyterian congregations engaged in local and global mission, I have found that the overwhelming majority of congregations dedicate nearly 100% of their mission attention and budget to charity work. B
