Established this summer by what is now the Moving Forward Special Committee, the Coordinating Table hit a snag Wednesday as members debated what changes the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Office of the General Assembly, Presbyterian Mission Agency and Administrative Services Group ought to consider to better serve Presbyterian congregations, their leaders and mid councils.
If “Zoom fatigue” is really a thing, the nearly 200 participants in the second day of the Mid Council Financial Network’s (MCFN) virtual conference showed no traces of this pandemic phenomenon.
The Mid Council Financial Network (MCFN) held the first day of its two-day virtual seminar Monday, focusing on the trends, tools, and resources available to Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) synods, presbyteries, and congregations as they care for their physical property.
You may be startled to learn that 25% of children under 6 now live in poverty, nearly 23% of the American population can’t afford a medication they need and 17 out of every 10,000 people in the United States were experiencing homelessness on a single night. The Presbyterian Mission Agency has created a short video designed to raise awareness of the systemic poverty facing people in all walks of life, especially with the additional impact of the pandemic. The video is available to download and share across social media and websites.
The PC(USA)’s clarion call to be a Matthew 25 church united Presbyterians during this unrelenting season of COVID-19 and racial unrest in raising an unprecedented $150,031 toward the PC(USA)’s mission and ministry on #GivingTuesday, Dec. 1.
Presbyterians began their 12-hour #GivingTuesday telethon as they’re wont to do during the pandemic — with a 30-minute online worship service that included prayer, hymn-singing and Scripture.
The Coordinating Table, established just before General Assembly by the then-Moving Forward Implementation Commission (now a special committee), held its initial meeting Monday to learn what’s expected of its work and how that work can best be accomplished.
The Mid Council Financial Network (MCFN) — the only entity that serves the needs of the volunteer and paid staff who work with finances in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s 170 presbyteries and 16 synods — is preparing to hold its annual program, virtually, December 14–15, from 12:30-4:30 p.m. Eastern Time each day.
When I joined the foundation related to a small military school in Virginia, my boss, a retired U.S. Army colonel, made it clear. “If anyone wants to designate a gift, you say, ‘yes sir/ma’am and thank you.’’’ Not having been in the military myself, I thought this was a grand time to make a joke. “Well what if it’s for something silly, like basket weaving?” His look made it very clear, “Yes sir/ma’am and thank you” was the correct response.
Over the next eight months or so, the Presbyterian Mission Agency — with input from its many partners — will embark on a three-phase Vision Implementation Plan to, as the PMA’s president and executive director put it during a staff town hall meeting Thursday, discern “what the Holy Spirit is already doing and join God in doing it.”
