Presbyterian Mission Agency Presbytery of Chicago Archives

‘Navigator of Peace’ the Rev. Jack Mathison dies at 97

Posted July 27th, 2022

The Rev. John Thomas “Jack” Mathison, navigator of peace, died on May 24 at age 97 after a period of declining health, in Richmond, Virginia, according to an obituary published in the Washington Post this week. He was the widower of Elaine (Sauerwein).

A ‘bridge builder’ at the Board of Pensions

Posted April 18th, 2022

The Rev. Dr. John G. McFayden, whose first employment in the Church was at age 13 as an employee of a Presbyterian camp on the North Carolina-Virginia line, has retired as Executive Vice President and Chief of Church Engagement for The Board of Pensions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). His service spanned more than 40 years, 12 of them at the Board.

A life changed but still fully lived

Posted December 1st, 2020

The Rev. Dr. Stewart M. Pattison is living with multiple sclerosis, and he has for years. The disease recently progressed to a point that he had to retire from ministry.

Christmas Joy Offering

Posted November 4th, 2020

Gifts to the Christmas Joy Offering, one of the PC(USA)’s four annual special offerings, helps people in financial need through grants and assistance.

Hugh Fleece Halverstadt, an expert on managing church conflict, dies at 81

Posted April 20th, 2020

The Rev. Dr. Hugh Fleece Halverstadt, one of theological education’s foremost experts on managing church conflict, died April 14 at The Pines continuing care community in Davidson, N.C. Described by his former colleagues at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago as good-humored, wise, supportive and always authentic, he was 81.

‘It allows me to be me again!’

Posted May 8th, 2019

The Rev. Dr. Stewart M. Pattison, pastor of the Community Presbyterian Church in Lombard, Ill., has been living — and serving — with multiple sclerosis for more than 20 years.

Presbyterian churches support Cuban youth’s dream of becoming a pastor

Posted October 20th, 2016

At the age of 14, Fernando Lopez Machado had a faith so deep it reached across an ocean. Now 19, Lopez Machado is a first-year student at the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Matanzas, Cuba, thanks to the love, support and prayers of his home church, the First Presbyterian-Reformed Church of Havana, and three U.S. churches.