Being a church treasurer has become more complex in recent years. This largely volunteer job goes far beyond simply doing the math to ensure the books are balanced and the bills are paid.
Today, church treasurers and church staff in general need to be aware of the many ways the church can be defrauded, either by internal trusted people or by scammers who find ways to trick staff into disclosing information.
Among the handful of clergy authors published by Cyclical Publishing is the Rev. Ryan Althaus, the Hunger and Inclusion Advocate for the Presbytery of San Jose, whose latest book carries the provocative title “The Expanse: Homos, Hobos, and the Holy Hereafter.”
During a virtual meeting on Thursday, the Presbyterian Hunger Program Advisory Committee heard about a variety of approaches that are being used by faith communities to address poverty and homelessness, from taking a group bike ride to paying off medical debt.
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) leaders and partners are celebrating executive orders from President Joe Biden as positive and hopeful signs for refugee resettlement in the United States.
Whenever a disaster strikes, the Rev. Erica Rader does three things: she gives to Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA), she gives to a food bank in the impacted area, and she prays.
Now she is finding out what those gifts to PDA are supporting.
The Rev. Ryan Althaus, the founder of Sweaty Sheep and the Hunger Advocate for the Presbytery of San Jose, convened a thoughtful and moving webinar over the weekend on mental illness and the church. His first-person story is told with candor and grace in the sidebar below.
Three presbyteries — Trinity, Newark and San Jose — have finished up a pilot program of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Vital Congregations initiative’s two-year revitalization process.
As 14 Presbyteries prepare to launch the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A)’s Vital Congregations initiative in January, three presbyteries — Trinity, Newark and San Jose — are finishing up a pilot program of the two-year revitalization process.
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.
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.
