Dr. Thema Bryant, a clinical psychologist and a pastor in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, is quoted as saying: “Rest is revolutionary. Self-care and community care are soul food. Dancing and singing amid everything that pulls you to disconnect from yourself is radical.”
The Presbyterian Mission Agency has released new resources to help promote LGBTQIA+ inclusion and understanding within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) as well as anywhere that individuals or families may be seeking answers about issues related to inclusion and diversity.
The Christian Women Fellowship Movement of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) held its annual Rally in late October at Hope Presbyterian Church in Mitchellville, Maryland, its first in-person gathering since the Covid pandemic began in March 2020.
Nearly 50 Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) national staff gathered online Wednesday to remember and honor the lives of at least 30 transgender people killed so far this year during a Transgender Day of Remembrance service. The Rev. Shanea Leonard, director of Racial Equity & Women’s Intercultural Ministries, led the service, hosted by RE&WIM and the Office of Gender & Racial Justice.
The Evangelism Conference, a three-day hybrid offering put on by Theology, Formation & Evangelism in the Presbyterian Mission Agency, concluded at Montreat Conference Center on Tuesday with a list of tips for evangelists and spirited and Spirit-filled closing worship led by the Rev. Gregory Bentley, Co-Moderator of the 224th General Assembly (2020) and pastor of Fellowship Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama.
Fresh off being announced Monday as the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s new director of Racial Equity and Women’s Intercultural Ministries, the Rev. Shanea D. Leonard delivered the first two of three keynote addresses at the Evangelism Conference being held through Tuesday at Montreat Conference Center and online. The conference theme is “Addressing Harm, Embracing Hope.”
In 2018, commissioners to the 223rd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) voted to create a Native American & Native Alaskan Fund to take in donations. Its sole purpose is to help pay for the then-$5.2 million in needed repairs to the denomination’s 97 Native American churches.
Since 1986, the office of Racial Equity & Women’s Intercultural Ministries along with Presbyterian Women has been awarding church and community leaders with the Women of Faith Award. This year, awardees have been selected by a committee for their faithful witness, service and leadership.
In the first paragraph of his new book “What Kind of Christianity: A History of Slavery and Anti-Black Racism in the Presbyterian Church,” Dr. William Yoo includes this question first raised by the Rev. Dr. Katie Geneva Cannon: “Where was the Church and the Christian believers when Black women and Black men, Black boys and Black girls, were being raped, sexually abused, lynched, assassinated, castrated and physically oppressed? What kind of Christianity allowed white Christians to deny basic human rights and simple dignity to Blacks, these same rights which have been given to others without question?”
The Rev. Dr. James Foster Reese, a respected and beloved pastor and pioneer in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), died June 17 after a long illness. He was 98.
