racism Archives

Can Youth Triennium generation be the one to end racism?

Posted July 18th, 2019

The Rev. Denise Anderson noticed something about the infamous news footage of white nationalist marchers in Charlottesville, Virginia in the Summer of 2017: Most of them were young.

An American celebration

Posted June 19th, 2019

While not the most widely known or celebrated holiday, Juneteenth is certainly one of the more significant holidays in the history of this nation.

The gospel is for people of all races

Posted June 12th, 2019

The gospel empowers people of color — and it’s for white people too, the Rev. Samuel Son, the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s Manager for Diversity and Reconciliation, told a crowd gathered for worship at the Presbyterian Center last week and for a quarterly update on the Matthew 25 invitation from PMA leadership.

Minute for Mission: Juneteenth

Posted May 16th, 2019

Every year since 1865, there has been one day that most black people have held as a celebratory occurrence. On June 19, 1865, the last of the black Americans who were in the condition of chattel servitude were freed. Texas, the last state to hold out on the edict of the Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln more than two years prior, had finally been forced into compliance. And so, it is this date in June that many black Americans consider to be Independence Day and thus a cause for annual jubilation that we have entitled Juneteenth.

Presbyterians address cash bail plight

Posted May 1st, 2019

At age 16, Kalief Browder found himself on New York’s Rikers Island, awaiting trial for a crime he says he didn’t commit. Returning from a party in the Bronx, Browder was accused of stealing a backpack holding a credit card, an iPod Touch, a camera and $700. At his arraignment, he was charged with second-degree robbery. Bail was set at $3,000. Browder didn’t have the ability to “bond out” — pay the fee. He would spend the next three years in jail before being released, with his charges dropped.

Matthew 25 invites the PC(USA) to boldly live out Christ’s call

Posted April 20th, 2019

A wondrous change is taking place — a movement of the Spirit. Presbyterian congregations are reprioritizing the work of the Church, taking it from an institution of survival to a way of getting actively engaged in the community and making the world a better place.

Grants help community dismantle racism

Posted April 17th, 2019

When leader Nick Pickrell heard that The Open Table KC, a worshiping community in Kansas City, Missouri, that gathers for dinner and fellowship, would receive a $25,000 1001 New Worshiping Community growth grant from the Presbyterian Mission Agency, he thought, “What? What!”

When earthly leaders fail, Jesus redeems

Posted April 4th, 2019

We are bombarded by news in our nation and around the world of the manifold ways the rich prey on the poor, the strong oppress the weak, and racism and religious intolerance erupt in horrific acts of violence. Moreover, the leaders of nations continually conspire to create international conflict in their reach for power.

Congregations are invited to become Matthew 25 churches

Posted March 22nd, 2019

While the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s Matthew 25 invitation officially rolls out April 1, it has already been underway informally and organically in a number of Presbyterian churches.

Moving beyond institution

Posted February 22nd, 2019

Because it’s relatively nearby for tens of thousands of Presbyterians and because it’s the site of the 224th General Assembly next year — and also because it’s an important American city with big-city challenges and innovations — Baltimore is the site for Big Tent Aug. 1–3, one of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s signature events.