Every Wednesday, from 2:30 until about 7 p.m., high school students gather at Myers Park Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, to connect, do homework, have dinner together — and practice a mental health coping skill.
A new Disability Inclusion Toolkit from the Office of Christian Formation will help Presbyterians continue along the path of congregational inclusivity.
Monday’s Between Two Pulpits, an online conversation put on each week by Special Offerings’ interim director Dr. Bill McConnell, was a how-to in effective after-school ministry, as told by two pastors who decades ago co-founded Rising TIDE at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Long Beach, California.
The Rev. Zoë Garry and the Rev. Ezequiel Herrera operate in different ministry settings. But as they found out during an hour-long conversation last week, which can be heard here, they share at least two traits: both are church planters, and both serve God and new worshiping communities in the Synod of the Sun.
In her introduction to a recent episode of the “New Way” podcast, the Rev. Sara Hayden quotes St. Thomas More, who once said, “Soul cannot thrive in a fast-paced life because being affected, taking things in and chewing on them requires time.”
“I spent a lot of time pushing away the call that I had, even as a teenager and child. My grandmother told me I cut up her Bible when I was 3 years old. I think she wouldn’t let us watch ‘Hee Haw’ or ‘Love Boat.’”
It used to be that the first impression of a church was made at the front door. That first impression is now being made online. These days, people visit almost every organization virtually before having any further interaction. So, the question that needs to be asked is, “What message or image are you presenting to these visitors?”
Once upon a time, theological institutions were seen as stewards of self-sufficiency. Aside from a visiting professor now and then, tenured faculty formed the core of the identity and mission of most seminaries. Students sought out specific professors as mentors and advisers. Aside from denominational affiliation, a school’s internal prowess in missiology, homiletics, liturgy, music, pastoral counseling or evangelism was often the main draw for new students.
In what is believed to be a first, “Call to Worship: Liturgy, Music, Preaching, and the Arts” a quarterly journal produced by the Office of Theology & Worship, has focused an entire issue on poverty.
I teach a mission course at our seminary and have an on-again-off-again relationship with the field of “missiology,” which can include everything from church growth and personal evangelism to the study of world Christianity or contextual theology.
