On Thursday during the first day of what will be a three-day session in the conference center at the Presbyterian Center, the Unification Commission heard from the two people who will be most responsible for what a unified Office of the General Assembly and Presbyterian Mission Agency will be: the Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II, and the Rev. Dr. Diane Givens Moffett.
On Saturday, the Presbytery of New York City gathered in the 147-year-old sanctuary of First Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn for its first quarterly stated meeting of 2023.
Batting leadoff during Monday’s ecumenical worship at the 67th Commission on the Status of Women, prominent Presbyterians preached a message of hope and inclusion to those gathered in person at the Church Center for the United Nations and to those participating in worship online.
The Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II, the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), offered thanks to God and to those present during worship Sunday at Church of the Covenant in New York City “to be in the midst of a powerful gathering of women.” At the invitation of the church’s interim pastor, the Rev. Dr. Cornell Edmonds, Nelson preached Sunday as part of the 67th Commission on the Status of Women, an in-person and online gathering of about 8,000 people that runs from March 6-17.
Thousands of people from around the globe, including a contingent from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), are headed to New York City for the 67th Commission on the Status of Women, a gender equality gathering that will be celebrated by the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the PC(USA), both Co-Moderators of the 225th General Assembly, and the president and executive director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency.
A new video distributed exclusively on social media last week asked, “What’s the secret to creating successful partnerships with immigrant worshiping communities?” The 45-second video concluded, “It’s all in the sauce. The secret sauce … And yes, there will be barbeque.”
The Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II noted that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. celebrated his final birthday on Jan. 15, 1968, helping to plan the Poor People’s March that he would not live to see. Meeting in the basement of the historic Ebeneezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, King’s staff presented the civil rights leader with a birthday cake and a few gag gifts. “They cut his birthday cake and they laughed for a while,” said Nelson, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), “and then he said, ‘Let’s get back to work.’ On his last birthday he reminded us there is still work to be done.”
As 2022 draws to a close, the hosts of the Being Matthew 25 broadcast, the Rev. Dr. Diane Givens Moffett and the Rev. DeEtte Decker, took a look back at the content they helped to create during each monthly episode.
#GivingTuesday, which this year falls on Tuesday, Nov. 29, is a global day of giving designed to harness the potential of social media and the collective power of individuals, communities, and organizations to encourage philanthropy and to celebrate generosity worldwide.
“We’re not going to have change or create change unless we vote,” says Lolita Watkins, a member of Saint James Presbyterian Church of Greensboro, North Carolina, in her opening statement for a Matthew 25 video posted to the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s Facebook page on Nov. 3. Watkins, who is the co-coordinator of the social justice advocacy committee at Saint James Church, goes on to explain how voter engagement is key to her congregation’s embodiment of Matthew 25.
