The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s #GivingTuesday broadcast came to a close with a communion service from Austin, Texas, and presentations on churches and a committed mid council caring for immigrants and people without housing or enough to eat.
For three social justice-focused Presbyterian churches in Orange County, California, Ash Wednesday will look different this year. But its meaning may be even more profound and deeply felt than in pre-pandemic times.
In an ongoing effort to build gender equity, the Women’s Leadership Development and Young Women’s Ministries of the Racial Equity & Women’s Intercultural Ministries has awarded women’s ministries leadership development grants to two congregations: St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church in Beechwood, Ohio, where the Rev. Carmen Harwell is pastor, and the Seigle Avenue Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, now known as The Avenue Presbyterian Church.
The Rev. Dr. Ray Jones III turned to history and the cinema to open a conversation about congregational vitality on the first day of the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board’s February meeting on Wednesday.
According to the Rev. Billy Song of St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church in Lomita, California, Los Angeles County has about 60,000 people experiencing homelessness. About two-thirds are living on the streets or in tents.
St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church in Lomita, California, is located near a substantial encampment of people experiencing homelessness. In and around the community in southern Los Angeles County, “the homeless issue out here is humongous,” says Marney Wilde, an 82-year-old St. Mark’s member who is part of one of two St. mark’s teams providing services to the church’s neighbors. “It’s not just the typical homeless. The rents here are incredibly expensive. Most people are two or three paychecks away from being on the streets. That helps explain the heavy homeless population we are seeing.”
