One of the high points so far in my ministry within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has been participation in the development of “Glory to God: The Presbyterian Hymnal.” Although I came on board near the end of the hymn selection process, I had the honor of being involved in the preparation and introduction of this major resource of congregational song for the church.
If “Zoom fatigue” is really a thing, the nearly 200 participants in the second day of the Mid Council Financial Network’s (MCFN) virtual conference showed no traces of this pandemic phenomenon.
It’s been only a few months since Covenant Presbyterian Church in Fort Myers, Florida, worked with a professional beekeeper to relocate a couple of well-established bee colonies from an old rotten tree on the property. The bees were successfully moved to side-by-side hives in the church’s Together We Grow Mission Garden.
Author, entrepreneur, election reform advocate and candidate for Georgia governor Stacey Abrams can now add another title to her impressive résumé: Festival of Homiletics lecturer.
The coronavirus has inflicted any number of health crises on Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) congregations — but in some tangible ways it’s also enhanced their ecclesial health.
By mid-March, COVID-19 began changing the way the world interacts, and the church was not immune to those changes. Amid social distancing and shelter-in-place orders, many churches either canceled worship or moved to a virtual form of worship. Pastors and sessions looked for creative ways to worship and to care for the most vulnerable church members in a quickly changing landscape. But what about financial stewardship during such a time as a pandemic – or any other event that would interrupt traditional modes of being the church?
