“Welcoming all in the name of Christ” might be easy to write into a church’s mission statement, but the challenge comes when faced with living it out and extending a hand to those in the transgender community. An inclusive, loving welcome is possible, though, with education and courage to open up those sanctuary doors.
The Board of Pensions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has named a longtime servant of the denomination to the position of Vice President, Church Relations. The appointment of the Rev. Dr. Douglas Portz, most recently a Senior Church Consultant at the Board, bolsters the agency’s ongoing efforts to provide strength and stability to support the changing Church.
It is impossible not to be emotionally moved by the rows of crosses displayed on three sides of College Hill Community Church in Dayton, Ohio. The 20 crosses on display honor Black lives lost in senseless killings, the majority at the hands of police officers sworn to provide protection.
This month marks Women’s History Month. While there are many Presbyterian women who have made history throughout the years and deserve to be celebrated, the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s Women’s Leadership Development and Young Women’s Ministries is helping to generate a new crop of young dynamic women to lead the church.
By grace, Synod of the Trinity staff became involved with the Community Responders Network in Central Pennsylvania last spring to support them in getting three reader’s theater-style skits around bias into video production.
By grace, we met Ann Van Dyke, the writer of those skits, and as we got to know her, we learned of her work in civil rights for the state of Pennsylvania for many years.
Out of her personal calling, Van Dyke offered to do some work with us around hate.
If you overlook the name of a church, sometimes you miss a vital story in the life of their congregation. Such is the case for Valley United Presbyterian Church.
For many years, neither Glen Sanders nor Robert Stubenbort knew they had similar passions. But once they found out they shared a love for bicycles, something special happened. Sanders and Stubenbort, members of Calvin Presbyterian Church in the western Pennsylvania town of Zelienople, are the backbone of a new Bikes Mission that culminated with close to 130 refurbished bicycles and tricycles being personally delivered to a Lakota Indian reservation in South Dakota in late June.
Ah, the ever-compelling “new thing”—the focus of a robust grant opportunity in the Synod of the Trinity.
The New Initiative Grant for Presbyteries provides resources for presbytery projects that reach for new and risk-taking ministry dreams that join with God’s “new thing.” Through this partnership, leaders test and refine ministry for the good and learning of all.
The Presbyterian Committee on the SDOP celebrates 45 years of ministry and disburses $193,000 to 13 self-help projects by Margaret Mwale and Cynthia White Pittsburgh, PA— The Presbyterian Committee on… Read more »
