The Presbyterian Mission Agency has released new resources to help promote LGBTQIA+ inclusion and understanding within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) as well as anywhere that individuals or families may be seeking answers about issues related to inclusion and diversity.
Bethesda Presbyterian Church in Bethesda, Maryland, hosted the fourth-ever Beyond Pink and Blue: Trans+ Family and Spiritual Care conference on Saturday, attended both in-person and via Zoom by more than 70 people.
The Rev. Dr. Elizabeth “Betsy” McCormick and ruling elder Mary Almy served as mission co-workers in Sudan for more than 14 years, but during that time Mary was living a dual life.
Toward the end of the Rev. Shanea Leonard’s Gender & Inclusion presentation Tuesday, they presented a slide with puzzle pieces scattered apart on the left and fit together on the right.
With a 30-pound pack on his back and a mission in his heart, the Rev. Zachary Morton, pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Morgantown, West Virginia, set out Sept. 21 on an eight-day, nearly 150-mile walk to the state capitol in Charleston.
After spending 60 years as a man, Paul Williams came out to his family as transgender, becoming Paula.
The married father of three was a prominent evangelical pastor before transitioning and recognized that transitioning would not be an easy process, personally or professionally. Nonetheless, “I’d been called [to transition], and you reject a call at your own peril,” Paula said.
Every morning when I wake up here in San Jose, Costa Rica, I wonder what the day will hold. A trip to the hospital? A phone call from a family in need of food? Over and over in recent months, I have been reminded that being a mission co-worker of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) means standing alongside those in need. Accompanying vulnerable people means entering into their vulnerability and experiencing the unpredictability of life for those who have fled to a new country in search of refuge.
An advocacy committee is calling on Presbyterians, including church leaders, to speak out against the Trump administration’s request last month that the Supreme Court fast-track a ruling on a Pentagon policy restricting military service by transgender people.
