When Gail Cafferata faced closing the church she pastored, her experience brought to mind a million questions about her call, leadership and future. Inspired by her experience and wanting to explore other pastors who were called to serve churches that closed, she embarked upon a sociological study, diving into the experiences of more than 130 pastors in five historically established denominations (Episcopal, Lutheran, United Methodist, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and United Church of Christ). Westminster John Knox Press is proud to announce the release of her book, “The Last Pastor: Faithfully Steering a Closing Church,” which explores the hard-won lessons of the pastors she interviewed about their journeys through church decline and closing.
With Ash Wednesday set for Feb. 26, Lent is fast approaching. Westminster John Knox Press has recently released two daily devotionals for your faith journey this Lent.
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.
From the Iranian Revolution to the attacks on September 11, 2001, questions and fears about Islam have proliferated American Christian life for decades. Yet more recently, the tangle of Christian-Muslim relations has become more complicated, with those in power mainstreaming Islamophobia as a path to political and societal power.
The same week her brother died unexpectedly, spiritual travel writer and Episcopal deacon Lori Erickson moved her mother into a memory-care facility. Suddenly faced with the existential question of death, she set out on a quest, her own tutorial in death.
The second annual Just Worship event will be held Sept. 30-Oct. 2 at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Like the first one at Columbia Theological Seminary this promises to an extraordinary time led by stirring preachers, exceptional musicians and talented workshop leaders.
