CHICAGO (RNS) — Harvest Bible Chapel, an embattled Chicago-area megachurch, announced this past weekend that the executive committee of its elders will resign. The resignations, which will take place over several months, came days after church elders fired James MacDonald, Harvest’s founding pastor. In a statement, the elders said they’d failed in their duty to properly oversee MacDonald, who was terminated for what they called “a sinful pattern of inappropriate language, anger and domineering behavior.” “We acknowledge failures in direction, discipline and response time. We, as the larger elder board, have made mistakes, and we own these,” they said in the statement, which was read during church services and posted later on the church’s website. The elder resignations are one of several changes that will take place in the weeks to come at Harvest Bible Chapel. Calling it “one of the most difficult weeks in the history of our church,” executive committee member Bill … [Read more...]
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Outlook Features 17 hours ago
Shalom Farms & UPSem: Cultivating food for life
Since the late spring of 2017, five acres of Union Presbyterian Seminary’s (UPSem) land has been under the care and cultivation of Shalom Farms, a nonprofit dedicated to helping address issues of food justice in Richmond, Virginia. The seminary leases this land to Shalom Farms rent-free in a partnership that enables each organization to pursue its own mission in new and generative ways. The roots of this collaboration stretch back to early 2015 when UPSem’s president, Brian Blount, and Shalom Farms’ executive director, Dominic Barrett, began having informal conversations about… continue reading... -
Outlook Features 2 days ago
The core of stewardship is love
Many churches in the United States, from mainline to evangelical and beyond, host a Stewardship Sunday every year. Usually in the fall, Stewardship Sunday typically signifies that a congregation’s stewardship season is underway. The day often includes a series of elements that most churchgoers have come to know well: testimonials during worship from church members who tithe, one brave sermon on money based on a Scripture that includes the phrase “gave her last mite,” “cheerful giver” or “rich young ruler” and an afternoon all-church meeting about the budget. While nothing about… continue reading... -
Outpost Blog 2 days ago
Letters to the church I love
Guest blog by Alissa Conner This month, we invited our bloggers to write a “love letter” to the church. Here are their letters. Dear church, It is so easy to get bogged down in the mire of woe that surrounds the church world — or perhaps the world in general. I hear all around about how small you are getting, or how volunteers aren’t enough, or how we don’t talk like we used to. Still, I see a different side every day and I love you for it. I don’t… continue reading...
Parties in Stamford case had tried to expedite process in order to get a ruling on the merits of the case January 1, 1995 Uncategorized67 views The General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission -- in sidestepping the question of exactly how deeply a session should be required to probe into the private life of a gay elder who has acknowledged being in a committed, life-long relationship but has declined to say whether he is sexually active -- has put the question off but has not put it to rest.- Ministering with the Earth January 1, 1998 Book Reviews58 views By Mary Elizabeth MooreChalice. 1998. 226 pp. Pb. $19.99. ISBN 0-8272-2323-4 Ministering with the Earth is a quiltwork, both the on-the-ground activity and Moore's book about so ministering. Moore, professor of theology and Christian education at Claremont School of Theology, is fond of the metaphor, suitably pastoral and feminist.
- Remembered Voice: Reclaiming the Legacy of 'Neo-Orthodoxy' January 1, 1998 Book Reviews54 views By Douglas John HallWJKP. 1998. 145 pp. Pb. $18. ISBN 0-664-25772-0 It was in this order. I first read Tillich's Dynamics of Faith. Riveting. Next came The Courage to Be. Gripping. Then I went back and read the first volume of the Systematic Theology. Things began to make sense. Next came Biblical Religion and the Search for Ultimate Reality. Positive.
Rethinking evangelism January 30, 2019 Faith Matters1 comment Because many people now think evangelism means fundamentalists shouting on street corners, lots of mainline Protestant churches have backed away not only from the word but, sadly, from any meaningful practice of it.
Charlene Han Powell, executive pastor at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York, says she’s finally come to terms with the word and now wants to resurrect it in a way that mainliners can accept — not grudgingly, but enthusiastically.
Powell spoke about this recently to my home congregation in Kansas ...
Moving Forward Implementation Commission gets moving December 17, 2018 Outlook Reporting1 comment The Moving Forward Implementation Commission held its first meeting by conference call Dec. 17 – a time of introductions and presenting preliminary thoughts about what the commission is expected to do.
The 2018 General Assembly created the 12-person commission when it adopted the recommendations of the Way Forward Commission, giving the new commission the authority to take “any and all administrative actions as necessary” to implement the W...
All approved: Assembly approves recommendations from Way Forward, All Agency Review and report from Vision 2020 June 21, 2018 Outlook Reporting1 comment ST. LOUIS – With relatively little discussion and no drama, the General Assembly approved the recommendations of the Way Forward Commission and All Agency Review Committee.
While some commissioners struggled to understand the complexity of the proposals, those who have wrangled with these issues for months – and there’s been no shortage of drama there – have said they involve issues of power, control, accountability and trust.
The changes the assembly approved June 21 by a vote of 474-47 will mean governance of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), A Corporation – a secular corporation the church uses to ha...
Harvest announces executive committee will resign, more changes after MacDonald fired
The newsletter for a church in Ohio …
The newsletter for a church in Ohio announced: “The youth group will present Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ in the church fellowship hall at 7 p.m. The congregation is invited to attend this tragedy.” … [Read more...]
Outreach Foundation
The Outreach Foundation in Franklin, Tennessee, has put together a Leadership Training Center in Tete Province in Mozambique. This is serving to train leaders in the Northwest Province where four pastors work with over 70 churches. … [Read more...]
Wesley Granberg-Michaelson
“If there is a theme in what lies ahead for the church as we enter a new year, it is that the white Western Christian bubble that has powerfully shaped Christianity for the past four centuries is now beginning to burst. Future expressions of Christian faith will be shaped by its interactions with non-Western and nonwhite cultures.” – Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, author of “Future Faith: Ten Challenges Reshaping Christianity in the 21st Century” and former general secretary of the Reformed Church in America … [Read more...]
SDOP disburses over $150k for 10 self-help projects
LOUISVILLE (PNS) — The Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People (SDOP) has approved grants totaling $155,000 to fund 10 self-help projects in the United States and abroad. The national committee met recently to approve funding made possible through the One Great Hour of Sharing. SDOP enables members and non-members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to form partnerships with oppressed and disadvantaged people and help them achieve self-sufficiency. Self-Development of People committee members at La Mesa Presbyterian Church in Albuquerque, N.M. (Contributed photo) The projects and grant amounts include: Dexter Linwood-Cordon in Detroit, $15,000 to transform eight blocks of vacant land in an underserved urban community into an urban garden and community green space. The project will assist the low-income group and its community residents by offering an aesthetic environment that brings members and residents together. Additionally, the newly created storm … [Read more...]
Shalom Farms & UPSem: Cultivating food for life
Since the late spring of 2017, five acres of Union Presbyterian Seminary’s (UPSem) land has been under the care and cultivation of Shalom Farms, a nonprofit dedicated to helping address issues of food justice in Richmond, Virginia. The seminary leases this land to Shalom Farms rent-free in a partnership that enables each organization to pursue its own mission in new and generative ways. The roots of this collaboration stretch back to early 2015 when UPSem’s president, Brian Blount, and Shalom Farms’ executive director, Dominic Barrett, began having informal conversations about the possibility of Shalom Farms using some of the seminary’s land to grow food. As a seminary alumnus and Shalom Farms volunteer, I helped spur these conversations. “We had long wanted to have a significant agricultural presence and operation somewhere in the heart of the city, but only if we could find land and an arrangement that met several key factors,” recalled Barrett. “We wanted a large plot, good soil, … [Read more...]
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