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Holy Week resources and reflections

Peace and quiet

WEST LAFAYETTE, IN -- Ever seen absolute silence out of 4,500 teenagers? After a week of vociferous, raucous, celebratory worship services at..

Going home

WEST LAFAYETTE, IN -- More than 4,400 Presbyterian teenagers headed for home Sunday (July 22) after a "mountaintop experience" at the 2007..

Bringing the multicultural church to life

LOUISVILLE -- It wasn't your typical snapshot of a gathering of Presbyterians, or Lutherans or members of the Reformed Church in America, for that matter.

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), and the Reformed Church in America (RCA) joined together to sponsor and plan "A Racial Ethnic Multicultural Event" in Los Angeles, July 12-14.

The gathering of more than 600 people included a multitude of cultures, races, languages, traditions, and ages. With the theme "Spirit of Wholeness in Christ" as their backdrop, participants worshiped, danced, sang, studied and discussed what it means to be a multicultural church -- not only on paper but also in reality.

Delivering first-night sermons were the Rev. Bruce Menning, the RCA's director of global mission; Mark Hanson, presiding bishop of the ELCA; and the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the General Assembly of the PC(USA).

Alluding to the Pentecost event in Acts 2, Hanson expressed hoped that the gathering would be a "three-day binge, not on the fruit of the vine, but on the Holy Spirit." Kirkpatrick added that the church today "desperately needs your particular gifts" if the church is to be "passionately on fire for the gospel."

Johnson — Vermeer ask for prayer after Pakistan crises

The people of Pakistan have faced a series of crises in recent weeks and face daunting continuing circumstances, according to a report this week from Robert Johnson and Marianne Vermeer, mission co-workers in that country with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

The siege at Islamabad's Red Mosque has ended, but tensions are high and some expect northern and western parts of the country, where the Taliban movement is strong, to experience further violence, according to Johnson and Vermeer. "This is a real fear, and this country needs your prayers for peace to reign," they write.

In addition to this crisis, several natural disasters also have occurred.

Commissioned Lay Pastors and the Book of Order

It is high time that the Book of Order has a unified, single chapter on the Commissioned Lay Pastor.

I say this because there is presently no such unified chapter and issues may arise that require constitutional guidance.  Some say that the Book of Order is already too big, and it may be. That being said, since the use by the denomination of lay pastors seems to be on the increase, we could well have a better sense of direction about several matters.

At present, in the Book of Order, there is one brief section about these important church employees, (G-14.08000 and following.) The section on the minister of Word and Sacrament is familiar and extensive. It deals with the whole process of preparation from inquiry to ordination (G-6.0100 and G-14.0300 and following.) Educational requirements for the minister of Word and Sacrament are well laid out. Presbyteries have a Committee on Preparation for Ministry which, if well led and staffed, can guide the potential minister through the hoops, sometimes blazing, which lead to the final destination of readiness for a call.

From that point on, the Committee on Ministry takes over.

20 minutes with Harry Hassall

 

Editor's Note: Harry Hassall, retired pastor and resident of Franklin, Tenn., has spearheaded the development of the Wee Kirk Conference ministry program that has been operating for nearly 30 years. Outlook editor Jack Haberer recently sat down with Mr. Hassall to talk about the support of wee kirks.

 

JH: When I met you about 20 years ago, you were serving as associate pastor in one of the largest churches in the PC(USA). Yet you have a heart for wee kirks. Tell us about that. 

HH: Before going to Dallas, I had served 16 small churches, beginning with [the third week of] my first year at Centre College in Kentucky. ... That particular month I started working in McDonald Center in what was called the Knobs -- a patch of bad land in the beautiful blue grass area of central Kentucky. The people who lived there were poverty-stricken, ... doing subsistence farming, and suddenly this city boy  -- I did grow up in Nashville, in a middle-size church of 500 or 600 ... found myself in a group of 20 people out in the country, hardly able to scratch a living. Through that experience I became a Knobby, that is, I began to see life from the perspective of a person who did not have adequate sources of income and living nor of church life.

From that point on I served other churches wherever I was. Even at Highland Park, I served two small churches utilizing two interns and my own self to minister and care for the people there. It's just been a part of me.

Synod overturns Sacramento Presbytery post-PUP policies

SACRAMENTO -- The Synod of the Pacific handed down a ruling June 20 that overturns all four policies adopted by the Sacramento Presbytery as it sought to respond to actions of the 2006 General Assembly. 

At stake were four resolutions approved at the SP's called meeting last Sept. 9.  The presbytery voted 1) to require all candidates for ordination, installation, and or membership in the Presbytery to comply with all standards in the Constitution, i.e., allowing no "scruples;" 2) to not receive into membership, nor recognize as a member, any minister who had been ordained elsewhere, "under a scruple that is taking exception to any of the ordination standards;" 3) to allow churches to withhold per capita support of upper governing bodies and not to make up the difference for doing so; and 4) to allow congregations wishing to leave the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to go with their property,

All four resolutions were overturned by the synod's permanent judicial commission. 

Horizons Bible study author elected vice-president of RCA synod

CarolBechtel.JPGCarol Bechtel has been elected vice-president of the General Synod of the Reformed Church in America. The election was held June 11 at the General Synod meeting on the campus of Central College in Pella, Iowa.

She will serve a one-year term for the denomination's top governing body along with president, John Ornee. He is pastor of Peace Church in Zeeland, Mich.

Bechtel is professor of Old Testament at Western Theological Seminary and attends Hope Church in Holland, Mich. She also is author of Above and Beyond: Hearing God's Call in Jonah and Ruth, the 2007-08 Horizons Bible study published by Presbyterian Women.               

 

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