The Presbyterian Outlook

News and Articles from the The Presbyterian Outlook

Register Login Donate Subscribe

Top Search/Contact Area

  • Be A Fan

  • Follow Us

  • Photos

  • Pin It!

    • Home
      • About us
      • Advertise with the Outlook
      • Submissions
    • Presbyterian Hub
      • Editorials
      • Outlook Features
      • Digital Issues
      • Editor’s viewpoints
      • What’s right?
      • Let’s connect
    • News +
      Current Affairs
      • Outlook Reporting
      • Presbyterian News Service
      • Religion News Service
      • News from other sources
    • Ministry + Theology
      • InSights Opinions
      • Benedictory
      • Guest commentary
    • Faith + Culture
      • Book Reviews
      • He/She Said
      • Movie Reviews
    • Ministry Resources
      • Outlook Standard Lessons
      • Outlook Horizons Studies
      • Worship Resources
      • Looking into the lectionary
      • Bulletin Inserts
      • Webinars
      • Hymns
      • Faith Formation Resources
    • Outpost Blog
    • Classifieds
      • Classified advertising

    In a dramatic change from the past, assembly sails through Middle East issues

    June 23, 2018 by Mike Jennings Leave a Comment

    ST. LOUIS — It was close to midnight June 22 when J. Herbert Nelson, stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) sounding solemn, announced from the podium of the 223rd General Assembly that he thought the commissioners had just experienced something never before seen in the history of the church. “Thirty-five minutes to deal with the Middle East,” said Nelson, the church’s stated clerk. The laughter from the assembly floor was colored by the memory of prior years when divisions over how the church should contribute to peacemaking efforts in Israel-Palestine spilled over from committee meetings onto the assembly floor and often seemed to overshadow much of the other business commissioners had to deal with. The contrast with the speed and ease of the assembly’s handling of Middle East issues this year might have been a little misleading. The committee that dealt with those issues had some weighty matters to sort through, but its members were able to come to a … [Read more...]

    Tagged With: GA223 • Middle East

    Outlook Reporting Tags: GA223/ Middle East/ More News - Homepage

    PC(USA) joins with Salvadoran church to combat plague of gang violence

    June 21, 2018 by Mike Jennings Leave a Comment

    ST. LOUIS — Families who have suffered detention and separation from their children upon reaching the southern U.S. border have typically left behind a different, often deadly sort of trauma in their home countries in Central America. The 223rd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is partnering with a Salvadoran church to help reduce levels of gang-related violence in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador that have led families to flee those countries in fear for their own and their children’s lives. On June 21, the assembly passed an overture from the Presbytery of the Pacific that makes the PC(USA) a partner in working for region-wide and country-specific changes in policy sought by the Reformed Calvinist Church of El Salvador (IRCES). The vote to approve was 463-45. Changes called for by the assembly would include: assignment of a mission partner to help develop a refugee and immigration advocacy network; ensuring that leaders from the region get heard by the … [Read more...]

    Tagged With: GA223

    Outlook Features Tags: GA223/ More News - Homepage

    General Assembly condemns the government for separating children from their families

    June 21, 2018 by Mike Jennings Leave a Comment

    ST. LOUIS — Bart Smith, a teaching elder from De Cristo Presbytery, argued that “God’s people” should mince no words in calling out the federal government for separating children from their parents and detaining families in prison-like conditions. The 223rd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) endorsed that line of thinking June 21 with a 484-34 vote for a resolution that calls for an immediate end to the government’s zero-tolerance policy toward families illegally entering the United States. The resolution also calls for federal authorities to promptly reunite parents and children who have been separated and to place families “under the care of the community,” rather than in detention. The assembly approved an amendment Smith offered that puts a sharper edge on the resolution as passed by its Committee on Peacemaking, Immigration, and International Issues. The amendment condemns an executive order, newly issued by President Trump, that would end the separation of … [Read more...]

    Tagged With: GA223

    Outlook Reporting Tags: GA223/ More News - Homepage

    Panel agrees PC(USA) should defend right to boycott over human rights

    June 19, 2018 by Mike Jennings Leave a Comment

      ST. LOUIS — In its final day of work, the Middle East Issues Committee sent forward what its advocates call a free-speech measure — one that could potentially set the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) at odds with legislation that has drawn strong support in Congress. On June 19, the committee endorsed a call for the church to resist federal and state efforts to levy penalties for boycotts, divestments or sanctions (BDS) aimed at human rights violations in Israel and Palestine. The measure (overture 12-01, from the Synod of the Covenant) describes legislation embodied in Senate Bill 720 and House Resolution 1697 as a looming threat that would impose civil and criminal penalties for nonviolent BDS actions. The overture passed on a 50-2 vote with some slight change of wording. Like other actions passed by the committee, it will go next before the plenary session of the denomination’s 223rd General Assembly. Referring to the defense of free speech, one advocate told … [Read more...]

    Tagged With: GA223 • Israel/Palestine • Middle East

    Outlook Reporting Tags: GA223/ Israel/Palestine/ Middle East/ More News - Homepage

    Middle East panel endorses call on congregations to support “grassroots” peacemaking efforts

    June 19, 2018 by Mike Jennings Leave a Comment

    ST. LOUIS — The General Assembly’s Middle East Issues Committee sped smoothly through much of its agenda June 18. The only close votes were on a measure that calls on congregations to support grassroots peacemaking efforts and one that takes the RE/MAX real estate company to task for persisting in marketing property in Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Grassroots peacemaking Before endorsing this commissioners’ resolution, committee members questioned what the term “grassroots” peacemaking really means and examined arguments against the resolution offered by several advisory groups within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). One of them, the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy, accused the resolution’s authors of setting up “a false dichotomy between policy and grassroots action.” After deleting some other language that some members found puzzling, the Middle East panel voted 29-25 to send the measure forward to the General … [Read more...]

    Tagged With: GA223

    Outlook Reporting Tags: GA223/ More News - Homepage

    Human rights advocate claims death threat after speaking to General Assembly panel

    June 18, 2018 by Mike Jennings 3 Comments

    ST. LOUIS — Threats are nothing new for Bassem Eid. During his 26 years of investigating human rights abuses, he’s gotten a lot of them. He says he received another one on June 18, when he stepped outside a meeting room in the St. Louis Convention Center where he’d spoken in favor of a measure condemning both sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for indoctrinating and exploiting children in ways that perpetuate violence and hatred. Eid, 60, is a rare sort of human rights activist — a Palestinian who speaks out as vehemently against Palestinian abuses as he does against those committed by Israelis. After speaking to a committee of the 223rd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), he said, a young man approached him, accused him of being a Palestinian Zionist and told him in Arabic that he would kill him. “He said that he’s Palestinian,” gave a name and claimed he was a relative, Eid said. “I know the family, but I don’t know that that’s his real name,” he … [Read more...]

    Tagged With: GA223 • Israel/Palestine

    Outlook Reporting Tags: GA223/ Israel/Palestine/ More News - Homepage

    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • …
    • 5
    • Next Page »

    Current Issue

    • Feb 22
    • Feb 8
    • January 18
    • Dec 28
    • Subscribe
    • Give a Gift
    • Read Online
    • Most Commented
    • Most Popular
    • GA meeting site in Baltimore to be converted into field hospital A decision may be getting closer about whether to hold the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) – set...
    • Moving Forward Implementation Commission takes administrative action The Moving Forward Implementation Commission voted June 18 to take administrative action in five areas — with some of the...
    • Debate over relationship between San Francisco Theological Seminary and the PC(USA) may rise at General Assembly  When is a historically Presbyterian seminary no longer a "Presbyterian seminary”? That question is on the docket for the 224th General...
    • Churches go back to the future with drive-in services in the time of the coronavirus (RNS) — When it came time to pass the peace Sunday at Pathway Baptist Church, Senior Pastor Mike Donald didn’t...
    • Advent devotions — 2020 (Year B) Advent time: Devotions for the congregation Are you looking for theologically sound, inspiring and affordable Advent devotions for the congregation? The Presbyterian...
    • PC(USA) General Assembly affirms that Black lives matter; pledges to work against systemic racism The 2020 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) voted overwhelmingly June 26 to approve a resolution declaring that Black...

    Keep the Faith

    Sign Up for Updates and Breaking News in your inbox

    Facebook

    Tweets by presoutlook
    Follow Us

    View Stories From

    • Presbyterian Hub
      • Editorials
      • Outlook Features
      • Digital Issues
      • Calendar Check
      • About People
        • Anniversaries
        • Ordinations
        • Retired
        • Deaths
        • Transitions
      • Archives
    • Faith + Culture
      • Book Reviews
      • Movie Reviews
      • He/She Said
    • Ministry + Theology
      • InSights Opinions
        • For Church Leaders
        • Faith Matters
        • Multichannel Church Report
        • #amen
        • Commentary
        • Benedictory
      • Liturgical Year
        • Advent
        • Lent

    The Latest:

    Holy promises — Christian ed at home

    February 24, 2021

    I’m wrestling with the COVID-19 vaccine…

    February 24, 2021

    Prophets of restoration (Apr. 4, 2021)

    February 23, 2021

  • Tweet With Us
  • Be A Facebook Fan
  • Our World in Photos
  • Pin With Us
  • CONTACT US:

    1 N. 5th St., Suite 500

    Richmond, VA 23219

    T: 800-446-6008F: 804-353-6369

    [email protected]

    Or ▶ Fill Out Our Contact Form

    © Copyright 2021 The Presbyterian Outlook. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Statement. Website Design by Poka Yoke Design

    • About us
    • Presbyterian Hub
    • Ministry Resources
    • Classifieds
    • Advertise with the Outlook
    • Submissions
    7ads6x98y