The Compass Points Certification Program was developed by the Presbyterian Church Camp and Conference Association (PCCCA) in partnership with Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Ga.
DALLAS
The General Assembly Mid-Councils Commission has voted 15-5 to permit non-geographic, “provisional presbyteries” as part of a “designated season of reflective experimentation” in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
The General Assembly Mid-Councils Commission is calling for reviews of the denomination’s top-level agencies and its racial ethnic ministry.
You know about the front door, the one painted red. But you have three other doors as well. If you work all four doors, your church will grow and thrive.
Let’s take these doors one by one:
Jossey-Bass (a Leadership Network publication). 256 pages
reviewed by ANDREW PLOUCHER
What about the inactive members? Where’d they go? If you’ve ever asked this question, deflected it during a tense session meeting or been frustrated with the challenges of developing a more active church membership, “The Other 80 Percent” is a must read.
HarperOne, San Francisco. 208 pages
reviewed by MIKE LITTLE
Can our charitable efforts to help the poor actually harm the very people we set out to help? In his most recent book, “Toxic Charity: How Churches and Charities Hurt Those They Help,” Robert Lupton contends the answer is unequivocally “yes.” In fact, he believes the harmful consequences of our charitable work are a national scandal.
(ENInews) In Monrovia, Liberia's capital city, hundreds of civilians have been signing a petition that is seeking to make the West African country a Christian nation.
Starting in 2013, the Board of Pensions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) will begin offering benefits to same-gender domestic partners of those who are members of the board’s pension and other benefits plans.
A fifth candidate has emerged to stand for moderator of the 2012 General Assembly. Janet Edwards, co-moderator of More Light Presbyterians
from 2008-2011 and a Presbyterian minister for 35 years, has announced that she will stand for moderator, even though Pittsburgh Presbytery voted on Feb. 2 not to endorse her.
Edwards is a graduate of Yale Divinity School and earned a doctorate from Duquesne University. She currently is involved with Community of Reconciliation Church, a multi-denominational congregation in Pittsburgh, although she is not the pastor there. Edwards and her husband, Alvise, have been married for more than 30 years and have two sons.
Here’s the idea: start a new Presbyterian church. Progressive. Online.
Former General Assembly moderator Bruce Reyes-Chow and a small group of Presbyterian leaders from across the country have announced plans to plant a new church that would connect people primarily through social media.
Downey, Calif. (Special to the Presbyterian News Service) The Rev. Candie Blankman, pastor of the multi-cultural urban First Presbyterian Church of Downey, admits that her Midwestern, suburban and fairly homogenous small town upbringing might seem a world away from her current call.
Geneva (ENInews) The European Union's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton, urged Iran to release a Christian pastor sentenced to death for apostasy amid reports his execution may be imminent.
Despite the fact that this movie is really bad, there are some decidedly religious themes, which make it at least an idle curiosity.
“The Borrowers” was originally written in 1952, and there have been many literary and cinematic adaptations ever since, but the concept is a timeless one: the reason things keep disappearing around the house is that there are little people who live under the floor and “borrow” them. They don’t mean anyone any harm, they just take what they need and try to keep a low profile, so you never see them.
It’s the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). The entire country is in chaos. What began as a kind of populist “occupy movement” turned into a full-blown revolution, where family members took up arms against each other. After the fighting started there was no stopping it until the bitter end, and in that war there were many bitter endings.
Matt Weston (Ryan Reynolds) is one of those patriotic young Americans who think they're doing everything they're supposed to do.
The reason this is such a fantastic documentary is it doesn’t consist primarily of boring interviews and stultifying background information. This is almost pure performance art. And it’s unique.
There’s a reason that a certain set of movies is released at the end of the year, around Oscar voting time, and another set is released….sometime after. Right about now. Nobody even remotely expects this thing to win any awards for anything. But who cares? It’s Hollywood, so get the 3-D glasses, go buy some popcorn, bring the kids and lower your expectations and you’ll be fine.
Louisville (PNS) The Committee on the Office of the General Assembly and the General Assembly Mission Council’s (GAMC) Executive Committee are proposing to the upcoming 220th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) that the General Assembly per capita (per member) apportionment increase from its current $6.63 to $6.80 in 2013 and to $6.98 in 2014.
Louisville -- New Hope Presbyterian Church, in the Presbytery of Los Ranchos in Southern California, has been named winner of the 2012 Sam and Helen R. Walton Award.
SAN ANTONIO -- The General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission – the highest court in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) – has ruled that Presbyterian minister Jane Adams Spahr violated the denomination’s constitution when she performed same-gender marriages in California in 2008.
Don’t jump to conclusions. The Fellowship of Presbyterians has launched a new denomination, the Evangelical Covenant Order of Presbyterians (ECO), signaling yet another structural divide in the mainline Presbyterian Church family (see pp. 12-16). But it remains to be seen whether this will produce a split or just a splinter. That depends on us. All of us.
ORLANDO, Fla.
It appears that a relatively small number of congregations are ready to bolt the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) immediately to join the Evangelical Covenant Order of Presbyterians, a new denomination that the Fellowship of Presbyterians formed in January and which will begin accepting congregations as members April 1.
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