BIG TENT: Hoey aims to fill the tent
ATLANTA, June 12 – Eric Hoey knows that Presbyterian evangelism isn’t working; he has every intention of reversing that.
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BIG TENT: Carvalhaes calls Presbyterians to be “God’s hands in the world”
ATLANTA — Cláudio Carvalhaes’ parents met at a small independent Presbyterian church in Sao Paulo, Brazil, married, and then raised their four children in the heart of that same church.
BIG TENT: How big is big? Presbyterians gather in opening service of Big Tent
How big a tent does the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) need?[caption id="attachment_20625" align="alignright" width="360"]
Anna Carter Florence tells participants at the opening worship service of the Big Tent Conference in Atlanta Thursday night (June 11) how “big” the church’s tent should be. She is an associate professor of preaching at Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, Ga. OUTLOOK photo by Erin Dunigan.[/caption]
Alt7: You are the artwork. the artist. the art curator, Bronsink tells young pastors
“You are artwork. You are artists. You are curators,” Troy Bronsink, pastor of an emerging church new church development in Atlanta, told the Alt7 gathering of clergy under 40 at Montreat Conference Center on June 10.[caption id="attachment_20621" align="alignright" width="360"]
At the emergent worship celebration at the 2009 alt7 Conference at Montreat, participants prayed, sang, shared the bread and cup. Troy Bronsink, pastor of an emerging church new church development in Atlanta spoke to the group about creativity as an expression of faith and faith community while another young pastor, Aaron Doll of First Church in Brockport, N.Y., accompanied Bronsink’s words by creating a clay vessel. OUTLOOK photo by Erin Dunigan.[/caption]
Alt7 Conference: Edmiston: Moving traditional church into the 21st Century (in ten easy steps)
Editor’s note: This is the second of three reports from the Alt7 Conference at Montreat Conference Center, North Carolina, June 8-11.
How big a tent?
ATLANTA – How big a tent does the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) need?
Publishing Corp. launches new online resource
A new online resource center from the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation (PPC) was launched June 1.
First report from alt7: Reyes-Chow challenges younger pastors at opening of 2009 alt7 Conference
MONTREAT — “It’s time to step into being the church that we’ve been called into,” Moderator Bruce Reyes-Chow told a gathering of younger Presbyterian pastors June 8 at the opening worship service of the 2009 alt 7 Conference.[caption id="attachment_20615" align="alignright" width="338"]
Moderator Bruce Reyes-Chow shares a laugh with conference organizer Shawn Coons. [/caption]
Stewardship Conference at Big Tent to explore giving as spiritual practice
LOUISVILLE — Stewardship. "It's an odd word that garners mixed reactions from people," admits Jon Brown, director of mission interpretation for the General Assembly Council's Communications and Funds Development office and organizer of the Stewardship and Investment Conference that's part of the first-ever Big Tent event, June 11-13 in Atlanta.
Churches in Zambia uneasy about “deteriorating” press freedom
LUSAKA — (ENI) Church leaders in Zambia have joined a media watchdog in expressing concern about "deteriorating freedom of expression" in the country stemming from harassment of journalists belonging to The Post newspaper by supporters of the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy party.
Tutu says: Don’t forget people in Israel’s peace movement
GENEVA — (ENI) It is important to remember that "many people in Israel belong to the peace movement", a group that should not be forgotten, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu said this week.
UK churches ‘appalled’ at EU election gains for extremist party
LONDON — (ENI) Christian leaders in Britain have deplored gains made by the extreme right-wing British National Party in elections to the European Union parliament.
Three veteran Louisville employees part of OGA staff reduction
LOUISVILLE — The Office of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has announced a staff reduction. Three staff members accepted voluntary separation packages, another three positions were eliminated, and two new positions were created, to be filled in 2010.
It won’t last, unless …
“There is a new wind blowing through the sometimes musty halls of American Christian churches, and it is sweeping away the hypocrisy, lack of social concern, and unnecessary cultural baggage accumulated by the mainstream churches through the years.
Half of Americans change religious affiliations at least once, study finds
People sometimes speak of the General Assembly as the Presbyterian family reunion, as if everyone there grew up in the same general neck of the woods – or at least knows most of the branches of the clan.
“Who would Jesus bomb?” Young believers target nuclear weapons
This is their goal: to bring a worldwide end to nuclear weapons.
Reyes-Chow, Merritt hit Internet with “God Complex” on radio
During its second broadcast, the new “God Complex” radio show, a brand-new, bicoastal Internet radio venture featuring General Assembly moderator Bruce Reyes-Chow and blogger Carol Howard Merritt, took on the question of whether small churches can continue to afford an educated clergy.
Should News Service report or promote?
To report or to promote? That is the question the Presbyterian News Service is currently facing.
Boomer fathers and sons
“Son, I need to talk to you.” When Dad said these seldom-welcome words to his boomer son, I knew what was coming: either correction I did not want, or advice I did not think I needed.
Culture War without end
(ABP) — Over the last 10 years I have written two books and countless articles in which I suggested and hoped that the culture war between cultural conservatives and cultural liberals would — and should — end.
Reconstructing Christianity in China (K. H. Ting and the Chinese Church)
by Philip L. Wickeri. Orbis Books, Maryknoll, New York, 2007. Pb., 516 pp. $50. Published in cooperation with the American Society of Missiology.
Learning from two restaurants
My two favorite restaurants in New York City are Cafe con Leche, a plain Caribbean place at 96th and Amsterdam and, 10 blocks farther down Amsterdam, a tiny hamburger joint called Harriet’s Kitchen, which does mostly delivery business.
Kenyan religion leaders generally positive about Obama speech
NAIROBI — (ENI) Christian and Muslims leaders in Kenya have praised U.S. President Barack Obama's address to the Muslim world as motivating and conciliatory, though some Islamic scholars have urged him to back his words with action.
Obama praised for pushing religious freedom
(ENI/RNS)--President Barack Obama urged Islamic nations to recognize the importance of religious freedom and democratic values in his Cairo speech on June 4, but he failed to take a hard line on repressive laws, according to the chairwoman of a religious freedom watchdog panel, Religion News Service reports.
Roman Catholic sister named new dean at SFTS
San Anselmo, Calif. – Dr. Elizabeth Liebert will become the first Roman Catholic sister named as dean of a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) seminary this summer when she takes over the position at San Francisco Theological Seminary.