The World Council of Churches (WCC) is accepting applications now for its 2009 Stewards Program, Aug. 19- Sept. 4 in Geneva, Switzerland, in conjunction with the meeting of the WCC’s Central Committee.
(ENI) The former general secretary of the All Africa Conference of Churches, Mvume Dandala, has been nominated as the presidential candidate of a breakaway faction of South Africa's ruling African National Congress in the country's April 22 elections.
So how goes the voting on ordination standards for Presbyterian ministers, elders and deacons? An article written by Leslie Scanlon appearing in this week’s edition of The Presbyterian Outlook reported the latest vote tallies as the magazine went to print. But the tallies have changed considerably since then.
Now he’s gone and done it. Clark Cowden, the executive presbyter of San Diego Presbytery has questioned the structure of our General Assemblies. He has said that the whole week of deliberation and decision-making is broken (p. 11).
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is in the midst of voting, yet again, on whether to ordain sexually-active gays and lesbians.
ORLANDO (ABP) — Youth from three Christian denominations spent Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend exploring the commonalities of their faiths through worship, education, and community-building activities.
CONROE, Texas (ABP) — A former Texas Baptist convention employee and her husband of 47 years have started a Web site (www.bwebaptist.com) urging Baptist women to speak up for their rights to be ordained as deacons and senior pastors.
The Executive Orders by President Barack Obama on January 22 — to close Guantanamo, to end harsh interrogations, and to abolish secret prisons — represent a huge step forward and are truly cause for rejoicing.
The General Assembly week is broken. It can no longer accomplish what it needs to.
Many of our Presbyteries are giving priority to transformation and the need for new faithfulness in our churches.
Editor’s Note: This past year the Outlook Web site, www.pres-outlook.org, was upgraded to include Facebook, blogging, sermon wiki, and the DecentlyAndInOrder DIGG site, to help us Presbyterians enhance our connectionalism with the newest Web 2.0 technologies.
The circle of graduates in their blue robes and caps, kneel in a circle for one more prayer time together before leaving the campus.
We have all heard it. Many of us received lectures concluded by the decisive declaration, “Experience is the best teacher!”
Only a few weeks ago Christians joyfully remembered the birth of Jesus Christ.
Mark 8:31-38
Editor’s Note: This devotional is the second of seven to run in the Outlook in observance of the 2009 Lenten season. They are based on the lectionary texts for each week.
They say a pastor at Church of the Heavenly Rest, on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, built his congregation by standing outside the doors on Sunday morning and inviting passers-by to come inside.
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Katharine Henderson[/caption] Katharine Rhodes Henderson, who’s been selected as the new president of Auburn Theological Seminary, grew up a child of the Presbyterian Church. And now her work at Auburn focuses on training leaders who can serve effectively in a multi-faith, quickly-changing world.
The board of directors of Auburn Theological Seminary in New York City has named Katharine Rhodes Henderson, currently the seminary’s executive vice-president, as its new president, effective July 1.
PHILADELPHIA — Given the political reactions to the proposed stimulus package and market uncertainty about “TARP II,” the immediate future for the economy is not a rosy one.
LOUISVILLE — A new documentary — John Calvin: His Life and Legacy — reexamines the life and thought of the seminal Protestant Reformer as the 500th anniversary of his birth approaches in July of this year.
SAN DIEGO — The Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People (SDOP) has approved grants totaling $301,710 to 12 self-help projects in the United States.
I know there are exceptions to what I’m about to say, but if I were to fault Mainline Protestant churches, it would be because of their failure to prepare thoughtful theological responses to people’s pain.
Christopher Hitchens, God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. Twelve/Hachette Book Group, 2007. Hb., 307 pp. $24.99.
John F. Haught, God and the New Atheism: A Critical Response to Dawkins, Harris, and Hitchens. WJKP, 2008. Pb., 156 pp. $16.95.
Tina Beattie, The New Atheists: The Twilight of Reason and the War on Religion. Orbis, 2008. Pb., 209 pp. $20.
Mark 1:9-15
Editor’s Note: This devotional is the first of seven to run in the Outlook in observance of the 2009 Lenten season. They are based on the lectionary texts for each week.
The most effective Membership Development Program will be balanced.
Churches will give equal emphasis to recruitment, retention, and transformation. Put another way, that means equal emphasis on helping people through the front door, helping them to avoid the back door, and helping them to discover the new life that they probably came seeking.
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