In many ways, I believe the new Form of Government is moving in the right direction. If it has a fatal flaw, it is in focusing on some matters and not on others. It toys with recurrent issues such as should an interim or an associate be allowed to become the next pastor but ignores the fact that the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has an expensive and crumbling infrastructure.
The 218th General Assembly has referred to the presbyteries and sessions for study and comment a proposed comprehensive revision of our Form of Government. As a member of the task force that prepared the document, let me share some background and encouragement for that study.
The Presbyterian Outlook Editor Jack Haberer’s recent series of three cogent, thought-provoking essays reflecting on the ordination standards controversy offers an excellent framework for constructive dialogue among Presbyterians with disparate perceptions of the issues and how they might be resolved. Particularly noteworthy was his typology that separates us into three groups rather than the usual two: conservative-evangelicals, liberal-progressives, and centrist-ecclesiasts.
Russian novelist Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who died August 3, defiantly battled despair. He had been enslaved in Lenin’s concentration camps, which stretched like an octopus over the former Soviet Union. Solzhenitsyn graphically described this bleak penal system in his novel The Gulag Archipelago, first published in the 1970s.
In the aftermath of General Assembly we have been treated to yet another season of comment on the actions taken.
Nurturing a healthy congregation comes requires balance, not putting all of your energy and resources into a single program or objective.
Did you notice, in the Sept. 1 edition of the Outlook, the curious juxtaposition of our extolling the Presbyterian way of life, while half the news section focused on the Anglican way of life? No, I wouldn’t trade our elders and deacons for their bishops. But those bishops were making news.
At the fifth annual meeting of the Association for Reformed & Liturgical Worship (AR&LW), 45 participants gathered on the campus of Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Ga., (July 30 – August 1), to initiate a three-year plan, “To Strengthen the Church in Forming Leaders for Worship.”
Editor's Note: This report and reflection from a Houston-area pastor both tells about their local situation and about a study of Psalm..
HOUSTON — (PNS) Up to six national response team members from Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) headed to Houston Thursday (Sept. 18) to start the formal assessment of damage and needs following Hurricanes Ike and Gustav.
LOUISVILLE — With the political rhetoric heating up as the U.S. moves closer to election day, it is even more imperative for churches to speak up as advocates for immigrants and a more humane immigration policy in the country, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s top immigration attorney said Sept. 12.
Leading religious officials today (September 16) signed an interfaith statement calling for not just a charitable response but for justice through long-term human rights-based recovery policy to help Gulf Coast families.
BERN, SWITZERLAND — (ENI) A meeting of theologians, including Christian Palestinians, as well as Europeans and North Americans involved in Jewish-Christian dialogue, has warned against using the Bible to justify oppression in the present-day Middle East.
BANGALORE — (ENI) Churches in India have deplored a series of attacks on Christian places of worship in the southern state of Karnataka, and have called for measures to protect minorities in the world's second most populous nation.
LOUISVILLE — In 1996, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) adopted a goal to reach 20 percent racial ethnic membership by the year 2010. At the time, that percentage was less than 4 percent.
LOUISVILLE — The world and the church are changing so fast that Presbyterians are faced with a crucial question, General Assembly Moderator Bruce Reyes-Chow told the opening gathering of the 2008 New Immigrant Ministries here Sept. 11.
In a recent budget discussion, I noted that the future of our church didn’t depend on spending. We can’t buy health or growth or a mission worth pursuing. Instead, we must encourage people to give away their lives on behalf of others. That will include money, but the heart of it won’t be expense items. The heart will be community, acceptance, sharing, listening, engaging, loving.
So … do you want a revolution? Whoop whoop! Say, do you want a revolution? Whoop whoop! These lyrics – composed by the great gospel singer Kirk Franklin – are set to an infectious beat that helps disprove the reputation of Presbyterians as the “frozen chosen.”
by Robert Jewett in collaboration with Ole Wangerin. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2008. Pb., 272 pp. $22.
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)-related seminaries and additional affiliated theological schools report the following updates and events as they begin the new academic year:
Editor’s Note: This article is the first part of a two-part series. The second part will appear in the next Outlook edition.
We live in an iPod world! You see these little units everywhere. They come in many colors, can be used in about any place, with users of all ages marked by the common feature of the ear plugs and the dangling cord that transports listeners into the wonders the little box produces!
Visitors to the University of Dubuque (Iowa) Theological Seminary often seek out a certain farmstead just a few miles away in Dyersville. There in the quiet countryside, surrounded by row after row of Iowa corn, is the baseball diamond created for the 1989 movie “Field of Dreams.”
In the midst of chaos strong leaders take time to see beyond worrisome symptoms and distressing situations by recognizing emerging opportunities and rising leaders.
I’ve been asked to provide a mid-course view of theological education from the perspective of the student in one of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) seminaries. Having recently seen my 20-year high school reunion come and go, I have a slight fear that such thoughts might prove in hindsight to be as embarrassing as an old high school yearbook picture, but I offer them nonetheless.
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