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.
Some common understandings would have folks believe that ministers are not exactly happy campers. Say “pastor,” and some folks jump to the conclusion of “burned out, isolated, lonely, and frustrated.”
Twenty-five years ago, the two denominations that came together to become the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) named the ten theological schools and said this about them: “The reunited church has continuing responsibility for its institutions of theological education.
When Giddings-Lovejoy Presbytery in St. Louis, Mo., partnered with the country of Peru through the Joining Hands Network of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), it seemed no more than a random pairing, desired, but not providential.
They had turned in their two-year assignment on time, expecting to be dismissed with thanks, but the New Form of Government Task Force regrouped and restarted their efforts for a second two years, meeting August 21-22 in Arlington, Va.
Seminaries: the schools you hate to love.
Most pastors deeply appreciate their respective theological alma maters (see report on p. 10). They thank God for the superior scholarship, for their favorite faculty-mentors’ attentiveness, and for the community spirit they experienced.
The title of this film implies one of those spy thrillers that keeps everybody guessing about who everybody really is, featuring tense drama, split-second timing, thrilling chase sequences, and highly intelligent secret agents operating at the peak of their professional powers. Well, “Burn After Reading” is kind of the opposite of all that.
LOUISVILLE — The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)-backed Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) https://www.ciw-online.org assisted authorities in the investigation and prosecution of one of the largest slavery cases ever in Southwest Florida.
LOUISVILLE — Leaders of new immigrant ministries in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) will gather here this week with representatives of the church’s middle governing bodies to talk about how to extend and strengthen the denomination’s outreach to new immigrants.
The District Court for Tulsa County, Okla. today (September 9) granted summary judgment in favor of Eastern Oklahoma Presbytery and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and denied the motion for summary judgment of Kirk of the Hills Church in Tulsa, Judge Jefferson Sellers enforced the decision of the Presbytery's Administrative Commission and ordered Kirk of the Hills to convey the church's real and personal property to Eastern Oklahoma Presbytery (https://www.eokpresbytery.org/.)
I must have Beijing on my mind. But if you can stand a sports metaphor, church management is more like a basketball game than a gymnastics exercise.
Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy by Donald B. Kraybill, Steven M. Nolt, and David L. Weaver-Zercher. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.: 2007. Hb., 203 pp., $24.95.
At the close of the 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) the moderator, Bruce Reyes-Chow, invited us to stand and sing a closing hymn. The crowd, which had dwindled down to just a few hundred, obediently stood, but in an awkward silence. There was no one to lead us.
The recent Outlook article, “Doing good, doing better: Short-term mission more than a trip,” by Leslie Scanlon (July 7, 2008) raised issues anyone who takes mission trips seriously has struggled with. As a Christian educator, I have been leading mission trips from churches for more than 15 years. Here are some of the conclusions I have reached.
You may be surprised that missionary could be in need of rehabilitating, but some readers will have a visceral aversion to hearing this word. It is time to reconsider what we call those who represent the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in international cross-cultural mission.
Spike Coleman, a pastor from Charleston, S.C., has seen what a lot of other Presbyterians have seen: the neighborhood around his church is changing.
Compelling calls for Presbyterians to move beyond attitudes and practices that hinder active mission involvement came from numerous speakers and seminar leaders at the third annual gathering of the Presbyterian Global Fellowship, August 14-16 in Long Beach, Calif. Approximately 1,000 persons attended.
So where does that road go that’s paved with good intentions?
Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Is George Lucas finally getting to do a “Star Wars” movie, with all the special effects he wants, without having to mess with the human element at all?
To the member churches of the Caribbean and North American Area Council of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, its steering committee, heads of Communions, ecumenical officers, delegates, CANACOM partners, WARC executive committee members residing in this region:
LOUISVILLE — (PNS) This past month was full of adventure.
LOUISVILLE — Hurricane Gustav ripped the roof from a Presbyterian church north of Baton Rouge, La., and a manse in Natchez, Miss., was heavily damaged by falling trees.
PHILADELPHIA — The Board of Pensions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has announced that it will continue to offer the Mayo Clinic Health Assessment, a benefit for active Medical Plan members and spouses designed to encourage members and their families to engage in preventive healthcare, thereby improving their overall health and helping contain healthcare costs.
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