Creating and curating trustworthy resources for the church, the Presbyterian Outlook connects disciples of Jesus Christ through compelling and committed conversation for the proclamation of the Gospel.
Trust is increasingly raised as an issue in our denomination. For instance, those who oppose the proposed Form of Government are saying that where trust is a problem, as it is in the church now, we should not reduce the rules under which we operate in favor of greater discretion.
When the General Assembly commissioners* take up proposals regarding sexual orientation and practice, three questions will hang in the air.
This coming General Assembly can correct a false categorical declaration the Assembly made in 1978 — “that the practice of homosexuality is sin.”
The Presbyterian Outlook cover picture of a closing door (March 10 issue) does capture the immediate and frankly sad meaning of the February judicial decision about fidelity and chastity in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), but not all of it.
I was newly ordained, and the opportunity to attend my first national assembly was no small thing. We rented the largest car we could, and piled in as many of our leaders as would reasonably fit, so several of us could go to the convention.
I didn’t grow up in a family of faith, much less in the Presbyterian tradition. I grew up in a Northern California town with only one church, a community church.
Editor’s Note: The author wrote the following article in response to Agnes Norfleet’s Benedictory column, “Thank God for PKs” in the March 10, 2008, Outlook.
Revisions to the statement, “Vigilance against Anti-Jewish Ideas and Bias,” prepared by the Office of Interfaith Relations of the PCUSA, have drawn sharp criticism from three American Synagogue leaders.
A popular service is available again! Prepared by our award-wining news team this half-page (both sides) summary of key events is ideal..
LOUISVILLE — Halfway through her first four-year term, General Assembly Council (GAC) Executive Director Linda Valentine is already eager for more.
JEFFERSONVILLE, IND — Fifteen semi-finalists have been announced in the inaugural Youth Video Challenge sponsored by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Foundation on its social networking site, ymiLIVE.org
Jan DeVries, Synod executive for the Synod of the Southwest notified the Presbyterian Foundation June 4 that the Synod had voted to withdraw its proposed Overture 85 from the 218th GA agenda. The leadership of the Presbyterian Foundation responded with a statement in appreciation of the Synod's decision.
Bob Leech, President and CEO of the Foundation was encouraged by the decision of Conrad Rocha, Synod Moderator and the Rev. DeVries to recommend a withdrawal of the overture from the GA's business agenda and the Synod's subsequent vote to affirm such action.
When I told some New York friends recently that Memorial Day weekend would find me eating fried chicken in the Paddock at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, watching the 92nd running of the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, they were shocked.
We have not yet met but I look forward to greeting you (N. Scott Cupp). Already I am in your debt. You gave the time to listen to my speech repeatedly and the time to write a response. Further you say you found it very interesting and are appreciative of much that it says. Add to this my ready admission that listening to the speech cannot have been a pleasant experience if one identifies ones self with the progressive camp. Thank you for your grace.
Ever since the November article in the Layman quoting you (Jerry Andrews) from Gathering X came out, I have wrestled with whether or not to write in response to that article. I then listened to your speech (several times) … and I appreciated much of what you had to say. Recognizing that it was intended to buck up the troops, it left many questions unanswered for those who were not there and yet were painted by your broad brush.
Editor’s Note: In order to help overview peacemaking, justice and environmental initiatives coming before the General Assembly, the Outlook invited Ron Kernaghan of Fuller Seminary, co-chair of the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy (ACSWP) and Chris Iosso, coordinator of ACSWP, to allow our readers to listen in to a conversation between them on the related proposed legislation.
This year we observe the hundredth anniversary of the so-called “Social Creed of the Churches,” adopted in 1908 at the founding of the Federal Council of Churches. Frank Mason North, who in 1904 had written the hymn “Where Cross the Crowded Ways of Life,” proposed it. Charles Stelzle, a Presbyterian engaged in ministry to working people in New York, seconded the motion.
The four declared candidates for moderator of the 218th General Assembly (2008) were together for the first time in two back-to-back forums on April 25 held at Presbyterian-related Bloomfield College in Bloomfield, N.J., and Lawrenceville Church in Lawrenceville, N.J.
Well, this is our all new blogging system. I hope you all like it. Please check out the link to My Blog..
By way of disclosure, I am well into my 74th year, and have been a Presbyterian all of my life, first in the old Northern church, then the United Church in the North, then the old Southern Church, then the Northern Church (in the South), the Southern Church (in the almost North), and finally our present Presbyterian denomination. I have served as a deacon in two of those denominations, and a pastor in three of them. I was raised in a congregation with history that stretched back to the early 1700s, and in my teenage years I was
"Women Blaze an Interfaith Trail: Two teachers become first Jewish female and first Muslim female to receive advanced degrees from Catholic Theological Union," and "She's First Jewish Graduate of Catholic Theological Union" were headlines in The Chicago Tribune and The Chicago Sun-Times on May 15.
On May 15 the California Supreme Court affirmed the rights of same gender couples to the legal protections and responsibilities of marriage. Not coincidentally, in 1948 it was the California Supreme Court that first extended equal protections to interracial couples — a full sixty years ago, twenty years before Loving v. Virginia declared all miscegenation laws unconstitutional. The ruling will go into effect thirty days after the decision.
An overture to this year’s General Assembly from Grace Presbytery is raising questions about the continued use of the General Assembly Per Capita Assessment as part of the church’s mission funding system.
George Orwell’s classic essay, “Politics and the English Language,” makes the telling point that language “becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts.”1
This article discusses four problems posed by the draft revision of the Form of Government, now before the 2008 General Assembly. My aim is to improve the document, not criticize it. We all want a church government that is simple, clear, dynamic, workable in the 21st century, and faithful to our Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
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