Constitutional Services issues advisory on GAPJC ruling

The Constitutional Services section of the office of the General Assembly, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.,) has issued an advisory on the recent rulings of the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Council on ordination standards.  It states:

In 2006, the 217th General Assembly adopted an Authoritative Interpretation (AI) of G-6.01081 in the Book of Order that clarified the relative powers of the governing bodies within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). This AI was affirmed and clarified by the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission (GAPJC) in February 2008 in the opinions found in three cases.2,3,4

Council considers “Mission Work Plan,”range of financial, ministry issues

LOUISVILLE -- It's a season of reconfiguration for the General Assembly Council of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) -- with new leadership and a new structure.

At its meeting in Louisville Feb. 13-15, the council approved a new "Mission Work Plan" that will guide its work for the next four years, although details of the PC(USA)'s budget for 2009 and 2010 won't be presented until the council meets again April 23-25.

Presbyterian Colleges and Seminaries

Presbyterian Colleges and Seminaries Listed below are colleges and universities of various levels which are affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA).  Click..

‘Souper Bowl’ scores record $9.5 million; Presbyterians top $1 million

LOUISVILLE -- Souper Bowl of Caring officials say Presbyterian churches collected more than $1 million in last month's annual anti-hunger campaign.

As of March 5, organizers say, 2,356 Presbyterian churches nationwide had raised $1,001,523 -- and collections haven't been fully reported. The total marks the second straight year that Presbyterian collections broke the $1 million mark.

So far some 14,654 organizations and congregations from a variety of U.S. religious denominations have reported collecting a record $9.5 million, according to Souper Bowl officials.

NNPCW Scholarship Fund applications deadline April 11

Young Presbyterian women may be eligible for the National Network of Presbyterian College Women (NNPCW) Scholarship Fund program. The deadline for 2008 applications is April 11.

         The NNPCW's scholarship program helps equip young women to be leaders in both church and society. Three scholarships are offered this year: one $1,000 scholarship for an NNPCW member active in empowering women on her campus and two $1,500 scholarships for new immigrant women pursuing a college education.

Presbyterians gather at United Nations to lift up women’s issues

A cross-section of Presbyterians are currently taking part in a United Nations-based effort to raise the status of women.

            Thirty-two Presbyterians representing Presbyterian Women, the National Network of Presbyterian College Women, Racial Ethnic Young Women Together and Presbyterian Men are participating in the 52nd session of the Commission on the Status of Women, a body of the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

Resignations at Latin American Council ‘painful’, says church leader

Geneva (ENI) -- Observers of the Latin American Council of Churches say the sudden resignations of its general secretary, the Rev. Israel Batista, and six other staff may reflect disagreements about the direction of the region's biggest church grouping.

The council's board of directors announced in February that the staff had tendered their resignations at a board meeting held that month in Panama. It made no mention of any reasons given by the staff.

The resignations came as the board of directors was to carry out an evaluation of the Quito-headquartered organization's three-year plan.

U.S. church leaders ask Rice to address crisis in Gaza

New York (ENI) -- A group of U.S. church leaders has asked that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice directly address the crisis over the Gaza Strip in her planned visit to the Middle East this week.

The leaders of Anglican, Orthodox, Protestant, and Unitarian Universalist churches and Roman Catholic religious humanitarian groups on February 29 sent a letter to Rice. They urged her to 'to take urgent action to address the still unresolved Gaza crisis'. This crisis, the leaders, said 'is hindering progress on the peace process and also create conditions that pose a particular threat to the small Christian community in Gaza."

Looking Ahead: The unfulfilled dreams of Presbyterian reunion

Anniversaries are important to Presbyterians. It is often my privilege as stated clerk to send official certificates to Presbyterian congregations when they celebrate anniversary milestones. These requests have come in abundance in recent years, a sign that our congregations take seriously their heritage, want to reconnect to their founding dreams, and make fresh commitments to live them out in a new time.

Peace witness set for March 7 in nation’s capital

WASHINGTON -- People of faith from a variety of religious
traditions -- including Christians, Jews and Muslims -- will
join here in a day of worship and witness in opposition to
the war in Iraq on March 7

Looking Around: A sounding bell

Speaking of what distinguishes the Reformed from the Lutheran confessional traditions, Karl Barth stated, "[T]he significance of the confession in the Reformed church consists in its essential nonsignificance, its obvious relativity, humanity, multiplicity, mutability, and transitoriness. One could describe the Reformed confession in its totality the way Schiller spoke of the bell: 'And as the mighty sound it gives/Dies gently on the listening ear/We feel how quickly all that lives/Must change, and fade, and disappear.' In point of fact, the Reformed confession is a fading bell stroke ... a disappearing shadow."1 

Looking Around: We were there

In the beginning God created a man. It seems that pretty quickly God knew that if that's all there was there wouldn't be any more and so ... woman. Humankind in two forms with infinite variations. Size and color, habitat and interests, aptitudes and preferences and ... well, look at just your relatives and add to the list. God's plan. Our destiny.

It's taking quite a long time for all of us to get the big picture and maybe in this life we'll never get all that God intended but we still have to keep trying and celebrating whatever and whenever we do get it right.

Looking Around: The renewed promise of Montreat

Who can imagine how the things we call ideas live in the world, or how they change, or how they perish, or how they are renewed?1

Marilynne Robinson's question frames an essay on Montreat as a place of significant Christian influence in the Presbyterian Church in the United States, and since reunion, also in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The Conference Center in this privileged Presbyterian village near Asheville, N.C., has experienced rebirth in the past few years. Under the leadership of George Barber, an accountant who has just finished his tenure as president, the Conference Center (with the oversight of the Mountain Retreat Association Board) was put on a firm financial footing. More than $20 million in pledges and deferred giving have been secured for the Center during a time when General Assembly funding has dried up.  That is a remarkable achievement in which the church can rejoice.