Five Presbyterian ‘accompaniers’ being sent to Barranquilla

PNS) Five more Presbyterians have been commissioned by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s Colombia Network to accompany Colombian church, union and displaced leaders who are threatened by death squads for their work in human rights.

At its May 9-11 meeting in Chicago, the network set eight different goals for its work, some intended to directly assist churches in Colombia, others targeting U.S. corporations for study. Jo Ella Holman, WMD's liaison to the network, led a group discussion about reported abusive labor practices.

Continuing accompaniment -- and stepped-up recruitment -- were high on the agenda, as well as debate about how to address labor practices in Coca- Cola's bottling facilities in Colombia, where some union organizers reportedly have been intimidated or killed. Sixteen U.S. Christians have completed accompaniment training so far, and a third training program is planned in Washington, DC, in mid-July.

German-born Pope Benedict, sensitive to war, urges peace

RNS) Pope Benedict XVI said May 12 that living through the "devastating and inhuman ideologies" of Nazism and communism in his native Germany has made him "particularly sensitive" to the need to seek peace through dialogue.

Benedict made the unusually personal statement in his first address on international relations since his election as pope April 19. He spoke in French at an audience for diplomats accredited to the Vatican.

The address was relatively brief, little more than a page long, but it contained a warm invitation to China, Vietnam and Saudi Arabia to enter into diplomatic relations with the Vatican.

U.S. megachurches more numerous, says Hartford Institute study

New research shows 50 percent more megachurches in the United States than previously thought.

Initial analysis of a cooperative project to survey all megachurches in the United States by Scott Thumma of Hartford (Conn.) Seminary's Hartford Institute for Religion Research, and Dave Travis and Warren Bird of Leadership Network, uncovered at least 1,200 Protestant churches that claim more than 2,000 weekly worship attendees.

2005 Worship Renewal grants includes Presbyterian churches

The latest project of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship suggests it's as important to give as to receive.

After receiving renewed funding from Indiana-based Lilly Endowment Inc., the Institute has announced its 2005 recipients of Worship Renewal Grants. It is awarding almost $700,000 to 54 churches and organizations, using the support of its Lilly Endowment grant to give funds to congregations and other Christian organizations for projects they design to enrich and transform worship.

Albany reflection group: Spirited transformation

The theological reflection group, in Albany presbytery in upstate New York, has been meeting for several years now -- formed in part out of a sense of dissatisfaction among both conservatives and liberals about the history of conflict and confrontation in the presbytery and more broadly in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

It's called, on paper, the Albany Invitation, but is basically known as the "Bialy group". "We're named for a bagel," said Bill Hoffmann, who's pastor of the East and West Hebron churches and is moderator of Albany presbytery. That's because Barbara Wheeler, the president of Auburn Theological Seminary in New York and a member of the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the PC(USA), brings bagels from Bialy's in the city for each meeting.

Common Ground: Task Force, small groups seeking way forward for PC(USA)

The Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is set to make its final report in September, and to some folks, that report will tell all -- whatever the task force recommends is what they will weigh as its contribution.

But others in the church are taking a different path. They want to know what the task force will say, of course, but they're also involved in their own communities in trying to model the kind of conversation across theological lines that the task force represents. For some of those people, that will be part of the task force's legacy too -- the example it has set for the broader church of bringing together Presbyterians who might vote against each other on some of the most contentious issues, but who through listening and prayer and hard work have come to understand and respect one another.

PC(USA) churches challenged to meet educational needs, choose curricula

In a world of suicide bombings, text messaging and living wills, Christian education is complicated stuff.

The kindergarteners and some of the adults need to learn the basics. In many Presbyterian congregations, new member classes are full of former Baptists and Catholics and Methodists and people who haven't gone to any church in many, many years.

Many congregations want a Sunday school curriculum that's straightforward and easy to use. They have to choose between material produced by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and what's available from other sources -- on the Internet and in catalogs and Christian bookstores. Some have trained Christian educators; others rely on volunteers and a gut instinct for what will work.

New Wineskins meeting June 15-18 faces questions, plans for future of PC(USA) in existing “disunity”

It's almost like standing in a nursery looking at a plant that's getting ready to bud. You have some idea what it might look like, but you're not exactly sure what color it will be, how big it will get, whether it will thrive or struggle when it's planted in the soil.

From June 15-18, a meeting will be held in Minneapolis of a group called New Wineskins, which is looking for ways to transform the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) These evangelical Christians are ready and willing to think outside the box -- they want a new way of being Presbyterian and figure it will take lots of change to get there.