For the past two years my colleagues and I at the Presbyterian Historical Society have worked closely with students from the Community..
After the tumultuous election season of 2016, my co-pastor and I wrote “a letter of solidarity” to our congregation. Many had been..
As a teenager I lived in constant fear of missing the rapture and being left behind. Wake up late on the weekend..
“We are out of ideas. What else can we do to cultivate giving in the congregation?” Almost every pastor and elder assigned..
“Sunday school books were made for black people, but the black church doesn’t like books.” A decade has passed, but I remember..
We tell our stories slant. And this story is personal. My grandpa Del was a magical storyteller. A journalist for the Associated..
My spouse owns a T-shirt that sparks jealousy. Procured from the New York Public Library, it asks in bold, block letters: “What..
I have six suggestions for summer reading. First, it should include what The New York Times calls “beach reading.” That is, in..
Earlier this year, my pastor, Paul Rock, preached a sermon in a series about racism called “America’s original sin.” Soon after that,..
In response to the divisiveness surrounding the 2016 elections, poet and author David Whyte posted on his blog that it was time..
The most fraught time in a congregation’s life is transition. A new pastor arrives, a new cohort of leaders emerges, the world..
Our coffee table at home was always covered with publications like The Presbyterian Outlook and newsletters from organizations that fought racism and..
Second Presbyterian Church where I worship in Kansas City, Missouri, is in the midst of a physical overhaul in concert with a..
When I trained to be an emergency medical technician, this was a paramount lesson: Identify the life threats. Your patient might be complaining..
Historically, the Presbyterian Church has taken deep interest in the welfare of immigrants and refugees. John Calvin insisted that Geneva become a..
Here is the sad fact: Every time I step into a church, I never expect to be fully welcomed. As a nonbinary..
I’m amazed by the gratitude I receive from families after a funeral. They always seem to be so thankful for the gift..
Grover Cleveland, William Harrison, Theodore Roosevelt. John Muir, Rachel Carson, David Brower. At first glance, we might say that what connects these..
Because many people now think evangelism means fundamentalists shouting on street corners, lots of mainline Protestant churches have backed away not only..
When I was born, the doctors bound me to a word: “girl.” Perhaps because this word never fit, I became obsessed with..
Given the disheartening drumbeat about membership shrinkage in mainline denominations, it’s easy to miss stories about what some of our congregations are..
What does a vital music ministry look like in a healthy church? It is my belief that a vital music ministry has..
The Christian tradition has always been home to human evils that divide and destroy. The Crusades of the Middle Ages, chattel slavery..
They almost seem to come around together: Election Day and Advent. A secular moment and a sacred moment, moving in tandem, as..
I remember a summer evening gathering of the history department where I was a Ph.D. candidate. Faculty and other doctoral students began..
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