SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (Outlook) – On the morning of March 23, the eight ministerial teams that the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board created last fall held separate meetings – some of them going out into the community to meet in local churches. Two of them met at Seminario Evangélico de Puerto Rico (the Evangelical Seminary of Puerto Rico), where seminary president Doris García Rivera greeted them graciously and explained the seminary’s history and ecumenical role. García Rivera, who has been president of the seminary for about two and a half years, said the seminary was founded nearly a century ago in 1919, through the efforts of six denominations. One of those involved was the Presbyterian mission worker James A. McAllister, for whom the seminary’s chapel is named. García Rivera described the school as an ecumenical, Protestant and Reformed seminary with about 225 students – “very diverse,” with the students making lifelong cross-denominational friendships. The … [Read more...]

  SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (Outlook) The Committee on the Office of the General Assembly and the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board met for a joint worship service the evening of March 22 at Iglesia Presbiteriana de Puerto Nuevo in San Juan. The bilingual worship service – full of exuberant music, prayer, and with a sermon preached in Spanish and translated into English – represented the hospitality and ministry gifts of all three presbyteries in Puerto Rico’s Synod of Borinquen (the Presbytery of San Juan, Noroeste Presbtery and Presbiterio de Suroeste). An offering was taken to support seminary students in Puerto Rico. Pablo Caraballo from the Presbiterio de Suroesta (the Southwest Presbytery), preached from the 17th chapter of John’s Gospel on the unity of the church, calling for Christians to demonstrate visibly that unity and to live into the commitments of the Belhar Confession from South Africa, to work for justice and to reconciliation, to practice prayer and … [Read more...]

  SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – As the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board meeting got underway March 21 in San Juan, José Gonzalez Colón brought greetings to the board’s executive committee from the Synod of Boriquen – offering gifts of local candy, and also perspective on Puerto Rico’s economic problems and the role Puerto Rican Presbyterians can play in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). As a territory of the United States, Puerto Rico “belongs to but is not a part of the U.S.,” Colón said. “Our churches and our people, we keep a culture that is still Latin American” — and there has been debate about whether to become a national church or remain part of the PC(USA). The Boriquen synod has established a sister relationship with the Presbyterian Synod of Cuba, and there is “an opportunity for us to be a bridge” between the PC(USA) and other Christians in the southern hemisphere, Colón said. Puerto Rican Presbyterians also can play other roles, including reminding the … [Read more...]

  SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (Outlook) – Both the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board and the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly are meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico this week – accepting an invitation from the Presbytery of San Juan. Over the past year, Presbyterian leadership has been highlighting justice concerns in Puerto Rico – with J. Herbert Nelson, stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), along with Tony De La Rosa, interim executive director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency, and Denise Anderson and Jan Edmiston, co-moderators of the 2016 General Assembly, sending a letter to President Donald Trump and congressional leaders in February regarding the Puerto Rican economic crisis. That was done in response to an action of the 2016 General Assembly. The letter states in part: “Puerto Rico’s unsustainable debt, which is more than two-thirds the amount of its GDP, cannot possibly be repaid simply by using spending cuts and tax increases, since those … [Read more...]