(In December 1961, two students from the Belgian Congo studying at Union Seminary in Richmond, Va., attended the three-week pilot project called Christmas International House (CIH) at the Westminster Fellowship House at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, S.C., where I was Presbyterian Campus Minister.
ALBUQUERQUE – In his younger years, Rick Ufford-Chase had a rocky relationship with the Apostle Paul. He bristled at some of what Paul had to say, finding him racist, sexist and opposed to gays and lesbians. “Mostly, I gave up,” preferring not to argue with those who saw Paul differently because, “frankly, I didn’t want to fight about it,” Ufford-Chase said recently.
A minister from Boston did not violate the Book of Order of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) or her ordination vows when she married two women from her congregation, the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission (GAPJC) has ruled. The wedding took place in Massachusetts – one of a handful of states that has legalized same-gender marriages.
The pastors who on Feb. 2 issued a controversial letter declaring the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) saying the denomination is “deathly ill” and needs to be “radically transformed” have now issued a letter of clarification.
The parsonage (or manse) allowance may soon disappear from ministers’ tax breaks, and the financial implications for clergy will be huge. Church legal expert Richard Hammar reports in the January 2011, edition of Church Law and Tax Report that a California court case threatens to eliminate the parsonage exemption tax break that dates to 1954.
A Christian broadcaster Harold Camping says the rapture is coming on May 21. A movement of his followers, loosely connected via broadcasts and Web sites, is purchasing billboards, handing out leaflets on street corners, and spreading the word in the two-thirds world to draw many to the faith before that fateful day arrives.
GENEVA (WCC) — Unity among Chinese Protestants is an important factor in the rapid growth of the church in China, Kan Baoping, the general secretary of the China Christian Council, said during a recent visit to the Ecumenical Centre here.
In the ancient Middle East, about a dozen days after the first Christmas (as tradition numbers the days), the gospel broke down an historic tribal barrier as Persians worshiped the Son of Israel’s God.
Often, Presbyterians want to hear “good news” stories – stories of churches that grow and flourish, or of struggling churches transformed.
LOUISVILLE - Top leaders of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) released a letter Feb. 4 calling for a denomination-wide conversation. That marks the PC(USA)’s response to a letter and “white paper” released Feb. 2 by 45 pastors, most serving large congregations, that has provoked conversation around the church and which raises the possibility of some sort of denominational schism.
A group of 45 mostly large church pastors have published a letter to the whole Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) declaring the denomination to..
A group of 45 mostly large church pastors have published a letter to the whole Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) declaring the denomination to be “deathly ill” and declaring that the church needs to be “radically transformed.” At an early January gathering in Scottsdale, Ariz., the leaders articulated issues that they had been discussing informally over the past year. They spelled out their assessments in a white paper titled, “Time for Something New,” which was published on Feb. 2 along with the letter to the denomination.
O LORD our God, this Table is as big as your heart …
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SAN ANSELMO — Carol Weir, former missionary in Lebanon died unexpectedly on Tuesday, Dec. 14, in Oakland after several months of declining health. She was 86 years old.
The Jewish Council for Public Affairs has given its Chaver Tzedek Award to William H. Harter, a Presbyterian minister from Pennsylvania.
HUNT, TEXAS — A decision by the Mo-Ranch Conference Center in Texas to allow an Islamic group to hold a retreat last month for Muslim teenagers drew a storm of criticism from some local Christians.
I have become increasingly alarmed at the tactics used by those who oppose the proposed new form of government for the Presbyterian Church (USA).
Leaders of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) have spoken out against a proposed immigration bill the Kentucky legislature is considering, sending a letter saying it would not hold national meetings or conventions in Kentucky if the strict Arizona-style legislation were passed.
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is asking a Kentucky court to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a man who alleges that he was a teenage victim of sexual abuse at a Presbyterian-run hostel in Africa in 1988, contending that the man did not file the lawsuit before the statute of limitations expired.
The More Light Presbyterians (MLP) recently placed an ad in The Presbyterian Outlook summarizing the change of mind experienced by Arlo Duba regarding ordination standards. Duba, Professor of Worship Emeritus, retired Dean of the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary, and PC(USA) Minister of Word and Sacrament, used to oppose the ordination of LGBT person, but now supports it.
Samuel Shamba Warlick, who had been accused of sexually abusing children of Presbyterian missionaries in the Congo in the 1980s, was arrested in suburban Orlando Jan. 14 on federal charges of possessing and distributing child pornography. If convicted, Warlick could face up to 30 years in prison.
Presbyterian pastor and hymn writer, Carolyn Winfrey Gillette, has released two hymn texts for congregations wanting to sing an appropriate hymn in worship services following the tragedy in Tucson last weekend (see story in news section of this Web site or by clicking here).
HUNT, TEXAS — David W. Jordan, the president of Presbyterian Mo-Ranch Assembly in Hunt, Texas, has announced his retirement effective fall 2011, concluding 12 years of service.
LOUISVILLE — Examples of grassroots mission partnerships can be found all over the world — some carefully planned, some springing up spontaneously. From looking at what’s happening in Latin America, Africa, and Asia — from the people she’s met, and from what she’s seen on the ground level — Miriam Adeney has some advice for congregations about how to form mission partnerships.
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