A Church Growth and Christian Education Committee recommendation to produce human development resources for adolescents was approved by the 218th General Assembly Wednesday (June 25) after deliberations that included passionate, personal arguments for and against the creation of what was expected to take form as a new curriculum.
SAN JOSE – They had to endure some scolding, but the General Assembly Council (GAC) and the Presbyterian Foundation seem to have found a path for resolving future disputes over the disbursement of funds – disagreements that, at this week’s meeting of the 218th General Assembly, slid messily out into public view.
SAN JOSE – Leadership is a big deal at this year’s General Assembly – with the election June 21 of Bruce Reyes-Chow, http://www.mod.reyes-chow.com/ the young, tech-savvy pastor of a multicultural church, as moderator, and with the assembly scheduled to pick a new stated clerk on June 27.
SAN JOSE -- The General Assembly Youth Committee meeting June 24, using an interactive visioning process to address Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) concerns about the nature of adolescents, youth ministry, and resources for faith development, hammered out a series of recommendations for the Assembly's consideration later this week.
SAN JOSE -- Using his own church as an example, the Rev. Jin Kim, pastor of the Church of All Nations in Minneapolis, Minn., called for Christians to “lay down their sword of power and privilege and to walk humbly with God.”
SAN JOSE -- All attempts to mandate changes in the ways per capita is spent at the General Assembly level were turned aside by a General Assembly committee meeting Tuesday (June 24).
SAN JOSE — One hundred years after “A Social Creed of the Churches” [www.pcusa.org/acswp/socialcreed] joined Christians together to work to ease the human costs of industrialization, General Assembly’s Social Justice Issues Committee passed a new social creed Tuesday June 24) to “meet the challenges of sustainability and globalization.”
SAN JOSE — The Committee on Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations has voted to recommend that the 218th General Assembly adopt four ecumenical agreements intended to move the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) toward greater unity with other denominations.
SAN JOSE — By a vote of 38-20 on Tuesday (June 24) the Assembly Committee on Church Polity rejected a proposal from Baltimore Presbytery that would have changed the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) constitutional definition of marriage from a man and a woman to “two people.”
“I am a walking contradiction,” began Archbishop Elias Chacour in his sermon to those gathered for the ecumenical service of worship held Wednesday morning (June 25) as part of the General Assembly week.. As a Palestinian, Arab, Christian, Israeli, Chacour said,
The 218th General Assembly Committee on the Revision of the Form of Government, charged to address the Report of the Form of Government Task Force, voted Tuesday (June 24) to refer the report to churches and presbyteries for a 19-month study process.
SAN JOSE — Being a minister of a growing church used to be about the “three Ps” said the Rev. Mark Lau Branson, speaking at the Congregational Transformation luncheon June 23, during the 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). “Preaching, pastoral care, and program would be the basic job description.
In all the voting, unrest, and violence of Zimbabwe in recent weeks, a poll of a different type emerged from the deliberations of the peacemaking and International Issues committee Tuesday (June 24).
After more than 13 hours of deliberations, the Committee on Peacemaking and International Issues passed a number of commissioner resolutions expressing a wide spectrum of thought and belief within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A). The committee had more than 70 requests to speak during its open hearings.
“It was good news that at least in this election, Mugabe got no votes,” said a Zimbabwean church leader who, for security reasons, cannot be named.
The National Middle Eastern Presbyterian Caucus presented Rev. Mehdi Abhari The Fahed Abu Akel Award in honor of the General Assembly’s 214th Moderator. Considered by Iranian Christians worldwide as their senior pastor, confidant, and scholar, Rev. Abhari was ordained as a minister of the Evangelical Church of Iran.
SAN JOSE – A committee meeting Tuesday afternoon (June 24) is recommending that the 218th General Assembly issue a new authoritative interpretation that – if the assembly approves it -- would have the effect of continuing to allow candidates for ordination to declare conscientious objections to language in the ordination standards of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) requiring candidates to practice fidelity if they are married or chastity if the are single.
SAN JOSE – A committee is recommending that the 218th General Assembly approve a constitutional amendment to strike from the constitution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) language that restricts ordination to those who practice fidelity if they are married or chastity if they are single.
A 114-page report was examined by 68 committee members and critiqued by 20 overture advocates -- and 25 additional speakers -- in an open meeting of the Form of Government Revision Committee Monday (June 23).
SAN JOSE — Presbyteries of all sizes, and covering all parts of the country, were honored for their financial support of Presbyterian mission at the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s 218th General Assembly, meeting here June 21-28.
SAN JOSE, June 23, 2008 ˜ Because they are able to adapt and change quickly, small churches are frequently better able to respond to community needs, an innovative small church pastor told 100 people attending the Small Church Luncheon at the 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) here June 23.
SAN JOSE — The General Assembly Committee on Health Issues, on their first full day of meeting (June 23), considered an overture to recommend the development of a comprehensive HIV and AIDS policy for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) that reflects the ways the disease disproportionately affects Latino and African-American segments of the United States population, and the magnitude of global pandemic.
SAN JOSE, June 23, 2008 ˜ After nearly seven hours of conversation, occasional confusion and spirited debate, a sharply divided Committee on Theological Issues and Institutions approved Overture 13-06 from Newark Presbytery, voting by a margin of 33 to 26 (with two abstentions) to ask the 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to make five changes to the 1962 translation of the Heidelberg Catechism which since 1967 has been used in The Book of Confessions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
SAN JOSE – The committee considering gay ordination at this General Assembly is so far holding its fire – it’s agreed to talk through most everything on its agenda before formal voting.
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