This is an update written by the Special Committee on the Nature of the Church for the 21st Century, after its meeting in late November, and provided by the committee's moderator, Carol Howard Merritt. The committee will meet again in Louisville Feb. 1-3 and will report to the General Assembly in July.
LOUISVILLE, KY.
Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary (LPTS) is hoping to make student indebtedness for theological education a thing of the past.
A fourth candidate has been endorsed to stand for moderator of the 220th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). All four announced so far are teaching elders.
Thomas W. Gillespie, retired president of Princeton Theological Seminary and for decades a key figure in Presbyterian theological education, died Nov. 5 of complications from surgery at the University Medical Center in Princeton. He was 83.
HAVANA (Presbyterian News Service) The National Council of Churches in the U.S.A. (NCC) will continue to press for normalization of relations between the U.S. and Cuba, an end to the 53-year-old U.S. embargo of Cuba and release of the “Cuban Five” held in U.S. prisons, NCC General Secretary Michael Kinnamon told a packed press conference here Dec. 2.
Louisville, Ky. (Presbyterian News Service) Nearly a year after southern Sudanese citizens voted to split from northern Sudan and form a new country, the Sudan Mission Network of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) met here to worship, share stories and discuss mission in the two countries.
DALLAS (Special to PNS) “It’s a messy ministry,” said one host church leader of his experience working with refugees and immigrant churches. “But God is glorified in our willingness to work out our problems together,” said Abraham Samuel (Arabic Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Monrovia, CA, San Gabriel Presbytery).
Samuel Shamba Warlick, who was accused of sexually abusing the children of Presbyterian missionaries in Africa in the 1980s, has been sentenced to 12 years and six months in federal prison for distributing child pornography.
Berlin (ENI) A decision by the German Federal Administrative Court allowing a Berlin school to ban Muslim students from praying on their lunch break is being viewed as a ruling on public religious expression and has been closely watched by members of different faiths.
Bhubaneswar, India (ENI) An independent tribunal
investigating anti-Christian violence in India's eastern Orissa state in
2008 has indicted the state government for failure to protect Christians and
has made several recommendations.
Tokyo, 2 December (ENInews)--An institute at a Catholic-run university and college and a local revitalization group organized a tour Dec. 4 that asked singles to "swear your love in front of the Tomb of Christ" in the northern village of Shingo.
Toronto (ENInews) Leaders from five world religions gathered in Toronto just ahead of World AIDS Day on Dec. 1 to encourage their peers to deepen their engagement and action on HIV-AIDS "by addressing the difficult issues raised by the pandemic, in dialogue with people living with HIV."
Moscow (ENInews) As the number of people suffering from HIV/AIDS continues to grow in Russia, government agencies are turning to the Russian Orthodox Church for help in stemming the epidemic, ministering to its victims, and fighting their stigmatization by society.
The Fellowship of Presbyterians has released two new draft documents – one on theology including the presentation of proposed essential tenets for a new Reformed body and another on polity.
WHAT HAPPENED at the Covenanting
Conference of the Fellowship of Presbyterians meeting in Orlando?
Your fellow church members will be wondering.
The national newspapers may or may not provide sketchy reports.
WASHINGTON, Iowa (Special to Presbyterian News Service) Effective elders are humble elders, the Revs. Mark Martin and Gary Burnett told elders attending Elder 102 training, sponsored by the Presbytery of East Iowa, at United Presbyterian Church in October.
The Fellowship of Presbyterians has revised the options it will present as possible courses of action for congregations to consider at the Fellowship’s next meeting, in Orlando Jan. 18-20.
HARARE, Zimbabwe (RNS/ENInews)
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has asked Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe to intervene to stop attacks on Anglicans by allies of an excommunicated bishop who has seized church property and intimidated clergy and worshippers.
It was Jill Brown’s experience as a church youth worker and volunteer that led her to start paying attention to how teenagers use Facebook, text messaging and other social media tools. Because she wasn’t their parent, teenagers would sometimes talk to her about their online experiences.
“The PC(USA) is ____________ .” What would you use to fill in the blank?
The Rev. Silas G. Kessler Louisville, Ky. (PNS) The Rev. Silas G. Kessler, the senior former General Assembly moderator of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), died Nov. 15 at the age of 100 in Hastings, Neb.
Pakistan's parliament has condemned the killing of three Hindu brothers at a medical clinic in what observers said was an unusual show of support for religious minorities.
Berlin (ENI) Religious leaders representing the Protestant and Catholic churches in Germany called this week for further ecumenical cooperation and said that the two churches should stand together as a common base for Christians.
OMAHA, Neb. (Special to Presbyterian News Service) Joy of the familiar and joy of the new marked the seventh annual Russia Mission Network conference, which recently concluded here.
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