"The needs of the world for reconciliation with God, with one another, and with nature are too big for a divided church."
LOUISVILLE — On Oct. 19. Isaac Monah makes his second trip home to rural Liberia since he fled the war-torn country in the mid-1980s and subsequently emigrated to the U.S. in 2002.
HONG KONG (ENI) — Hong Kong Christian leaders have urged the government in Beijing to release 2010 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Liu Xiaobo, who was honored for his "long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China."
What does the future hold for the institutional church in the United States, particularly “mainline Protestant” churches that once dominated the country’s cultural landscape?
MONTREAT, N.C. — Institutions and movements — secular and religious — need each other to retain their vitality, even as they frustrate each other, cutting-edge theologian Brain McLaren told several hundred Presbyterians gathered here in mid-August for "Church Unbound."
(RNS) — A Michigan-based gay rights foundation has given more than $400,000 to the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, Calif., to help craft formal same-sex covenanting liturgies for the Episcopal Church.
BANGALORE (ENI) — The International Assistance Mission, a Christian development agency, has rejected Taliban claims that 10 of its staff killed in an attack in Afghanistan had been trying to convert Muslims.
TOKYO (ENI) — A Japanese pastor who became a Christian after surviving the atomic bombing of Hiroshima says his decades-long pursuit of peace has involved a resistance to "nuclear weapons in the human mind."
(ENI) — The Lutheran World Federation has chosen Palestinian Bishop Munib A. Younan, a campaigner for peace, justice and inter-faith dialogue, as its next president.
(ENI) — The recently retired senior Vatican official responsible for ecumenical affairs has said his biggest regret during his tenure in Rome is that he did not achieve an agreement on a common communion with Protestants.
MINNEAPOLIS – The 219th General Assembly, meeting July 9, discussed the funding difficulties of the national offices of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
The 219th General Assembly is encouraging all Presbyterians, especially those who are clergy and church leaders, to know their HIV status – saying that testing will make them a “visible example” and will “help eliminate the stigma associated with HIV and AIDS testing.”
On its final night of deliberations, the 219th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) considered the report on its Committee on Peacemaking and International Issues (minus a major report on the Middle East, which was presented by another committee and considered separately earlier).
MINNEAPOLIS — The 219th General Assembly has rejected by 275-407 a motion today (July 9) to reconsider the actions it had taken the previous evening on same-gender marriages.
MINNEAPOLIS — Eight overtures that would have empowered Presbyterian pastors to perform marriages for same-gender couples in states where these marriages are legal were effectively tabled with little discussion in a late-night session of the full 219th General Assembly July 8.
MINNEAPOLIS — About 20 protesters from a group called Soulforce disrupted the plenary of the 219th General Assembly tonight (July 9), and..
The 219th General Assembly voted 530-96 today (July 9) to approve a report on pay equity called “Neither Poverty Nor Riches: Compensation, Equity, and the Unity of the Church.”
MINNEAPOLIS – Presbyterians’ determination to be an “exhibition of the kingdom of heaven to the world,” found expression in the recommendations of the committee so named adopted today (July 9) by the 219th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
MINNEAPOLIS – The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) General Assembly overwhelmingly approved an amended report on conflict in the Middle East that aims at a careful balance between Palestinian and Israeli narratives of injustice and the path to peace.[caption id="attachment_22002" align="alignright" width="360"]
MRTI’s Brian Ellison addresses the General Assembly. Photo by Erin Dunigan.[/caption]
Church commissioners voted 558-119 today (July 9), for a committee’s rewrite of a report that in its original form was widely perceived by some church members as pro-Palestinian and factually suspect.
The General Assembly also endorsed, by a 418-210 vote, the Middle East Peacemaking Issues Committee’s recommendation that it denounce Caterpillar’s profit-making from sales of heavy equipment that Israel uses for non-peaceful purposes, including the destruction of Palestinian homes. Church committees considered divestment but advised against it — meaning that the church’s Board of Pensions and Foundation will continue to hold Caterpillar stock worth nearly $11 million, plus $685,000 in the company’s bonds.
After revising the report on Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the 53-member Peacemaking Issues committee voted unanimously Tuesday to recommend it to the General Assembly.
MINNEAPOLIS — After a long discussion, with many questions about the financial implications, the 219th General Assembly voted today (July 9) directing the Board of Pensions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to provide benefits to the same-gender spouses and domestic partners of church employees and their children on the same basis as it provides benefits to employees who are married.
Posted as a courtesy by The Presbyterian Outlook
A week ago, it looked as if the Presbyterian Church (USA) was going to enact a version of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict within its own body, so divided were we on all sides.
By a vote of 420-205, the 219th General Assembly voted in favor of a commissioners’ resolution dealing with issues of immigration.
MINNEAPOLIS—The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) approved today (July 8) the formation of a commission to aid synods and presbyteries as they explore options for their future. The motion passed soundly 566 to 104.
MINNEAPOLIS — Commissioners to the 219th General Assembly voted overwhelmingly today (July 8) to approve a document outlining theological understandings between Christians and Muslims, but they referred back to committee a document aiming to bring greater understanding between Christians and Jews.
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