St. Mark Presbyterian Church — Newport Beach, California After the hate expressed at the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, that ended in violence and death, the staff at St. Mark responded quickly. During the “time with our young church” during worship, Susan Thornton, director of Christian education, read “White Flour” aloud. “White Flour” is a poetic recounting of the Coup Clutz Clowns’ real-life, humor-filled action against a 2007 white supremacist rally in Knoxville, Tennessee. We learned how humor can be used to deflect hate. Our pastor, D. Mark Davis, unequivocally denounced the events in Charlottesville as evil. Mark and Susan are not remaining silent about white supremacy and the evil construct of race. My church is helping me live into God’s de-raced reality by staying focused on my work with the Anti-Racism Digital Library. – Anita Coleman Share your 150-word story of “what’s right” with the Outlook by emailing it to us. … [Read more...]

Wayside Presbyterian Church — Erie, Pennsylvania We are a 600-member church on the west side of Erie, a city with a diverse population including many immigrants and refugees. Wayside held a congregation-wide forum to discuss and listen and discern how the Spirit is leading us to create connections.  One creative outcome was the Wayside Multicultural Diners Club.  The club supports restaurants and food stores of people whose ethnicity, culture and religion are different from ours, and builds relationships by learning their stories. The club has dined at an African-American pub, a Bhutanese restaurant and with the Erie Turkish Cultural Center. We’ve expanded beyond church members to include participants in the One Table Multicultural and Interfaith Fellowship. It’s an informal and easy way to break down walls and encourage conversation about how we may strengthen community as friends and neighbors.  This is a first step in learning how we may exemplify and learn the compassion and … [Read more...]

First Presbyterian Church — Arlington Heights, Illinois What do you do with your rising fifth graders during Vacation Bible School? They tend to be bored with regular VBS. So, how about a week of mission activities for this group? We decided to experiment with this idea in the summer of 2016. It was such a huge success that the 20 students begged us to expand it to include rising sixth graders so they could do it all over again in 2017. We spent our VBS mornings playing cards with some new friends at a local retirement community, sewing pillow cases out of bright fabric to send to an orphanage in Mexico, selling lemonade to raise money for a local school district support center and painting caring rocks with inspirational messages. We are awed by the work of the Spirit in our lives and the lives of these children. Thanks be to God! — Judy Hockenberry, associate pastor (fpcah.org) … [Read more...]

The Open Table — Kansas City, Missouri The Open Table is a two-year-old dinner church in Kansas City, Missouri – a community of peace and reconciliation in a city divided. Our twice-monthly gatherings include a meal, music and conversation led by local speakers. The dialogical format ensures diverse voices are heard, and similar to the early church, our meal is Communion. Our partners include Second Presbyterian Church (our parent congregation), Heartland Presbytery and 1001 New Worshipping Communities. Last fall, following a divisive election cycle and an increase in hate crimes, we responded by hosting a gathering on the topic of “Disrupting Racism.” Over 150 people came to the meal and skill-building workshops. A couple of young adults who attended said, “If this is church, I’m in!” We were one of five organizations to receive a $50,000 Leadership Development Grant from Duke Divinity School this summer. The funds will be used on a project in collaboration with local … [Read more...]

Aspinwall Presbyterian Church – Aspinwall, Pennsylvania In today's rapidly changing secular world, there are many important institutions. One of these institutions is the local church. As we know, a church is much more than a set of buildings. A church is people called and gifted – called in the sense that God has called them to do a task within God’s Kingdom; gifted in the sense that God has given them the necessary gifts to do the task. Thus, all have been called and gifted. Aspinwall Presbyterian Church worships and praises God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit; nurtures and builds up its members and friends to do the Lord's ministry; educates and teaches God's Word to all generations; does mission work on a local, national and global basis; gives freely and with much love its gifts of time, talents and treasure to the Lord; shares the good news of the gospel with a hungry world; serves as a spiritual beacon to the nearby communities; and continually seeks God's will and purpose for … [Read more...]