Late Sept. 22 electricity was restored to the campus of Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary following a nine-day power outage that affected most of the City of Louisville and stretched across several states in the Ohio River Valley.
(ENI) The Chinese government has rejected criticisms in a U.S. State Department report that repression of religious freedom has intensified in some areas of the world's most populous country.
LOUISVILLE — Three top leaders of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) have sent a letter to all of the denomination’s congregations asking them to pray for those affected by Hurricane Ike.
The full text of the letter, dated Sept. 19 and signed by Bruce Reyes-Chow, moderator of the 218th General Assembly; Gradye Parsons, stated clerk of the General Assembly and Linda Bryant Valentine, executive director of the General Assembly Council:
PAPAY, Haiti — Mark Hare lives with his wife Jenny, in the central plateau of Haiti, in the tiny village of Papay. In environmentally devastated Haiti, Papay boasts a sparkling waterfall, multitudes of mango trees, and farmers who love the land and their livestock. Life is basic.
Anyone who does not enjoy the swords of power and privilege in our country is aware that, regrettably, racism is alive and well in America. The 218th General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to begin the process of adding a new confession to our Book of Confessions to address this problem.
The last stretch of September will be like some dance marathon of Presbyterianism — with a series of groups meeting back-to-back at Snowbird resort outside Salt Lake City. Executive presbyters, stated clerks, polity gurus, the General Assembly Mission Council and middle-governing body representatives — all gathered to talk in different configurations about the future of the Presbyterian church.
LOUISVILLE — (PNS) A wide ranging mission study designed to enable the larger church to review the scope and function of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Washington Office was announced September 2 by Tom Taylor, General Assembly Council deputy executive director for mission.
The Lambeth Conference, which takes place once in every ten years, is big. Every Anglican bishop and bishop in communion are invited. Around 600 bishops came, most with their spouses, for whom there was a separate conference chaired by Jane Williams, wife of Archbishop Rowan Williams. Approximately 200 bishops absented themselves, largely in objection to the consecration of Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, a practicing homosexual.
Editor’s Note: This article is the second part of a two-part series. The first part appeared in the Outlook issue 190-30 (cover date September 15, 2008.)
In many ways, I believe the new Form of Government is moving in the right direction. If it has a fatal flaw, it is in focusing on some matters and not on others. It toys with recurrent issues such as should an interim or an associate be allowed to become the next pastor but ignores the fact that the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has an expensive and crumbling infrastructure.
The 218th General Assembly has referred to the presbyteries and sessions for study and comment a proposed comprehensive revision of our Form of Government. As a member of the task force that prepared the document, let me share some background and encouragement for that study.
The Presbyterian Outlook Editor Jack Haberer’s recent series of three cogent, thought-provoking essays reflecting on the ordination standards controversy offers an excellent framework for constructive dialogue among Presbyterians with disparate perceptions of the issues and how they might be resolved. Particularly noteworthy was his typology that separates us into three groups rather than the usual two: conservative-evangelicals, liberal-progressives, and centrist-ecclesiasts.
Russian novelist Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who died August 3, defiantly battled despair. He had been enslaved in Lenin’s concentration camps, which stretched like an octopus over the former Soviet Union. Solzhenitsyn graphically described this bleak penal system in his novel The Gulag Archipelago, first published in the 1970s.
In the aftermath of General Assembly we have been treated to yet another season of comment on the actions taken.
At the fifth annual meeting of the Association for Reformed & Liturgical Worship (AR&LW), 45 participants gathered on the campus of Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Ga., (July 30 – August 1), to initiate a three-year plan, “To Strengthen the Church in Forming Leaders for Worship.”
Editor's Note: This report and reflection from a Houston-area pastor both tells about their local situation and about a study of Psalm..
HOUSTON — (PNS) Up to six national response team members from Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) headed to Houston Thursday (Sept. 18) to start the formal assessment of damage and needs following Hurricanes Ike and Gustav.
LOUISVILLE — With the political rhetoric heating up as the U.S. moves closer to election day, it is even more imperative for churches to speak up as advocates for immigrants and a more humane immigration policy in the country, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s top immigration attorney said Sept. 12.
Leading religious officials today (September 16) signed an interfaith statement calling for not just a charitable response but for justice through long-term human rights-based recovery policy to help Gulf Coast families.
BERN, SWITZERLAND — (ENI) A meeting of theologians, including Christian Palestinians, as well as Europeans and North Americans involved in Jewish-Christian dialogue, has warned against using the Bible to justify oppression in the present-day Middle East.
BANGALORE — (ENI) Churches in India have deplored a series of attacks on Christian places of worship in the southern state of Karnataka, and have called for measures to protect minorities in the world's second most populous nation.
LOUISVILLE — In 1996, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) adopted a goal to reach 20 percent racial ethnic membership by the year 2010. At the time, that percentage was less than 4 percent.
LOUISVILLE — The world and the church are changing so fast that Presbyterians are faced with a crucial question, General Assembly Moderator Bruce Reyes-Chow told the opening gathering of the 2008 New Immigrant Ministries here Sept. 11.
So … do you want a revolution? Whoop whoop! Say, do you want a revolution? Whoop whoop! These lyrics – composed by the great gospel singer Kirk Franklin – are set to an infectious beat that helps disprove the reputation of Presbyterians as the “frozen chosen.”
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)-related seminaries and additional affiliated theological schools report the following updates and events as they begin the new academic year:
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