BAJA CALIFORNIA, Mexico (Special to PNS) Twenty years ago, the ideal candidate for a church-planting pastor in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) was a 34-year-old married male with two or more kids, a dog and a mortgage. He was a charismatic leader who could draw people to himself, according to research done at the time.
Written by Jack Haberer, Outlook editor
Friday, 12 August 2011 14:55
The Minneapolis gathering of nearly 2,000 Presbyterians on August 25 and 26 looks to be a potentially historic event, perhaps the beginning of yet another denominational division to rock the Presbyterian world. Yet leaders of what formerly called itself “Fellowship PC(USA)” and now is using the name the “Fellowship of Presbyterians” are acknowledging that unity among its own supporters will be tested, given that the participants come to Minneapolis with a diverse set of expectations of what they hope will result.
They are coming to Minneapolis like stars flooding the night sky.
If, as Charles Finney claimed, the devils of hell rejoice when the Presbyterian General Assembly is in session, do they rejoice doubly when other Presbyterians gather near the site of the previous assembly? The upcoming, two-day, Minneapolis gathering called by Fellowship PC(USA) has generated about 2,000 registrations, mostly from Presbyterians disheartened by recent constitutional changes that signal to them a turn toward hell. As they gather the devils have reason to hope and much to fear.
JOPLIN, Mo. (General Assembly Mission Council) The scores of spring
tornadoes that swept through Eastern and Midwestern states this year left
widespread devastation, nowhere worse than in Joplin, Mo.
Louisville, Ky. (Office of the General Assembly) I am now a little more than halfway through my term as Moderator of the 219th General Assembly (2010) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). What have I learned over this past year?
London (ENI) Many faith communities in England are working
together on the front line this week after days of rioting in which
hooded youths ransacked hundreds of businesses and shops in many parts of
London, Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool, Leeds, Nottingham and smaller towns.
Nairobi, Kenya (ENI)- As Christians in South Sudan mark one
month after independence, churches in the Muslim North are facing pressure
from government officials and members of the public who are demanding their
closure.
STORM LAKE, Iowa (Office of the General Assembly) Life after disasters is full of stories of tragedy and miraculous survival.
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (Special to PNS) “The extent of the damage is just stunning,” said General Assembly Mission Council Executive Director Linda Valentine after a recent visit to Tuscaloosa and Culllman, Ala., with a group of Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) leaders.
It requires a certain amount of chutzpah — and certainly faith — for my congregation to begin a strategic planning process to figure out who and what it wants to be and do in three to five years.
WASHINGTON (RNS) Christian missionaries should renounce all “deception and coercive means” of winning converts, according to an agreement released June 28 by a World Evangelical Alliance, the World Council of Churches and the Vatican, which together represent 90 percent of the world’s Christian population.
Landon Whitsitt, vice-moderator of the 219th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and a pastor from Missouri, has been elected as the new executive and stated clerk of the Synod of Mid-America.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. Charlotte’s Presbyterian seminary has broken ground on a campus in the heart of the SouthPark area — a $6.5 million development that will give the school its first permanent home.
C. Benton Kline, Jr., a former president of Columbia Theological Seminary, died June 20 following a brief illness.
Journey in the Wilderness: New life for Mainline Churches
by Gil Rendle
Abingdon Press. 2010. 176 pages.
REVIEWED BY Allen D. Timm
Last year a group of more than 100 young adults gathered for dinner once a month in a room over a bakery in inner-city Detroit. The Detroit Soup Project invited participants to donate $10 each and to present a project to improve Detroit. They would listen, debate and vote. After each meeting, one of them went out with $800 as a grant for a project that would improve the city of Detroit.
Sharing Possessions: What faith Demands (Second Edition)
by Luke Timothy Johnson
wm. b. eerdmans Publishing company. 198 Pages.
REVIEWED BY ANDREW FOSTER CONNORS
Luke Timothy Johnson, a first-rate New Testament scholar, begins with a plodding reflection on what it means for human beings to possess anything. Despite this beginning, this book deserves a serious reading. Johnson argues convincingly for an expansive definition of “having” that includes anything over which we claim ownership — relationships, time, principles, values and things.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Office of the General Assembly) Gradye Parsons,
stated clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.),
says he is "deepy troubled" by the deficit-reduction package that has been
signed into federal law.
STORM LAKE, Iowa (Special to PNS) When Rick MacArthur turned 8
years old, he asked his family to throw a birthday party not for him, but for
his hero, rock ‘n’ roll pioneer Buddy Holly.
Geneva (ENI) Christian advocacy groups are among a 28-strong international coalition calling for North Korea, criticized by many for its human rights abuses and nuclear threats, to step down from the presidency of the United Nations Conference on Disarmament (UNCD).
Asked what the most important commandment is, Jesus replies that loving God is the most important commandment and that loving our neighbor is the second.
LOUISVILLE – The General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission has dismissed a challenge to the ordination of Scott Anderson, which means that Anderson – a gay man who set aside his ordination in 1990 after congregants publicly revealed his sexual orientation – may once again be ordained by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
Jerusalem (ENI) Jewish, Christian and Muslim leaders met in Jerusalem July 18 at the Interfaith Climate Change Forum to raise awareness about the vital role religion can play on environmental issues.
Geneva (ENI) Different faiths need to do more to promote human solidarity, said Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), in the aftermath of the bomb attack and mass killings in his native Norway.
STORM LAKE, Iowa (Special to Presbyterian News Service) Anna Carter Florence, who teaches preaching at Columbia Theological Seminary, says she’s very interested in how the people of God talk about God.
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