ALBUQUERQUE – In his younger years, Rick Ufford-Chase had a rocky relationship with the Apostle Paul. He bristled at some of what Paul had to say, finding him racist, sexist and opposed to gays and lesbians. “Mostly, I gave up,” preferring not to argue with those who saw Paul differently because, “frankly, I didn’t want to fight about it,” Ufford-Chase said recently.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. –Attendees from the five partner denominations of the Association of Presbyterian Church Educators annual event dined together here Feb. 3 and discussed diversity, media consumption, use of technology and their churches’ recent handling of cultural issues.
A minister from Boston did not violate the Book of Order of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) or her ordination vows when she married two women from her congregation, the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission (GAPJC) has ruled. The wedding took place in Massachusetts – one of a handful of states that has legalized same-gender marriages.
The pastors who on Feb. 2 issued a controversial letter declaring the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) saying the denomination is “deathly ill” and needs to be “radically transformed” have now issued a letter of clarification.
Tribes are good. Whether we speak of them literally – like Cherokee and Navajo – or figuratively – like family, prayer group, congregation, labor union, alumni club, softball team, or political party – they provide us circles of friendship, of belonging, of learning. Tribes teach community values and reinforce them via tribal rituals.
(rNS) — Americans who are “very religious” are more likely to practice healthy behaviors than those who are less religious, a Gallup survey shows.
The parsonage (or manse) allowance may soon disappear from ministers’ tax breaks, and the financial implications for clergy will be huge. Church legal expert Richard Hammar reports in the January 2011, edition of Church Law and Tax Report that a California court case threatens to eliminate the parsonage exemption tax break that dates to 1954.
NEW YORK (ENI) — The 19-story granite building on Manhattan’s upper west side, often referred to as the “God Box,” is 50 years old. New York’s Interchurch Center, one of the most visible symbols of Christian ecumenism in the United States, is marking its 50th anniversary as the modern ecumenical movement for Christian unity is celebrating its 100th.
VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Pope Benedict XVI denounced the “vile and murderous” New Year's Day killing of 21 Coptic Christians in Alexandria, Egypt, but was rebuked by Egypt’s top Muslim cleric for an “unacceptable interference in Egypt's affairs.”
A Christian broadcaster Harold Camping says the rapture is coming on May 21. A movement of his followers, loosely connected via broadcasts and Web sites, is purchasing billboards, handing out leaflets on street corners, and spreading the word in the two-thirds world to draw many to the faith before that fateful day arrives.
GENEVA (WCC) — Unity among Chinese Protestants is an important factor in the rapid growth of the church in China, Kan Baoping, the general secretary of the China Christian Council, said during a recent visit to the Ecumenical Centre here.
In the ancient Middle East, about a dozen days after the first Christmas (as tradition numbers the days), the gospel broke down an historic tribal barrier as Persians worshiped the Son of Israel’s God.
I live in Fort Mill, S.C. Fort Mill is home to the White Homestead, the final meeting place of Jefferson Davis’ Confederate cabinet.
Often, Presbyterians want to hear “good news” stories – stories of churches that grow and flourish, or of struggling churches transformed.
We are confronted with the now inescapable evidence that our country has been involved in torture in the prosecution of the so-called War on Terror.
Them. It so easily becomes a four-letter word. Them. Republicans to Democrats. Democrats to Republicans. Conservatives to liberals. Liberals to conservatives. Them. Muslims. Jews. Christians. Palestinians. Israelis. Afghans. Pakistanis. Iraqis. Americans. Them. When “them” is a rivalry, well, that’s one thing. You know the kind of “them” I am talking about.
Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption
by Laura Hillenbrand
Random House. 2010. 473 pages.
reviewed by Roy W. Howard
My father was a Japanese POW for 42 months, having been captured when he was 19 years old in the Philippine Islands while serving with the Army Air Corps.
Turning Controversy into Church Ministry: A Christlike Response to Homosexuality
by William P. Campbell
Grand Rapids: Zondervan. 2010. 240 pp.
reviewed by Andrew Nagal
Perhaps the greatest contribution of Bill Campbell’s new book is not what he says, but how he says it.
The word for competition in the Greek New Testament is the word athleo, from which we have the English words athlete and athletic.
LOUISVILLE - Top leaders of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) released a letter Feb. 4 calling for a denomination-wide conversation. That marks the PC(USA)’s response to a letter and “white paper” released Feb. 2 by 45 pastors, most serving large congregations, that has provoked conversation around the church and which raises the possibility of some sort of denominational schism.
Collecting donations, serving soup, stocking pantry shelves all part of annual youth effort...
A group of 45 mostly large church pastors have published a letter to the whole Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) declaring the denomination to..
A group of 45 mostly large church pastors have published a letter to the whole Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) declaring the denomination to be “deathly ill” and declaring that the church needs to be “radically transformed.” At an early January gathering in Scottsdale, Ariz., the leaders articulated issues that they had been discussing informally over the past year. They spelled out their assessments in a white paper titled, “Time for Something New,” which was published on Feb. 2 along with the letter to the denomination.
O LORD our God, this Table is as big as your heart …
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Editor’s note: On Aug. 5, a mine near Copiapó, Chile, collapsed, trapping 33 miners 2,300 feet underground.
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