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Israeli occupation a ‘sin against God’ says global churches’ leader

GENEVA — (ENI) The general secretary of the World Council of Churches has said that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories should be declared a "sin against God."

Lutherans open door to gay clergy, agree to disagree on sexuality

MINNEAPOLIS (ABP) — Delegates to the national assembly of America's largest Lutheran denomination voted by a wide margin Aug. 21 to open the door to allowing clergy in committed same-sex relationships to serve openly.

WCC to elect new leader at Geneva meeting

GENEVA — The main governing body of the World Council of Churches (WCC), its central committee, starts an eight-day meeting tomorrow (Aug. 26) during which it will elect a new general secretary to succeed the Rev. Samuel Kobia, a Methodist from Kenya.

Coastal Kenyan Christians and Muslims in a tangle over schools

(ENI) — Christians and Muslims in Kenya's coastal region are embroiled in a row over the control of schools, stirring tensions that both groups warn could destabilize peaceful co-existence between the two faiths.

Education in Pakistan: They don’t take anything for granted

These American women — free, safe, blessed by a wealth of educational and career opportunities — were hearing stories hard to understand and absorb. But they crowded into a living room in Louisville, eager to learn what life is like for women in Pakistan, a country halfway around the world.

Flipping the presbytery

It wasn’t necessarily that anything was “broken.” In fact, things in the Los Ranchos Presbytery in southern California were going along quite nicely, according to most anyone you’d ask.

Seminaries facing budget balancing act

Presbyterian seminaries face challenging financial realities, searching for ways to balance their budgets.

“Storm” deepens PC(USA) seminary cooperation

In late January 2009, Kentucky witnessed possibly the worst ice storm in the history of the state.

COTE: parish, seminary dialogue in turbulent times

In November, I will complete a seven year-term as an elected member of the Committee on Theological Education (COTE).

Broke but not broken; unified but not the same

Daniel Aleshire, executive director of the Association of Theological Schools, remarked during a recent interview with The Christian Century that the current financial crisis “is bringing some seminaries together and pushing other seminaries further apart.”

Equipping for the “emergency room”

When someone introduced me recently as “the president of the world’s largest non-denominational seminary,” I cringed a little. There is nothing “non” about my own attitude toward denominations.

After seminary: The hazards and joys of Christian ministry

Editor’s Note: this article is excerpted from the commencement address given at Union -PSCE at Charlotte, N.C., on April 25, 2009.

2009-10: New faculty, programs for PC(USA)-related seminaries

“You Visited Me … ”

“How do you engage the administrative work of your congregation so it feeds the  care of members and makes your church attractive for prospective members?” This was my question as I  interviewed pastors, staff members of churches, and lay leaders.

The gospel according to tee ball

Who would have thought that a three-and-a-half year old would be eligible to play organized tee ball? 

What makes a church great?

It’s been 27 years since I first joined a Presbyterian congregation.

Asking the right questions

How many people left the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in 2008 was a recent news release headline. What jumped off the page at me was not the numbers, but the questions Stated Clerk Gradye Parsons thinks are important to ask in response to the membership loss.

Racial profiling continues to be the norm

(ABP) Maybe the Cambridge police did not act “stupidly,” but did they act typically?

Bread for ALL the World

Thirty-five years ago Presbyterians played a major role in the birth of a new ecumenical initiative against hunger: Bread for the World, which now is the nation’s main citizens’ lobby on hunger.

Welcome home, Boomers?

I have a theory, an observation, really, about what’s coming around the corner.  Or rather, who is coming; I’ve been watching my people.

When is a seminary like Hogwarts?

I am a belated arrival to J.K. Rowling’s vast world of fantasy. Still about a thousand or so pages from resolving the hair-raising saga between Voldemort — I mean “You-Know-Who” — and Hogwarts’ best student wizard, Harry Potter, I have gleaned insights from this story pertinent to better preparing seminary students for the pastorate. 

Choosing a new pastor

My congregation recently elected me to the committee that will nominate a new pastor.

Lightning destroys Florida church; 50-year-old building a total loss

LOUISVILLE — A lightning strike Aug. 20 set ablaze First Church of DeBary, Fla., destroying the 50-year-old building.

PGF consultation: Change with no “master plan”

“Most of us in this room find ourselves living in a world that none of us planned for,” conference speaker Alan Roxburgh told those gathered for the “Moving Back into our Neighborhoods: The Work of the Missional Church” consultation in San Diego, Calif.

PGF: “Experiment” yourselves into new ways of being church, conference participants are urged

[caption id="attachment_20873" align="alignright" width="144"]-If we don't know how to listen to one another's stories, how will we be able to listen to the stories of those in our neighborhhods- conference participants were challenged [/caption]Most conferences for church leaders include some form of practical take-away for those attending. The Presbyterian Global Fellowship’s fourth regional consultation of the year, “Moving Back Into Our Neighborhoods,” never set out to be ‘most conferences.’