A time for hope and healthy skepticism
The Executive Orders by President Barack Obama on January 22 — to close Guantanamo, to end harsh interrogations, and to abolish secret prisons — represent a huge step forward and are truly cause for rejoicing.
Latest Posts
General Assembly week needs a complete overhaul
The General Assembly week is broken. It can no longer accomplish what it needs to.
And what about the pastors?
Many of our Presbyteries are giving priority to transformation and the need for new faithfulness in our churches.
Are you ready to get the word out to the net generation?
Editor’s Note: This past year the Outlook Web site, www.pres-outlook.org, was upgraded to include Facebook, blogging, sermon wiki, and the DecentlyAndInOrder DIGG site, to help us Presbyterians enhance our connectionalism with the newest Web 2.0 technologies.
PPAS prepares the future leaders from the Americas
The circle of graduates in their blue robes and caps, kneel in a circle for one more prayer time together before leaving the campus.
Is experience the best teacher?
We have all heard it. Many of us received lectures concluded by the decisive declaration, “Experience is the best teacher!”
Sanctity of life
Only a few weeks ago Christians joyfully remembered the birth of Jesus Christ.
LENT: The unique Son of Man
Mark 8:31-38
Editor’s Note: This devotional is the second of seven to run in the Outlook in observance of the 2009 Lenten season. They are based on the lectionary texts for each week.
Heavenly Greetings
They say a pastor at Church of the Heavenly Rest, on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, built his congregation by standing outside the doors on Sunday morning and inviting passers-by to come inside.
Henderson scopes future for Auburn Seminary
[caption id="attachment_20223" align="alignright" width="150"]
Katharine Henderson[/caption] Katharine Rhodes Henderson, who’s been selected as the new president of Auburn Theological Seminary, grew up a child of the Presbyterian Church. And now her work at Auburn focuses on training leaders who can serve effectively in a multi-faith, quickly-changing world.
Auburn Seminary elects new president. Wheeler steps down.
The board of directors of Auburn Theological Seminary in New York City has named Katharine Rhodes Henderson, currently the seminary’s executive vice-president, as its new president, effective July 1.
BOP head reflects on financial crisis, economic stimulus
PHILADELPHIA — Given the political reactions to the proposed stimulus package and market uncertainty about “TARP II,” the immediate future for the economy is not a rosy one.
Witherspoon Press produces 60-minute documentary on John Calvin
LOUISVILLE — A new documentary — John Calvin: His Life and Legacy — reexamines the life and thought of the seminal Protestant Reformer as the 500th anniversary of his birth approaches in July of this year.
Self-Development of People announces grant recipients
SAN DIEGO — The Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People (SDOP) has approved grants totaling $301,710 to 12 self-help projects in the United States.
Recovery by grace
Here’s the situation. Available houses on the market have outgrown the number of homebuyers, producing an excess inventory of 1.5 million unsold homes.
Christian groups’ hopes, the reality for the administration
Watch the alliances shift and gel.
In the early days of Barack Obama’s presidency, folks all across the country, of all political stripes, are watching carefully to assess his style, his views, his impact. People of faith are among those trying to position themselves to have a seat at the table and to make their voices heard.
Bush legacy to be shaped by faith-based programs
WASHINGTON — To hear Jean Patterson Cushman tell it, President Bush’s faith-based initiative has been critical for her Baltimore organization that helps ex-prisoners find new jobs.
Burns or Knox?
In my magic castle, guess who’s coming to supper?
So here’s the deal. You are to host a dinner at Edinburgh Castle. You have been given special powers. You can conjure up some influential people from Scotland’s history, but you will have to decide which one of two controversial figures, Robert Burns or John Knox, will be guest of honor.
Words of hope in of times pain
I know there are exceptions to what I’m about to say, but if I were to fault Mainline Protestant churches, it would be because of their failure to prepare thoughtful theological responses to people’s pain.
The new Atheism
Christopher Hitchens, God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. Twelve/Hachette Book Group, 2007. Hb., 307 pp. $24.99.
John F. Haught, God and the New Atheism: A Critical Response to Dawkins, Harris, and Hitchens. WJKP, 2008. Pb., 156 pp. $16.95.
Tina Beattie, The New Atheists: The Twilight of Reason and the War on Religion. Orbis, 2008. Pb., 209 pp. $20.
The task of our journey
Mark 1:9-15
Editor’s Note: This devotional is the first of seven to run in the Outlook in observance of the 2009 Lenten season. They are based on the lectionary texts for each week.
Seek balance in membership development
The most effective Membership Development Program will be balanced.
Churches will give equal emphasis to recruitment, retention, and transformation. Put another way, that means equal emphasis on helping people through the front door, helping them to avoid the back door, and helping them to discover the new life that they probably came seeking.
Despite credit crunch, church microfinance agency ups lending
Amersfoort, Netherlands — (ENI) At a time when financial markets have been battered by the global economic downturn, a church-backed microfinance institution has increased its field investments by one third, reaching out to poor people often excluded by the commercial banking sector.
Patriarch Kirill gives Russian minority churches cautious optimism
(ENI)--Russian minority churches have voiced cautious optimism about their prospects under the country's new Orthodox patriarch, Kirill I, after messages of welcome from church leaders worldwide following his installation on February 1.
Johnnie Monroe receives PHEWA’s John Park Lee Award
LOUISVILLE — Johnnie Monroe has labored, loved, evangelized, and advocated for social justice in urban communities suffering from economic and spiritual dysfunction for more than 42 years. He will be honored June 12 in Atlanta, for his ministry at a dinner hosted by the Presbyterian Health, Education and Welfare Association (PHEWA) as he receives the 2009 John Park Lee Award.
Page 738 of 883