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Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund aids more than 1,000 congregations

(RNS) More than 1,000 houses of worship will receive grants from the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund to help recover from 2005 hurricane damage on the Gulf Coast.

Fund spokesman Bill Pierce said the number of applications far exceeded expectations. Officials originally expected between 500 and 700 applications.

Christian leaders challenge President Bush to address moral concerns in State of the Union

compiled by faithinpubliclife.org

As news reports are abuzz with speculation about the State of the Union address -- what agenda items will make the cut and what tone President Bush will strike -- Christian leaders are challenging the President to address the most pressing moral concerns of our time: bringing our troops home from Iraq, eradicating poverty, abolishing torture without exception, creation care and comprehensive immigration reform.

A tribute to Ben Lacy Rose (1914-2006)

Ben Lacy Rose, moderator of the 111th General Assembly of the PC US (1971-1972) died in Richmond, Va, November 13 at Westminster Canterbury retirement community two days after Veterans Day. He lived a long, active, and productive life as a pastor, military chaplain, professor of homiletics, editor, and author, supported by his spouse Ann Thompson Rose, who died in 2005. 

Rose was born in Fayetteville N.C., in 1914, heir to a long history of Roses whose line extends back to Scotland of the 1730's, to Orange County, N.C., and Fayetteville where he was born in 1914. He attended Davidson College in N.C., Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Va., where he took his BD (1938), Th. M. (1950) and the Th. D. (1955). He served as chaplain in the United States army in World War II and was awarded a Bronze Star and Legion of Merit Medal. In 1974 he retired from the Army Reserve with a rank of colonel, one of those veterans of honorable service marked on Nov. 11.

PC(USA) reorganizing efforts lead to creating new office

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is creating a new Office of Leadership and Vocation -- a combined venture of the General Assembly Council and the Office of the General Assembly.

The new office -- part of a continuing reorganization of the denominational structure -- will pull together elements of work involving congregations calling pastors, efforts to prepare candidates for ministry,  the training of commissioned lay pastors, support of Christian educators and programs to encourage vocational discernment. 

Episcopal split accelerates as Va. parishes vote to leave

c. 2006 Religion News Service

Conservative Episcopalians' steady exodus from the Episcopal Church accelerated Dec. 17 as eight Virginia congregations -- including two large, historic parishes -- voted to leave the national body.

The Diocese of Virginia has lost 12 congregations and about 18 percent of its average Sunday worship attendance in recent battles over homosexuality and the authority of Scripture, according to figures provided by the diocese.

Saddleback AIDS conference speakers challenge church to “unselfish service”

"People ask me, 'Rick, are you right wing or left wing?' I tell them, I'm for the whole bird!"

That statement, one of a plethora of sound bites spoken by pastor and author Rick Warren, embodied both the theme and spirit of "Race Against Time," the 2006 Global Summit on AIDS at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Cal., this past Nov. 29 -- Dec. 1. The conference drew the attention of many, due in part to the invitation Warren extended to potential Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. This act of inclusivity drew both the attention of the secular world and criticism from the religious right. 

Agape Community Kitchen: “It has changed all of us”

"This is most likely the greatest thing I can possibly do because this is what Christ told us to do, go and serve others. So, we are literally taking the words of Christ and putting them into action." So states Will Foltz. A powerful statement, made even more so when you realize that Will Foltz is 14 years old.

What does Will keep going back to? It is called the Agape Community Kitchen, and each Wednesday evening in Elizabeth, New Jersey, it serves about 250 guests a warm meal. It is a ministry begun by the Presbyterian Church in Westfield. Not exactly unique, you might think, but this is not the usual soup kitchen. It was started, and continues to be run, by the youth of the church.

Arkansas camp finds new ways to meet needs, stay viable

In some places, Presbyterian camps and conference centers are shutting down -- as beloved as they may be, there's just not enough money to keep going.

But Ferncliff in Little Rock, Ark., has a different, more positive story to tell.

Over the last 20 years, Ferncliff, the camp of Arkansas presbytery, has experienced slow but steady growth.

It's found new life through innovation: by responding to incidents of school violence and, more recently, by becoming involved in disaster assistance efforts.

And the heart of its vision, according to Executive Director David Gill, is the realization that Ferncliff isn't just a fun place to visit, but a center of mission and ministry as well.

Sheldon Sorge new associate director of Louisville Institute

The Rev. Dr. Sheldon W. Sorge has been named associate director of the Louisville Institute, effective January 1, 2007.

Camps and congregations — partners in ministry

This summer Camp Hanover, a ministry of the Presbytery of the James (Virginia), will celebrate an important milestone. For fifty years the camp has been providing a summer residential camp experience for children and youth, and hosting a variety of church group retreats during the other seasons of the year.

Like many other denominational camps, Hanover was organized in the heyday of church camp startups in the 1950s and 60s. At that time congregations were flourishing and full of young families. Churches instinctively built vital, cooperative partnerships with the camps. Camp and church leaders frequently noted that a week at camp was worth a whole year of Sunday School.

GAC provides $720,000 to cover MIJHH operating expense

LOUISVILLE -- To stay in business, the major fundraising drive of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) needs to find money soon for operating expenses.

So the General Assembly Council's Executive Committee has decided to provide $720,000 to cover those administrative costs. That means the Mission Initiative: Joining Hearts & Hands campaign should be able to keep working until the General Assembly meets in 2008, trying to raise the last $14.5 million of its five-year $40 million goal.

That $720,000 will be "essentially a loan" that would be repaid, said David York, Joining Hearts & Hands' new executive director. The money to do that would come from a 5 percent administrative fee that would be taken out of restricted gifts made to the campaign -- in other words, money that congregations, presbyteries or individual donors provide while specifying that it will be used for particular projects.

New year question: Are regional governing bodies viable, stable?

In this financially-stressed denomination, what is the future of presbyteries and synods?

With some regional governing bodies already being pricked by fiscal pain, that is a question being asked with some fervor and urgency in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) these days.

Last September, the Synod of the Southwest and the presbyteries of Santa Fe and Sierra Blanca sent letters asking the General Assembly Council to "convene a consultation at an early opportunity in order to address the viability and stability of the synods and presbyteries of this denomination."

The council has created a Task Force on the Viability of Presbyteries and Synods.

And each of the 173 presbyteries and 16 synods is being asked to send a representative to a meeting Feb. 14-16 in Albuquerque to discuss the issue.

"It is no secret in the church that many of our presbyteries and synods are experiencing a 'crunch' that seems to becoming more critical each year," states a letter announcing the consultation. Life is becoming more complex for middle governing bodies, and "the resources to do mission and ministry are becoming more and more scarce," the letter states.

The Forgotten Faithful

Though not an overachiever like the seminary classmates who memorized the death dates of every important figure for the church history final, I did manage to commit the most important events to memory. And, as every student of church history knows, some of those events were the church councils--

325: Council of Nicea, Arian controversy.

381: Council of Constantinople, doctrine of the Trinity.

431: Council of Ephesus, Theotokos.

451: Council of Chalcedon, Monophysite controversy otherwise known as two natures, one person

553: Council of Constantinople, more Monophysite controversy

Though they seemed definitive, these councils were not the end of the story for everyone. 

I was shocked to find out, as an attendee at a conference, "The Forgotten Faithful: A Window to the Life and Witness of Christians in the Holy Land," that many of the indigenous Christians in the Holy Land refer to themselves as non-Chalcedonian. The conference, held in Jerusalem Nov. 2-9, was sponsored by Sabeel, an ecumenical grassroots liberation theology movement among Palestinian Christians headquartered in Jerusalem.

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