DURHAM, N.C. (RNS) — After finally accepting her call to preach, Spencer Cullom took a step of faith and began the yearslong process to become ordained in the United Methodist Church. She believed God called her to become a United Methodist minister. And she hoped that her denomination would drop its restrictions against LGBTQ clergy and allow her to follow that call. But Cullom knew that might not happen. “If the language in the Book of Discipline doesn’t change, I will not go through with this,” the 29-year old Duke Divinity School student vowed in fall 2017 when she sent a letter to a church official declaring her intention to begin the ordination process. A ruddy-faced brunette with long, wavy hair and an easy smile, Cullom is a lesbian, and her denomination’s rule book — called the Book of Discipline — bars “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” from being ordained. It also calls the “practice of homosexuality … incompatible with Christian teaching.” In February, … [Read more...]
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Looking into the lectionary 3 hours ago
2nd Sunday of Easter — April 28, 2019
Acts 5:27-32; Revelation 1:4-8; John 20:19-31 Easter 2C Giving truthful testimony can be costly. Telling your story, publicly, under oath, entails risk, a belief in a cause bigger than self and a willingness to make oneself vulnerable to dangerous forces. Recently, I have been watching Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s PBS documentary “Reconstruction.” Words like sobering, tragic, stomach turning come to mind as descriptors for Gates’ detailing of the years following the Civil War. So much hope and progress, dashed, upended, snuffed out through acts of terror. Using photographs, newspaper articles… continue reading... -
Book Reviews 1 day ago
Quietly Courageous: Leading the Church in a Changing World
Gil Rendle Rowman & Littlefield, 304 pages Reviewed by Allen D. Timm A pastor introduced herself to the principal of the high school, who asked if she knew of any opportunities for her students to serve the community. A local imam asked the same of his congregants. The church was hosting an overnight shelter, and they joined the project. The church became a catalyst for change in her community. This story illustrates Gil Rendle’s “Quietly Courageous.” It picks up where “Doing the Math of Mission” leaves off. Rendle builds on… continue reading... -
Outlook Reporting 2 days ago
Board approves funds for Stony Point Center improvements
The Presbyterian Mission Agency Board continues to struggle with a question that it’s been poking at for years: how much it’s willing to spend to continue the operations of Stony Point Center outside New York City. The board, meeting by conference call April 24 (part of that in closed session) voted to authorize spending up to $630,750, for “critical expenditures” for capital improvements at Stony Point, a conference center about an hour outside New York City that also is home to an interfaith community. The board also gave permission for… continue reading...
Parties in Stamford case had tried to expedite process in order to get a ruling on the merits of the case January 1, 1995 Uncategorized85 views The General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission -- in sidestepping the question of exactly how deeply a session should be required to probe into the private life of a gay elder who has acknowledged being in a committed, life-long relationship but has declined to say whether he is sexually active -- has put the question off but has not put it to rest.- Ministering with the Earth January 1, 1998 Book Reviews59 views By Mary Elizabeth MooreChalice. 1998. 226 pp. Pb. $19.99. ISBN 0-8272-2323-4 Ministering with the Earth is a quiltwork, both the on-the-ground activity and Moore's book about so ministering. Moore, professor of theology and Christian education at Claremont School of Theology, is fond of the metaphor, suitably pastoral and feminist.
- Remembered Voice: Reclaiming the Legacy of 'Neo-Orthodoxy' January 1, 1998 Book Reviews57 views By Douglas John HallWJKP. 1998. 145 pp. Pb. $18. ISBN 0-664-25772-0 It was in this order. I first read Tillich's Dynamics of Faith. Riveting. Next came The Courage to Be. Gripping. Then I went back and read the first volume of the Systematic Theology. Things began to make sense. Next came Biblical Religion and the Search for Ultimate Reality. Positive.
The work of the church: Boards of the Presbyterian Mission Agency and A Corporation hold meetings in Louisville March 29, 2019 Outlook Reporting1 comment LOUISVILLE – Presbyterian leaders concluded a week of policy-making meetings in Kentucky, with the boards of the Presbyterian Mission Agency and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), A Corporation – meeting in different rooms at the same hotel – considering everything from financial matters to use of the denomination’s national offices in Louisville. Here’s some of what happened March 29.
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The board of the A Corporation – which is the corporate entity of the Office of the General Assembly (OGA) and the Presbyterian Mission Agency (PMA) – voted to create a new position of m...
Say this, not that July 18, 2018 Outpost Blog1 comment Our words matter. It matters that we speak about God’s call when the nominating committee gets to work. A phone call that asks if we feel called to serve on the Christian education committee feels different then someone begging us to sign up because the committee hardly ever meets and they really need new blood. It matters that we talk about giving generous gifts during stewardship season instead of hearing that the bills are piling up. Most people would rather give with joy than do their duty to contribute to mounting costs. It matters that we pastors call that one precious weekday a Sabbath day ...
Pastoral pipeline: Will there be enough ministers to serve the Presbyterian Church? September 26, 2017 Outlook Features1 comment
The premise is this: With a surge of retirements approaching, and fewer people going to seminary, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is facing an impending, potentially severe shortage of pastors.
Lee Hinson-Hasty, senior director of Theological Education Funds Development at the Presbyterian Foundation, has been making that case in recent months — at the 2017 NEXT Church national conference, at Big Tent and elsewhere. Easily three-quarters of the Presbyterian pastors currently se...
What to do about ordination? A gay divinity school student ponders her future
PC(USA) releases 2018 statistical report
The 2018 statistical report for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) shows a continuing decline for the denomination in both membership and the number of churches, although the rate of decline may be slowing slightly. The PC(USA) lost 62,375 active members from 2017 to 2018, dropping from 1,415,053 members in 2017 to 1,352,678 in 2018 (a decrease of 4.4%). That compares to a membership decline of 67,714 members from 2016 to 2017 (a decrease of 4.5%). The PC(USA) also has fewer churches. The number of churches in the denomination dropped by 143 over the last year – from 9,304 in 2017 to 9,161 in 2018. While fewer churches than in recent years were dismissed to other denominations (34 in 2018, compared with 45 the previous year) the PC(USA) continues to see churches dissolved as they become too small to continue operating – with 108 churches dissolved in 2018, while only 20 new churches were organized. The Office of the General Assembly is looking for good news in the … [Read more...]
Nuancing empathy
“Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.” (Romans 12:15) I keep encountering empathy in things I read and hear these days. Empathy – “the ability to understand and share the feelings of another” (one online dictionary’s definition) – is sorely lacking in our civil discourse, especially on social media. And so different voices keep rallying for empathy, for walking in another person’s shoes. I agree with the immediate need for empathy. But as someone who is empathetic and is in a vocation in which I’m called to understand and share the feelings of another, I believe our understanding of empathy must be nuanced. I recently heard a speaker at a women’s conference define empathy as listening and participating in a person’s story. Because empathy requires one to enter into another’s story, it costs something: we feel not only the joy but the pain of another. This speaker quoted Romans 12:15: We are called by Scripture to not only rejoice with those who rejoice, but … [Read more...]
What’s right about Pipe Creek Presbyterian Church?
Pipe Creek Presbyterian Church — Pipe Creek, Texas Pipe Creek Presbyterian Church dedicated 100 prayer quilts in 2018 to people in times of sickness, heartache, uncertainty and even joy. Quilters gather each Monday to create beautiful quilts in a wide variety of colors, patterns and themes. No two quilts are alike! Known as “tied quilts,” the front and back are bound through strands of thread that are tied in knots on the front. The quilts are then dedicated at the beginning of worship on Sunday morning. Prayer quilts contain the prayers of the people who cut the fabric, assemble the quilt and tie the knots during worship – prayers are literally part of fabric of these unique quilts. Pipe Creek’s ministry brings a deep sense of unity and faith, and embody God’s compassion and love. – Duane Manning, pastor Share your 150-word story of “what’s right” with the Outlook by emailing it to [email protected] … [Read more...]
Appointments to General Assembly Special Task Forces and Reconciliation Team
(OGA) Vilmarie Cintrón-Olivieri and Cindy Kohlmann, Co-Moderators of the 223rd General Assembly (2018), announced today appointments to two additional special entities approved by the General Assembly: Family Leave Task Force Contina Lundy, Co-Moderator (Presbytery of Philadelphia) Landon Whitsitt, Co-Moderator (Presbytery of Heartland) Heidi Bolt (Presbytery of Twin Cities Area) Tito Colon Ramos (Presbiterio del Noroeste) Hailey Malcolm (Presbytery of Cincinnati) Paul Volker (Presbytery of North Central Iowa) Jarvie Commonweal Endowment Reconciliation Team José Olagues, Co-Moderator (Presbytery of Grand Canyon) Roxie Holder, Co-Moderator (Presbytery of Eastern Virginia) Terry Dunning (Presbytery of Utah) Kimo Kim (Presbytery of Detroit) Oscar McCloud (Presbytery of New York City) Samuel Stone (Presbytery of Palisades) Kathy Barlow Westmoreland (Presbytery of Santa Fe) Regarding the appointment of the Jarvie Commonweal Endowment Reconciliation Team, the … [Read more...]
Coming together for South to South mission and ministry
(PNS) “Your story is our story.” That’s what a group of visitors from global partners Nile Theological College (NTC) and RECONCILE (Resource Centre for Civil Leadership) in South Sudan, told members of the staff at Protestant Institute of Arts and Social Sciences (PIASS) when they visited Rwanda recently. Rwanda has just marked the 25thanniversary of the 1994 genocide that killed more than 800,000 Tutsi at the hands of the majority Hutu population. The campus of the Protestant Institute of Arts and Social Sciences in Butare, Rwanda, prominently displays a memorial to those killed during the 1994 genocide. (Photo by Kathy Melvin) Since South Sudan’s birth as a nation in 2011, over 50,000 people have been killed, more than 1.9 million have been internally displaced and 1.8 million have fled the country. Although a peace treaty has been signed, it’s a fragile peace. Two mission co-workers, colleagues and partners recently traveled to the PIASS campus in Butare, Rwanda from … [Read more...]
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