ST. LOUIS – J. Herbert Nelson, stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), introduced the speakers this way: “These Presbyterians are fresh out of jail. Really, they are fresh out of jail. Charged with righteous indignation. They are here today to tell the story of where we need to be as a denomination.” Fresh out of jail. Liz Theoharis, a PC(USA) minister and co-director with William Barber of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, was arrested June 11 while praying outside the U.S. Supreme Court. Jimmie Hawkins, director of the PC(USA)’s Office of Public Witness, was arrested with Theoharis as they called for access for all to jobs, living wages, housing and health care. Nelson said they were “harassed, locked up, handcuffed, stayed in jail for an inordinate amount of time for praying on the Supreme Court steps. That’s the price we pay today in the United States for saying ‘we do not agree with what the government is pressing for.’ … [Read more...]
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Outlook Reporting 8 mins ago
“Prophets over profit” – Fossil Free PCUSA holds press conference calling for divestment
After walking over 200 miles from the PC(USA) headquarters in Louisville, walkers and ombudsmen for Fossil Free PCUSA gathered to advocate for the passage of Overture 08-01 on June 16, one day after arriving in St. Louis for the 223rd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Set before the Environmental Issues committee by The Presbytery of the Hudson River, and with 39 additional presbyteries concurring, the overture calls for a recognition that holding investments in fossil fuel industries makes the PC(USA) “complicit in harming God’s creation and ‘the least of… continue reading... -
Outlook Reporting 14 hours ago
Commissioners’ resolutions cover widespread issues: Calls to end policies separating families, respond to North Korean refugee crisis, address suicide and opioid addiction and more
ST. LOUIS – Commissioners’ resolutions to the 2018 General Assembly have started to roll in – often, matters drawn from breaking news or concerns too fresh to have made the assembly’s earlier deadlines for business. Among them: a resolution seeking to voice Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) opposition to the Trump administration’s policy of separating children from their parents as their families try to cross the U.S.-Mexico border. That resolution asks the assembly to call on the U.S. Department of Justice “to immediately end the newly-implemented zero tolerance policy that is tearing apart families,”… continue reading... -
Outlook Reporting 16 hours ago
Cindy Kohlmann and Vilmarie Cintrón-Olivieri elected co-moderators of the 223rdGeneral Assembly
ST. LOUIS — On the fourth ballot, the 2018 General Assembly elected as co-moderators Cindy Kohlmann and Vilmarie Cintrón-Olivieri – a minister and a ruling elder; a mid council executive and an educator; the daughter of a military family, born in Greece, and a Puerto Rican native for whom Spanish is her first language; one from the north (Boston) and one from the south (Florida). They also elected a team – both in their early 40s — that exuded a sense of warmth, hope, welcome and commitment to justice. After… 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 Uncategorized100 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 Reviews107 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 Reviews100 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.
Proposed per capita increase will go to General Assembly February 9, 2018 Outlook Reporting3 comments LOUISVILLE – With no debate, the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board voted Feb. 9 to approve a sizeable proposed increase in General Assembly per capita – from $7.73 per member in 2018 to $10.71 in 2019 and to $11.45 in 2020.
That would amount to a 39 percent increase from 2018 to 2019 and a 7 percent increase from 2019 to 2020. The proposal now will go to the 2018 General Assembly in June in St. Louis for its consideration.
Ken Godshall, who is chair of the board and a pastor from Kentucky, had voted against the proposed increase Feb. 8 when it came before the board’s executive committee, saying the increase...
Assembly approves child protection policy June 23, 2016 Outlook Reporting2 comments PORTLAND, Ore. – The General Assembly Procedures committee only had time to present one item of business from its report before the 2016 General Assembly adjourned for the evening June 22 – but it was a matter of both deep significance and emotional resonance.
The assembly voted on Item 03-14, a policy created for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to protect children, youth, and vulnerable adults. The committee’s moderator, Mary Lou Cox, introduced the item by shari...
Taxation without representation? Mid council leaders release statement addressing proposed per capita increase April 18, 2018 Uncategorized2 comments A group of 40 mid council leaders has written a statement urging the 2018 General Assembly to vote down a proposed General Assembly per capita increase– saying the proposed increase of 39 percent from 2018 to 2019 and another 7 percent from 2019 to 2020 feels like “taxation without representation.”
These mid council leaders contend the number of congregations not remitting per capita will “dramatically increase” if per capita goes up, and that presbyteries would bear the financial burden.
J. Herb...
“I have never in my life been so proud to be a Presbyterian” – Liz Theoharis shares Presbyterians’ involvement in eradicating poverty
Tagged With: GA223
Speakers tell Middle East peace group that blame and stereotypes won’t help
ST. LOUIS — Do Presbyterians really think the best way to foster peace and cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians is to pick sides? That question loomed large at a June 16 breakfast session of Presbyterians for Middle East Peace, held here during the 223rdGeneral Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). To be of real help, several speakers at the breakfast said, Presbyterians should quit thinking blame and stereotypes are useful tools. Bassem Eid, a human rights activist who investigates violations by both the Israeli Armed Forces and the Palestinian Authority, said outsiders — including Presbyterians — “are adding oil to the flames” by heaping blame on one side, the Israelis, for their ongoing conflict between themselves and Palestinians. On the other hand, he said, it doesn’t help to portray the Palestinians as weak or oppressed, or as focused solely on the quest for a separate state. The ruling passion for most Palestinians today, he said, is their quest for … [Read more...]
Prayer for the first day of the 223rd General Assembly
Lord, we have come from North and South, East and West, to worship and pray, discuss and discern. We thank you for the journey that has gotten us to this day. We seek not our own will, but yours alone. Quiet in us any voice but yours. Help us to listen with openness to one another. Grant us patience and stamina, wisdom and courage. May the decisions, deliberations, actions and interactions of this week glorify you and ripple through your world for good. Make sure, Lord of All, that we do not forget the needs of others, the power of your Spirit, the promise of your peace and the certainty of your presence, right here in the midst of us. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen. … [Read more...]
105 degrees, 210 miles, 1 goal: Walking for a fossil-free church
Video by Ed Sackett EAST ST. LOUIS, ILL — In preparation for the 223rd General Assembly, Fossil Free PCUSA, a project of Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, organized a walk from the headquarters of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in Louisville to the doors of the America’s Center Convention Complex in St. Louis, where General Assembly is being held. The asphalt at the BP station where marchers for Fossil Free PCUSA assembled on June 15 was a brutal incubator, pushing the heat index to 105 degrees. In a patch of grass, organizers and walkers who’d driven ahead set up lunch on a folding table. Soon, the rest of the Fossil Free PCUSA crew arrived, clad in orange shirts emblazoned with “for creation!” They came to congregate, eat and coordinate the final few miles of their journey. After lunch, about 30 people who had trekked from the offices of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in Louisville, Kentucky, to a dusty BP in East St. Louis, Illinois, began assembling two-by-two along the … [Read more...]
COLA volunteers welcome GA participants
ST. LOUIS- Members of the Committee on Local Arrangements (COLA) welcomed participants of the 2018 General Assembly at the St. Louis Lambert International Airport. The hospitality team welcomed GA attendees at the airport, provided maps and arranged transportation to local hotels. When asked why she volunteered, Susan Wedemeyer said, “It’s great to have the assembly here. This is where we live, and we get to share it with the wider Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) world.” Dieter Heinzel, who serves as a local pastor, said that he is excited to welcome other Presbyterians to his home. Jim Cook said he volunteered to greet everyone because “it is fun, we get to laugh a lot, and we get to meet a lot of neat people.” COLA members will also be assisting with worship, special events, volunteering, hospitality, communications and media, and other areas throughout the General Assembly gathering. … [Read more...]
Remembering baptismal vows and why congregations need the wider church: Way Forward Committee begins meeting a day before General Assembly convenes
ST. LOUIS – The Way Forward Committee of the 2018 General Assembly started off its work with a history lesson, and a bedtime story of the six Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) agencies. Because this committee is considering such complex business – including competing recommendations for reorganizing the PC(USA), A Corporation, from the Way Forward Commission and the All Agency Review Committee on the one side, and the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board on the other – it began meeting June 15, one day before the assembly itself convenes. The room wasn’t crowded, as it likely will be next week. But those in the crowd included high-level observers: members of the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board; of the Way Forward Commission and All Agency Review Committee; lawyers; and senior leadership from the Presbyterian Mission Agency. Beth Hessel, executive director of the Presbyterian Historical Society, provided some historical context for the complexities the committee will … [Read more...]
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