BALTIMORE – Equity and inclusion: How well is the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) doing? That question was like a bright thread running through the discussions as the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board met Feb. 12-14 in Baltimore. Some of it came directly, in presentations on assessments underway. And sometimes it surfaced in questions about how the PC(USA) deals with issues involving immigrants and people of color. Migration. Board member Michelle Hwang outlined recommendations that the Racial Equity Advocacy Committee(REAC) will be bringing to the General Assembly in June – saying the theme of REAC’s efforts this year will be migration, forced or voluntary. REAC held its meeting in January in El Paso, and also traveled across the border to Ciudad Juarez to meet with asylum seekers who are being forced by the policy of the Trump administration to wait in Mexico as their asylum claims proceed. Those conversations were powerful, Hwang said – and REAC wants to work to strengthen … [Read more...]

BALTIMORE –The Presbyterian Mission Agency Board voted Feb. 14 to support the recommendations on fossil fuel divestment from the Committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investment (MRTI) – sending those recommendations on to the General Assembly in June. The vote came with no discussion. MRTI is recommending that the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) divest from three companies – Exxon Mobil, Marathon Petroleum and Valero Energy – that it says are not making enough progress on responding to climate change issues. The 2018 General Assembly approved a set of metrics that MRTI is using to measure the progress of nine companies it’s been tracking since that assembly, and those three companies fell into the “red” zone – the worst – using those metrics. Some Presbyterians want the church to do more. The Presbytery of Monmouth is sending an overture calling for the PC(USA) to divest fully from fossil fuel companies, and to invest instead in renewable energy, and already 11 other … [Read more...]

BALTIMORE – One of the three emphases of the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s Matthew 25 initiative is congregational vitality. But what exactly does “congregational vitality” mean for a typical church? During a Feb. 12 session, members of the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board got a primer on what counts and what doesn’t. “Notice I didn’t say anything about our buildings, our budgets or our butts in the pews,” said Kathryn Threadgill, the coordinator for the Vital Congregations initiative, near the end of her presentation. “Congregational vitality is about spiritual faithfulness” in a 21st century context. So far, 14 presbyteries have participated in the first wave of the 2020 Vital Congregations national project, which provides training and support, and another 12 presbyteries will be part of a second wave starting in January 2021, Threadgill said. Vital congregations are better equipped to do the rest of the work of the Matthew 25 initiative: to play a role in ending … [Read more...]