PC(USA) News

April 9, 2024

The Rev. Lee Catoe and Simon Doong, the hosts of “A Matter of Faith: A Presby Podcast,” opened their most recent installment with the voices of youth who’d attended a conference at Massanetta Springs Camp and Conference Center in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Catoe asked youth about what they want to see happening in the church today.

Committee leaders build community and learn more about the roles they’ll fill during the 226th General Assembly

April 8, 2024

Mike Ferguson | Presbyterian News Service

LOUISVILLE

Those called to lead online committees and the many people supporting their work are both online and at the Presbyterian Center Monday through Wednesday for the General Assembly Leadership Briefing in advance of the 226th General Assembly, set for June 25 through July 4.

April 5, 2024

Communications staff in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) garnered six victories during the 2024 DeRose-Hinkhouse Memorial Awards announced Friday by the Religion Communicators Council for work they completed during 2023.

April 5, 2024

As they did Thursday, members of the Commission on the Unification of Office of the General Assembly and the Presbyterian Mission Agency spent almost all their time Friday meeting in closed session as a committee of the whole. Commissioners emerged Friday afternoon from their gathering at the Presbyterian Center in Louisville, Kentucky, for a 20-minute public session before praying and adjourning.

April 5, 2024

It is the season when volunteer work trips kick into high gear as groups from churches and other partners of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance show their love and compassion by helping with rebuilding projects in communities affected by disasters. For groups that have one of these trips in their future, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance has put together a free, downloadable how-to guide to assist with planning.

April 5, 2024

What gives someone the will to do what is right in the face of possible death threats, intimidation or loss of comfort? One could offer it’s the power of the Holy Spirit, and yet following the nudge of the Spirit is still a choice. In the postbellum South, a Presbyterian minister recognized an opportunity to educate Black men and prepare them for ministry. This conviction took him all the way to the 1875 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, which voted to authorize the inception of the Tuscaloosa Institute.  The Rev. Dr. Charles Allen Stillman’s legacy is deeply rooted and connected to the history of what is now known as Stillman College.

April 5, 2024

The pictures of the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from Gaza being forced by the Israeli military to evacuate the northern part of the Gaza Strip heading south evoked old memories of the 1948 Nakba. In 1948, Jewish Israeli terror groups destroyed and erased over 500 Palestinian villages and displaced nearly 800,000 Palestinians,¹ including more than 50,000 Palestinian Christians who had to flee, thus becoming refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan and Lebanon.

April 4, 2024

Meeting for much of Thursday as a committee of the whole in executive (closed) session, the Unification Commission announced Thursday afternoon it has selected a consultant to help it with the work of unifying the Office of the General Assembly and the Presbyterian Mission Agency.

PHS will develop RNS exhibit with support from Lilly Endowment grant

April 4, 2024

Kristen Gaydos | Presbyterian Historical Society

PHILADELPHIA

The Presbyterian Historical Society (PHS) will use a $94,750 grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to develop a traveling exhibit of photographs from its Religious News Service Collection.

The planning grant will fund the design and fabrication of an exhibit prototype that explores how the Religious News Service covered the interplay of religion, domestic politics and foreign affairs from 1936 to 1983.

April 4, 2024

Just days after an airstrike killed seven World Central Kitchen workers in Gaza and as experts says famine is imminent in northern Gaza, the PC(USA)’s Office of Public Witness held a webinar Wednesday on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Nearly 300 people attended.

April 4, 2024

As a fundamental pillar of our Christian experience and testimony, justice is inseparable from peace and a fulfilling life for every human being as proclaimed by the good news of the Kingdom of God. Currently, there is a grave deficit of both justice and peace in many countries around the world, particularly in Central America.

April 3, 2024

Women should consider their life expectancy — and the fact that they tend to live longer than men do — when thinking about and planning for their financial futures. Those were some of the takeaways from “Empowering Older Women as Consumers,” a virtual event held in conjunction with the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. The March CSW68 summit included delegates from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and Presbyterian Women as well as women from around the world.

April 3, 2024

Now is the time eager applicants await their college acceptance letters. Individuals and families start to consider not just what institutions to attend but also how they will realistically pay for them. Churches around the country add these young adults and their families to their prayer lists and prepare to celebrate the members graduating in May or June. But for many seeking a degree, the PC(USA) can do more than just pray for their acceptance and ongoing education.

April 3, 2024

Congregations will have greater flexibility and choice when the new Benefits Plan of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) takes effect Jan. 1, 2025. The plan, redesigned to better support congregational ministry in the Church of today, received approval last month from the Board of Directors of The Board of Pensions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

April 3, 2024

The PC(USA)’s Christian Zionism working group, which includes PC(USA) national staff and members from its congregations, will present the first in a series of webinars centered on the topic of confronting and challenging Christian Zionism. The Zoom-based webinar is scheduled for noon Eastern Time on Thursday, April 18.

April 3, 2024

Christians are minorities in Asia and the Pacific. The area is known to be home to the most Buddhists in the world, with a projection of 476 million followers in 2050. Nonetheless, the Christian population may rise by about 33% and reach 381 million in 2050.  The highest growth in church membership occurred between 1970–2020. In countries like China, the phenomenon of house churches continues to grow, which is in direct contrast with the global North, where church membership is declining.

April 2, 2024

Kayla Craig describes her family’s dinner table as “absolute chaos, but it’s a great kind of chaos.”

April 2, 2024

John Pavlovitz’s “Worth Fighting For: Finding Courage and Compassion When Cruelty is Trending,” a book published by Westminster John Knox Press, is now available.

April 2, 2024

If given the choice, most people would rather not ride on a hospital gurney. Except for Hector Cardenas.

April 1, 2024

Very early on Easter Sunday, two women went to the historic cemetery in Decatur, Georgia, accompanied by a musician. They carried a Christ candle and copies of a printed liturgy. Others joined them, but it was hard to say how many, for they were just shapes in the darkness — spirit or flesh? It was hard to tell until the morning light reached its fingers through the trees and gravestones to pull away the shroud of the long night.