The Rev. Jose Luis Casal, director of Presbyterian World Mission, announced today that the Rev. Philip Woods has been named World Mission’s associate director for strategy, program and recruitment.
Like millions of people around the world, Presbyterian elder Bill Campbell was moved by the heartbreaking image of a drowned Syrian boy whose body washed up on a Turkish beach in 2015. Three-year-old Aylan Kurdi was among thousands of Syrians who drowned while trying to escape the violence gripping their country.
The Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People (SDOP) approved grants totaling $89,800 to fund five self-help projects in the United States and one in Belize. The national committee met recently to approve funding made possible through the One Great Hour of Sharing offering.
When J. Herbert Nelson II, Stated Clerk for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), began touting his Hands and Feet initiative at last winter’s Montreat College Conference and initiative manager Andrew Yeager-Buckley talked up its service/learning opportunities, the UKirk campus ministry at Michigan State University (MSU) immediately signed on.
In a recent visit to Lebanon and Syria, a delegation from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) had an opportunity to see firsthand the devastation caused by years of conflict. The group also got an up-close view of efforts to breathe new life into Syrian neighborhoods and cities.
The Syrian conflict is likely to continue for many years to come. The resulting refugee and displacement crisis engenders holy discontentment for people who long for peace and safety among… Read more »
Philadelphia Presbytery has hosted International Peacemakers for two consecutive years, and the impact of these visits has been profound. In 2014 the peacemaker was James Ninrew from the Presbyterian Church of South Sudan. Last year the peacemaker was Rami Al Maqdasi from Iraq. These two countries, though continents apart, have both suffered the burdens of war.
For Ivyland Presbyterian Church, the Middle East was something many members had simply read about or seen on the news. There were no personal connections to the refugee crisis or to displacement of Christians overseas. Members weren’t connected to the trials and tribulations facing people in war-torn regions.
Prayers of lament went out from the Presbytery of Whitewater Valley at the horrors of the Syrian refugee crisis. Our arms of care have reached out to such travelers before, those who make their way on the interstate highways that cross our presbytery, seeking a home, claiming faith and tenaciously building community.
Immigration and Environmental Issues Committee will mull fossil fuel divestment
Competing overtures—one seeking Presbyterian divestment from fossil fuel companies, the other placing that action on hold—will headline the work of the Immigration and Environmental Issues Committee during the 222nd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
