When we read about the first band of Christ followers selling their possessions and “distributing the proceeds to all, as they had need,” (Acts 2:45), we clap our hands, lauding such noble sacrifice, but snicker under our breath, whispering, “Now that’s a bit too much!” We eye their sudden dispossession as fanatical, what uncouth cults do: they sell everything and go up to the mountains because they are cocksure of Jesus’ return date and time. We have (and have had) many Christian-freaks/fringes who abandoned human society to welcome the end of the world, only to return poorer. Here we are, 2,000 years later, and the human society is still humming, and money still matters, so let’s live out our faith in “decency and order.”
Together with the Rev. S. Balajiedlang Khyllep, a colleague at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary’s World Mission Initiative, the Rev. Dr. Hunter Farrell has written a book to help congregations decolonize their mission outreach. Farrell, the former director of Presbyterian World Mission, was the recent guest of the Presbyterian Foundation’s the Rev. Dr. Lee Hinson-Hasty on the broadcast “Leading Theologically.” Listen to their half-hour conversation here or here.
Most of us are familiar with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which is commonly associated with combat military service but covers a wide swath of trauma-inducing events.
The Rev. Dr. Tom Bryson, the co-pastor at Southminster Presbyterian Church in Vestavia Hills, Alabama, remembers the day as a young boy when his father brought home the family’s first microwave oven.
When we read about the first band of Christ followers selling their possessions and “distributing the proceeds to all, as they had need,” (Acts 2:45), we clap our hands, lauding such noble sacrifice, but snicker under our breath, whispering, “Now that’s a bit too much!”
Together with the Rev. S. Balajiedlang Khyllep, a colleague at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary’s World Mission Initiative, the Rev. Dr. Hunter Farrell has written a book to help congregations decolonize their mission outreach. Farrell, the former director of Presbyterian World Mission, was the guest Wednesday of the Presbyterian Foundation’s the Rev. Dr. Lee Hinson-Hasty on the broadcast “Leading Theologically.”
The Presbyterian Office of Vital Congregations is inviting people to gather at the beginning of November around Lake Susan at Montreat Conference Center for a deep dive into the seven marks of vital congregations.
While thousands of Americans were marching for gun safety in 450 locations and 20 U.S. senators were working on a compromise gun reform bill, a group of congregations across the nation turned on their chop saws.
Woods Memorial Presbyterian Church in Severna Park, Maryland, has been named one of 12 national Interfaith Power & Light 2022 Cool Congregations Challenge winners receiving a runner-up award.
