“It was an amazing night.” “The food and the spirit of the people of people there.” “The renewed sense of a community persevering together.” These were some of the reflections from those present at the annual Farm-to-Table Gala that benefits Stony Point, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) conference center located about 45 minutes northwest of New York City. Read more »
October 11, 2018
PC(USA) conference center celebrates the holiness of harvest
“It was an amazing night.” “The food and the spirit of the people of people there.” “The renewed sense of a community persevering together.” These were some of the reflections from those present at the annual Farm-to-Table Gala that benefits Stony Point, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) conference center located about 45 minutes northwest of New York City. Read more »
Sometimes faith renewal happens in ways you would never imagine. Mission co-worker John McCall, who has served in Taiwan for more than 20 years, works to build the leadership skills of the Presbyterian Church of Taiwan. He leads groups of pastors who meet monthly to find encouragement and challenge, but he felt called to do more. He wanted to give the pastors he was mentoring an opportunity to find spiritual renewal. 
The last 22 years of my ministry I spent in governing body work — six years as a presbytery executive, which included synod leadership, and 16 years in General Assembly work. I have a pretty good knowledge of the working plumbing (polity) that holds our denomination together. 
Giving Tuesday is a way for Presbyterians to hit the reset button, says Rev. Aimee Moiso of the Presbyterian Foundation. Churches can use this day to highlight special ministries and invite members to generously share all that they have. 
The Rev. Laura Bentley, pastor of Sanctuary Faith Community, felt called to be a pastor — but she had the best pastoral conversations sitting at bars with people over food and beer. 
Iona, an island off the coast of Scotland, was home to a medieval monastic community. By the early 1900s, the community was long gone, and the buildings were in ruins. George MacLeod, a pastor in a working-class dockside congregation, was frustrated by the men being sent to him for internships from the seminary. They had head smarts but were unable to connect with the men on the docks and the families in his community. So he devised a plan. During the crushing years of the Depression, MacLeod brought together unemployed tradesmen and young seminarians and sent them to rebuild the monastic quarters and the abbey chapel. Working, praying and sharing in everyday life, they rebuilt not only a historical landmark but also a spiritual community that continues to have global influence today. 
By the time Newark (N.J.) Presbytery was invited to participate in a two-year Vital Congregations Revitalization Initiative pilot program, it had already been placed under an administrative commission in the Synod of the Northeast. 
Nearly 8,000 miles separate congregations in Santa Barbara, California, and Chiang Mai, Thailand. Yet nothing can separate the growing bond they have shared as sister churches in mission since 2013. 
The soup at Heritage Presbyterian Church in Glendale, Arizona, is a recipe for encouraging mission support. A Sunday school class composed of elementary and middle-school students generated mission interest earlier this year through a soup-making venture aimed at helping Presbyterian Mission. They assembled the ingredients, put them in jars they had labeled, and sold the mixture to the congregation. The children used the proceeds to give a pair of goats, a family of chickens, a piglet and six refugee food baskets through the Presbyterian Giving Catalog. 
Four organizations working to provide leadership development for Native Americans have been selected to receive the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s 2018 Native American Leadership Fund Award. The one-time award for Native American leadership development was created by action of the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board. In total, $151,000 will be awarded to the selected organizations.