In the midst of the Covid pandemic, when the efficacy of new vaccines was still unknown and many churches were not back to worshiping inside, the Rev. Aisha Brooks-Johnson, executive presbyter of the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta, issued an invitation for congregations to join the Vital Congregations Initiative (VCI). The Rev. Katie Day, having accepted her call to Pleasant Hill Presbyterian Church in Duluth, Georgia, during the pandemic, remembers that her congregation was still worshiping in a parking lot and conducting meetings on Zoom.
Together with the Rev. Dr. Ellen Davis, her colleague at the Duke Divinity School, the Rev. Dr. Jerusha Matsen Neal, who teaches homiletics there, has been teaching a class that requires students to preach a sermon on the climate crisis to any congregation in North Carolina.
The Synod of the Covenant, in partnership with Alma College, Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary, and the Presbytery of Cincinnati, has received a grant of $1.25 million from Lilly Endowment Inc. to help establish the Cultivating the Gift of Preaching initiative.
For the final time on Sunday, the Rev. Dr. Tim Hart-Andersen took to the pulpit at Westminster Presbyterian Church in downtown Minneapolis, a church he has served as senior pastor and head of staff since 1999.
The Rev. Dr. Lee Hinson-Hasty of the Presbyterian Foundation kicked off the third season of his “Leading Theologically” podcast on Wednesday looking at the joys of ministry alongside guest the Rev. Mark Ramsey, executive director of The Ministry Collaborative. Listen to their 30-minute conversation here or here.
The Center for Lifelong Learning at Columbia Theological Seminary has announced the 2023 grant recipients of the ReKindle Congregational Development Program.
In my disability ministry work with congregational leaders, the question I have heard most often is not, “How can each person experience the love of God?” The question I hear most is, “How can we meet the needs of this family? We can’t start a disability ministry. We don’t even have the volunteers we need for our ‘regular kids.’”
At the outset of Tuesday’s webinar on vital congregations, organizers the Rev. Veronica Cannon, the Rev. Tony Oltmann and Marla Edwards had the nearly 70 participants play a game: name an outdated mode of technology beginning with “V,” “C,” “I” or “M” that your faith community might still be using.
At 2 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday, August 15, the Presbyterian Mission Agency will host a webinar on Congregational Vitality, the first focus of its Matthew 25 movement. “We will delve into the PC(USA)’s Matthew 25 vision and the significance of vital congregations within our denominations,” says the Rev. Tony Oltmann, associate for the Office of Vital Congregations.
Living Waters for the World, the global mission of the Synod of Living Waters, fulfills our call to provide clean, sustainable water by partnering with churches throughout the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). We are continually inspired by their strong sense of call, and none more so than Wartburg Presbyterian Church, nestled in the mountains of Tennessee’s Cumberland Plateau.
