The hymn “Here I Am, Lord” recently floated through the sanctuary at Las Placitas Presbyterian Church in New Mexico, and just moments later, Dori Kay Hjalmarson walked down the aisle into her ordination and her new role as a mission co-worker in Honduras.
First Presbyterian Church in the City of New York is hosting a two-day symposium on the challenges facing LGBTQ refugees and asylum seekers. The church, working alongside several ministries within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), will be the site of the gathering, titled “Love Welcome,” on October 20 and 21.
In response to an invitation from the pastor of the Presbyterian church in Baghdad, the Rev. Dr. Joanne Sizoo, pastor of Grace Presbyterian Church in Fort Mill, South Carolina, and coordinator of the Iraq Partnership Network (IPN), is requesting that every city in Iraq be covered in prayer by congregations in the U.S.
A group of Presbyterian educators and ministers gathered recently at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary to look at how to engage the larger church on the issue of education. The newly formed Educate a Child Round Table met for the first time to organize and determine first steps. Participants came from across the country, including California, New York, Tennessee and Michigan.
The chapel of the Presbyterian Center was recently filled with voices singing the hymn God the Creator in observance of Native American Day at the Presbyterian Center. The chorus of the hymn reminds us that “we’re brothers and sisters in God’s love” in spite of our differences.
In late October 1517, an obscure Augustinian monk teaching at a minor German university offered a set of propositions, inviting an academic debate. Many Presbyterians can picture Martin Luther nailing his 95 Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, but we are hard-pressed to say what the theses were about, and why they sparked a movement that both reformed and divided the church.
In 2008, Dorene Seidl, a beloved, longtime member of Briargate Presbyterian Church in Louisville, Kentucky, was killed by her husband when she was attempting to leave their relationship of over 40 years.
That’s when domestic violence visited our church. It was heartbreakingly real.
A group of Presbyterians from across the U.S. recently had a front row seat on the impact of corporate involvement on the environment and human rights in Central America. Approximately a dozen people took part in a two-week travel study seminar to Guatemala and Costa Rica to learn about extractive mining, the impact on rivers and streams and the daily struggles of residents who must sometimes choose between good health and providing for their families.
The Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Togo, known by its French acronym EEPT, is the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) partner in this small West Africa nation, which is about half the size of Ohio. The church trains its pastors in the city of Atakpame at a beautiful setting atop one of the hills in town. Mountainous Atakpame is where the southern rain forests of Togo give way to the country’s central savanna.
Churches across the U.S. have proven to be a major source of income for a handful of communities in Guatemala through the celebration of Palm Sunday. The annual purchase of palm branches through the Eco-Palms program is helping residents who live in the Maya Biosphere Reserve.
