The tenor of Lent is one of “complicated joy,” according to the Rev. Carlton Johnson, Associate Director for Theology, Formation & Evangelism for the Presbyterian Mission Agency.
Dr. Obery M. Hendricks, Jr., the final keynoter for The Immersion conference which concluded Thursday, shared his insights on two more of the 7 Marks of Congregational Vitality — Outward Incarnational Focus and Empowering Servant Leadership. The Office of Vital Congregations sponsored the conference, held online and in person at Montreat Conference Center in Montreat, North Carolina.
Author and historian the Rev. Dr. Gary Neal Hansen, the author of the 2012 book “Kneeling with Giants: Learning to Pray with History’s Best Teachers,” used two hour-long keynote slots during The Immersion conference Wednesday in part to offer attendees “a well-rounded diet of prayer.”
The ecumenical U.S. Congregational Vitality Survey (USCVS) is designed to help church leaders understand the attitudes, opinions and perceptions of worshipers and leaders in congregations. Created through a collaboration of sociologists, theologians and Christian educators in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the survey has been helping congregations from many denominations measure their vitality since 2001.
Three presbyteries — Trinity, Newark and San Jose — have finished up a pilot program of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Vital Congregations initiative’s two-year revitalization process.
When more than 50 people representing 31 congregations gathered recently to prepare for the Presbytery of New York City’s launch of the Vital Congregations initiative, the Rev. Robert Foltz Morrison, the executive presbyter, felt the Spirit moving.
Now that churches in South Carolina’s Trinity Presbytery have gone through the seven marks of congregational vitality, as part of their participation in the two-year Vital Congregations initiative pilot program, pastors are beginning to notice a difference in their congregations.
Fourteen Presbyteries were selected this week to be part of the first wave of a national launch of the Vital Congregations Revitalization Initiative in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) — which is designed to help their churches live more faithfully as disciples of Jesus Christ.
