The impacts that gifts to the Christmas Joy Offering are centered during a recent edition of Between 2 Pulpits, a podcast offered by Special Offerings and the Presbyterian Giving Catalog and hosted by the Rev. Dr. John Wilkinson and Katie Snyder.
Samual Polanco is no stranger to the power of walls.
Especially their potential to exclude.
Polanco, a 2022 graduate of the Menaul School — a PC(USA)-related, grades 6-12 college preparatory school located in Albuquerque, New Mexico — has faced walls his entire life.
As a lifelong advocate of the connectional church, the Rev. Ben Franklin Whitfield might never have expected that this denominational doctrine would one day prove indispensable to him at his own time of greatest need.
Samuel Polanco is no stranger to the power of walls — especially their potential to exclude and keep people like him from being their best selves. But the 2022 graduate of the Menaul School — a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)-related college preparatory school in Albuquerque, New Mexico — credits his educational experience as being instrumental in breaking down many barriers.
At its fall meeting, the Board of Directors approved plans designed to ensure that the Board of Pensions continues to meet the demands of change in the Church. The 2023-2024 Strategic Vision will guide the agency through a season of rebuilding, and the 2023 Business Plan is the blueprint for the groundwork that will be laid next year.
PHILADELPHIA — Nearly eight years ago, The Board of Pensions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) entered an era of transformation. The 221st General Assembly (2014) had elected a new class of directors to the agency’s board and confirmed the election of a new Board of Pensions president. Today, those directors are near the end of their terms. They were celebrated at the Board of Directors meeting March 10-12.
Gifts given through the Christmas Joy Offering go in part to the Assistance Program of the Board of Pensions, and two officials there were happy to appear on Between Two Pulpits Monday to talk about ways that assistance is being enhanced beginning Jan. 1, 2022, to benefit even more workers in ministries affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
At its fall meeting, the Board of Directors formalized the Board of Pensions’ commitment to removing the effects of structural racism from the agency’s workplace and policies. It also voted to expand access to the agency’s Assistance Program.
The Board of Pensions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has announced the most extensive changes to the Assistance Program in a generation. The changes steer financial help to ministers where their need is greatest and loosen requirements to extend access across Benefits Plan membership. The changes take effect January 1, 2022.
