faith and worship Archives

Washington state pastor serves a church he’s never preached in

Posted May 19th, 2020

The Rev. Crawford Brubaker has been to the town he pastors only once, for an interview. It occurred pre-pandemic at nighttime, in the small community of Buckley, Washington, the home of Community Presbyterian Church. At the end of the interview, Brubaker said the pastor nominating committee told him to come back in three weeks to preach so they could “see the goods.”

Are you ready for hybrid online/in-person worship?

Posted May 4th, 2020

Sunday morning has become a stressful time for so many pastors who never imagined that their job would involve being an AV tech. “Hallelujah!” is the cry when the internet connection stays up and Zoom properly connects to Facebook Live. After seven plus weeks of working on this, many churches are finally thinking, “We’ve got this down.” And now that it’s working, it’s time to go the next step. Here’s what you need consider.

Read and heed ‘Returning to Church’ long before it’s deemed safe to worship in person

Posted April 29th, 2020

“Returning to Church,” a thoughtful and thorough resource for ministry during the pandemic and published by the Wisconsin Council of Churches, may be the best thing to come out of the Badger State since bratwurst.

Spirit-inspired worship requires breathing life into dry bones

Posted April 9th, 2020

Using Ezekiel’s stark vision of the Valley of Dry Bones, the Rev. Dr. David Gambrell elicited any number of innovative ideas from about 70 pastors and other church leaders during Wednesday’s videoconference on Spirit-inspired worship, one of the Seven Marks of Vital Congregations.

Hosannas and honks

Posted April 5th, 2020

Where there’s a will, there’s a driveway. And although this year’s Palm Sunday festival procession into an “upper parking lot” more closely resembled a line at a carwash than a celebration of worship, exigent circumstances call for extreme creativity, imagination and grace. And honks over Hosannas.

A complete baptism

Posted December 28th, 2016

Presbyterians believe that baptism envelops our lives as Christians. As part of the covenant community, we baptize children as they grow into their faith.