Koreans certainly know how to throw a party, and with average life expectancy in South Korea steadily increasing — rising from 61.9 in 1970 to 81.9 in 2020 — even more milestone birthday parties are expected in the years to come.
Attaining Resurrection — a virtual Refresh Retreat — provides an opportunity for 1001 New Worshiping Community leaders to replenish and reclaim their spiritual grounding in a time of pandemic. There will be three of these retreat opportunities this year, with the next scheduled for April 12–13. Leaders will have a chance to choose their start time, based on Eastern or Pacific time zones.
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has signed an interfaith statement supporting the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). The nuclear ban treaty was adopted in the United Nations in 2017 and entered into force Friday, which means it becomes binding international law for the parties who have ratified it.
Ecumenical Partners in Outreach, a network of mainline denominational leaders engaged in church planting and revitalization, hosted its first ever “Founders’ Festival” via Zoom in early December.
In a virtual international solidarity forum on Tuesday, the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) asked its ecumenical partners around the world to enjoin, pray and call for an independent international commission to investigate human rights violations in the Philippines.
In 2000, eight retirees led an effort to plant a new Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) congregation in the mountains of north Georgia. Today, Faith Presbyterian Church – Blue Ridge has 159 members and is one of the fastest-growing congregations in Cherokee Presbytery and the Synod of the South Atlantic. Last year, Sunday morning worship attendance averaged 109.
“We are here holding up the life of Breonna Taylor, one who gave her life not intentionally, but a life that will be remembered for the movement she has now created,” the Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II said during a vigil Sunday honoring the woman killed in her apartment March 13 at the hands of Louisville police.
Until in-person visits can resume safely, there has never been a better time to invite mission co-workers to visit your congregation virtually than right now.
Throughout these times of quarantine, I have found myself singing more — children’s English and Spanish songs with our 2-year-old son, Leandro. These are songs I remember from high school and university choir, hymns, my mom’s songs or just humming random tunes. If I’m honest, my singing is not always an expression of joy.
Bridging the division in Korea through reunification is a dream of many. Another dream has been to compile the history of mission workers of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and partner churches in Korea from 1884 to the present. This connection of past and present mission workers in Korea by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and partner churches in Korea has become reality in the publication of the first “Korean-English Dictionary of Presbyterian Missionaries in Korea 1884-2020,” published March 27 in Korean.
