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‘The danger of a single story’

An article recently published by the Presbyterian Historical Society (PHS) explored the aspects of racism present in U.S. Christian missions to Korea during the time of Japanese colonization of Korea (1905-1945) and reaching into the first years after the end of World War II but just before the Korean War broke out in 1950.

A Presbyterian church and its role aiding victims of the Tulsa race massacre

There’s no doubt that the Tulsa race massacre was one of the most reprehensible moments in the history of the nation.  Known as America’s “Black Wall Street,”  the Greenwood district of Tulsa, Oklahoma was burned to the ground in the Tulsa race massacre on May 31 and June 1, 1921, in which white residents massacred as many as 300 Black residents, injuring hundreds more, and leaving 5,000 people homeless. As the country commemorates the 100th anniversary of the massacre this week, the situation begs the question: Were was the church and what was the church’s role in the ensuing events?

Special GA committee seeks to keep momentum going on a unified budget

The Moving Forward Implementation Special Committee continues to discuss ways to help three of the denomination’s entities — the Office of the General Assembly, the Presbyterian Mission Agency and the A Corporation/Administrative Services Group — develop a unified budget to present to the 225th General Assembly next year.

The Rev. John Sinclair dies in Tampa, Florida, at 96

The Rev. John Henderson Sinclair, 96, a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) pastor for more than 70 years and an ardent advocate for peace and social justice, died in Tampa, Florida, on Jan. 2.

Hopes and changes

Ahead of a Thursday afternoon “Power and Privilege” report delivered by consultant Marian Vasser, the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board broke into two virtual groups —  board members of color and white board members —  to discuss in closed session ways the Board might better serve people of color as it does its work overseeing and supporting the mission agency.

Minute for Mission: Reformation Sunday

Two hundred years ago, William Dunlop, a professor of church history at the University of Edinburgh, published two volumes of confessions that had enjoyed “public authority” in Scotland since the Reformation. While the Westminster Standards (1647–48) filled the first volume, more than 10 earlier confessional documents — including the Geneva Catechism (1542), the Scots Confession (1560) and the Heidelberg Catechism (1563) — filled the second. By placing Westminster in the broader tradition of Reformed (“Calvinist”) theology, Dunlop honored a distinctly Reformed custom: He compiled a book of confessions.

A call for reparations

On May 27, 1970, fasting commissioners at the 182nd General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., meeting in Chicago, assigned their meal money —$5,178.60 — to the newly-created Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People.

Connecting Korea’s past and present for the future of mission

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.