rev. dr. alonzo johnson Archives

An outward focus

Posted April 30th, 2020

Before COVID-19 forced him to work from home, the Rev. Dr. Alonzo Johnson, coordinator of the Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People, was walking in downtown Louisville one day when he came across a man holding a “I’m homeless and I’m hungry” sign. Johnson made eye contact and asked how the man was doing. The man clutched Johnson’s arms and told him, with tears streaming down his face, “Thank you for recognizing that I am a human being.”

SDOP support prepared Detroit group to respond to COVID-19

Posted April 9th, 2020

In 2013, We the People of Detroit went to work addressing the immediate needs of residents who had their water shut off, often for dubious reasons, in the midst of the Motor City’s historic bankruptcy. Leaders such as Monica Lewis-Patrick and Debra Taylor were digging into their own pockets to buy water and deliver it out of the backs of their cars — sometimes recruiting neighborhood youth with reputations for making trouble to carry the loads up more than a dozen flights of stairs.

‘We’re all in this together’

Posted March 27th, 2020

Remembering “the least of these” takes on greater significance during the coronavirus pandemic. With many Americans losing the ability to work, school being canceled for millions of children, and childcare centers being shuttered in many places, the challenges of people already living on or near the edge of society become magnified.

Self-Development of People celebrates its 50th anniversary

Posted January 15th, 2020

As we enter the 2020s, the United States finds itself frequently looking back to the early 1970s — a similar time of harsh political polarization, with issues of race and poverty a prominent part of our conversations and a church wondering how to address them.

Silence and Sabbath

Posted January 4th, 2020

The 900 Presbyterians attending the Collegiate Conference at Montreat entered Sabbath together in silence Friday evening following vibrant, thoughtful worship with communion led by conference preacher the Rev. MaryAnn McKibben Dana and the Rev. Dr. Alonzo Johnson, coordinator for the Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People.

‘In Christ you are ambassadors for vitality’

Posted October 15th, 2019

The national gathering for 1001 New Worshiping Communities and Vital Congregations opened on Monday with a welcome reception in the Century Ballroom of the Westin Hotel. At Perspectives: The Church … Then … Now …Beyond, those engaged in starting new worshiping communities and working to transform existing congregations will worship and learn together from a pair of keynote speakers, the Rev. Dr. Gregory Ellison and the Rev. Becca Stevens.