Asked to address the 1,000 or so people taking in the first-ever online national event of the Association of Presbyterian Church Educators, Amy Kim Kyremes-Parks did the sensible thing: she got some of her favorite church educators to help her by sharing their thoughts from their own settings.
The Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II, the Rev. Dr. Diane Moffett, and about 20 other faith leaders were in the Rotunda at the state Capitol Building in Frankfurt, Kentucky on Thursday to receive their vaccination against COVID-19 and encourage others in their faith communities to do the same when it’s their turn.
As yet another Christmas has come and gone — and, along with it, the Magi from the East bearing their unique gifts — the spirit of giving that so characterizes this holy season lives on in these ever-lengthening days through the continued generosity of faithful Presbyterians.
The Presbyterian Mission Agency Board spent most its six-hour meeting Friday discussing how the Matthew 25 vision will inform the work of the Mission Agency in the coming years. The PMA has begun a Vision Implementation Process to align its work with the three foci of the Matthew 25 invitation: building congregational vitality, dismantling structural racism and eradicating systemic poverty.
The Rev. Dr. Diane Moffett sees parallels between last week’s insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and the guidance the prophet Jeremiah gave to the exiles in Babylon, found in Jeremiah 29.
Headed into next week’s Presbyterian Mission Agency Board meeting on Jan. 22, the board’s Coordinating Committee met Wednesday to learn more about a plan to better align the agency to more effectively bring about the Matthew 25 invitation with its three foci: building congregational vitality, dismantling structural racism and eradicating systemic poverty.
As the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for work and life became clear, it was obvious they would fundamentally change the way the Compassion, Peace & Justice (CPJ) ministries of the Presbyterian Mission Agency operated.
Established this summer by what is now the Moving Forward Special Committee, the Coordinating Table hit a snag Wednesday as members debated what changes the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Office of the General Assembly, Presbyterian Mission Agency and Administrative Services Group ought to consider to better serve Presbyterian congregations, their leaders and mid councils.
Public health officials urge people to wear masks. Workplaces and businesses adjust hours to prevent crowding. Several cities impose quarantines or ban public gatherings. This sounds like something people see and hear as they go online or watch the news every night, but this was December 1918 when the world struggled with the impact of a global flu pandemic.
You may be startled to learn that 25% of children under 6 now live in poverty, nearly 23% of the American population can’t afford a medication they need and 17 out of every 10,000 people in the United States were experiencing homelessness on a single night. The Presbyterian Mission Agency has created a short video designed to raise awareness of the systemic poverty facing people in all walks of life, especially with the additional impact of the pandemic. The video is available to download and share across social media and websites.
