Members and friends of Lakeside Presbyterian Church in Storm Lake, Iowa, supersized the church’s welcome mat Sunday, welcoming scores of visitors attending this week’s Synod School put on annually by the Synod of Lakes and Prairies even as they prepared further hospitality to some of the 29,000 people who were bicycling into town Sunday as part of RAGBRAI, the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa.
Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary is relying on the calling of Isaiah 58:12 — “… you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in” — as it begins convening a national conversation on what the seminary calls in a news release “the interest and capacity of diverse organizations in developing sustainable approaches to reparations” and repair.
In response to a referral from the 224th General Assembly (2020) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) for the Presbyterian Mission Agency to develop theological resources for how the church has benefited at the expense of Native American peoples, a consultation was held with Native American leaders at Stony Point Center in New York Sept. 13-15.
Two days before commissioners to the 225th General Assembly will elect their successors, the Co-Moderators of the 224th General Assembly, the Rev. Gregory Bentley and Ruling Elder Elona Street-Stewart, took to the Being Matthew 25 airwaves to discuss, among other topics, what they’re praying for during the lead-up to the Assembly, which begins Saturday.
Bryce Wiebe, director of Special Offerings and the Presbyterian Giving Catalog for the Presbyterian Mission Agency (PMA) since March 1, 2015, has announced his resignation, which will take effect today, Jan. 21.
As the Vital Conversations series moved toward one of the most important marks of Vital Congregations — keeping the focus outward rather than inward — organizers landed four speakers for Wednesday’s session uniquely qualified to offer up their experiences and share their views.
For Friday’s final convocation during this week’s Synod of Lakes and Prairies’ Synod School being held at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa, the Rev. Dr. Jill Duffield selected the biblical account of the woman pouring an alabaster jar of ointment on the feet of Jesus, which she washed with her tears and dried with her hair.
“Only as an adult,” the Rev. Dr. Jill Duffield told the Synod of Lakes and Prairies’ Synod School Thursday, displaying a picture of a familiar Presbyterian pastor and children’s television pioneer dressed in a red zip-up sweater, “did I realize how much my theology was shaped by Mister Rogers.”
