Validating loss and understanding our feelings is a concept not difficult to grasp during a global pandemic. But for mission co-workers the Revs. Nancy and Shelvis Smith-Mather, their 7-year-old son Jordan reminded them that sometimes you have to find the courage to lean into the pain to get through it.
Refugees waiting for the possibility of resettlement go through an exhausting, disconcerting process that can take many years to navigate, usually while waiting in a dangerous place.
After spending 60 years as a man, Paul Williams came out to his family as transgender, becoming Paula.
The married father of three was a prominent evangelical pastor before transitioning and recognized that transitioning would not be an easy process, personally or professionally. Nonetheless, “I’d been called [to transition], and you reject a call at your own peril,” Paula said.
As we look ahead to the final weeks of summer, we’re reminded that a seasonal shift is upon us. Our Sunday newspapers are littered with ads that boast the best “back-to-school” sales, as our grocery stores beckon us to stock up for “one last summer BBQ.” With cooler, less humid days on the horizon, we prepare to say goodbye to summer and to welcome autumn and all that it brings.
First Presbyterian Church in Dickson, Tennessee, was in a rut. The pastor of more than 30 years had retired a year before, and the six-member session was keeping the church together. But they were barely surviving. It was all they could do to keep up with their regular tasks, let alone start any new creative ventures.
The heads of Christian Churches in Zimbabwe issued a pastoral message to the nation on Wednesday, November 15, urging calm, prayer and national dialogue. The ecumenical statement was released just hours after four armored personnel carriers rolled into Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, and military officers reportedly seized control of the state broadcaster and placed 93-year-old President Robert Mugabe under effective house arrest.
Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary (LPTS) president, the Rev. Dr. Michael Jinkins, announced his retirement during the seminary’s spring Board of Trustees meeting, which took place Friday, April 28. Jinkins, who began his term as the seminary’s ninth president September 1, 2010, will formally retire September 2, 2018.
