Two of Minneapolis’ business and community leaders explored efforts to break down barriers and create opportunities for building Black wealth in Minnesota during a Town Talks forum offered by Westminster Presbyterian Church through its Westminster Town Hall Forum last week.
“The grief continues to be heavy,” says the Rev. Ray Thomas, executive presbyter for the Presbytery of Middle Tennessee. “Many of our churches had members, friends or families whose children attend, or once attended, the Covenant School,” where last month’s shooting took the lives of four adults and three children.
Since the coronavirus pandemic hit in the spring of 2020, many churches’ weekly offering figures are still not matching what they were two years ago. This shortfall has caused congregations to scale back many of their programs and, even worse, forced them to lay off staff. Westminster Presbyterian Church in Lincoln, Nebraska, though, is not one of those congregations. It has been experiencing sustained giving since the pandemic hit, so much so that it has been able to give back to its worshipers so that they can in turn also give back to the people and organizations in their community that need financial assistance.
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, the worship and arts staff at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis thought that probably meant shutting down much of their work as live worship was suspended.
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, the worship and arts staff at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis thought that probably meant shutting down much of their work as live worship was suspended.
While staying connected to family, friends and church, Paula Howlett, a member of Westminster Presbyterian Church in DeKalb, Illinois, has followed all the rules for social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance uses terms like “unprecedented” and “all-encompassing” when referring to the destructive fires still burning both in Northern and Southern California – especially the Camp Fire that destroyed much of Paradise, Calif., a fire that had claimed at least 79 lives as of Tuesday and destroyed more than 10,000 homes.
Two years after South Sudan gained independence in 2011, civil war erupted in 2013. The conflict has displaced more than 5 million people, leading to massive human suffering and widespread famine. As part of its response, the 223rd General Assembly (2018) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) passed a comprehensive overture that provides a robust platform for the denomination’s Office of Public Witness to advocate for an end to this war.
In an age of tightened budgets and limited financial resources, congregations are understandably counting the cost to engage in mission. Supporting the work of African partner churches in areas like evangelism, poverty reduction and reconciliation does, after all, take money.
Opposition to white supremacist, KKK and neo-Nazi groups gathered in Charlottesville, Virginia for a “Unite the Right” rally over the weekend included several Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) clergy and members. The Rev. Ken Henry, of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Charlottesville, was one of the organizers of a Thursday prayer vigil that preceded the events of the weekend.
