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Presbyterians Today Blog

One Church, Many Voices

Our church connects

Working together Mission Week projects unite a congregation Each summer Derry Presbyterian Church in Hershey, PA hosts an annual Mission Week where over two hundred members and friends participate in activities coordinated by the church’s Mission & Peace Committee. Each day there are new opportunities to go to learn about a mission supported by the… Read more »

God in all things

Big Events Call for Big Responses Gathering in Cleveland draws a crowd By Mary Robin Craig As the Republican National Convention here in Cleveland came to a close, I spent a couple of hours downtown, wandering around to take pictures and to soak up the atmosphere – for the most part cheerful, hospitable, and relaxed. Three… Read more »

Not quite right

Lessons from Disney World Five things the church could learn from the place “Where Dreams Come True” By Joshua Bower Three weeks ago my family took a vacation to Walt Disney World in Florida. Was it the most magical place on earth? Not exactly. We spent a small fortune on sunscreen (on everything, really), I… Read more »

Unglued church

Walking the walk Staying faithful in the face of challenges By Mark Roth Recently, I’ve had the chance to meet with the leaders of several congregations. I have brought with me one simple question: What most excites you or challenges you about your church? The answers have been amazing: diverse, honest and optimistic amid the fears…. Read more »

Our church connects

Meeting people where they are Church youth connect with people who are homeless in their community Submitted by Dallas Thompson The theme of this month’s print magazine is connections (see the magazine). On the blog we are celebrating they way churches are connecting with their communities. If your church has a story to share, send… Read more »

GA 222 and our churches

Will what happened in Portland stay in Portland? Practicing our polity at home FROM THE EDITOR: Here on the Presbyterians Today blog we post thoughts from many different points of view. One of our goals is to think about who we are as a church and engage in respectful conversation about what we believe, what… Read more »

Wisdom journey

Grounded When suffering leads to hope By Graham Standish To truly be grounded in God, we often have to be ground down. It’s not that God wants to humiliate us. It’s that to truly be available to God we have to have humility, and the grinding down of life can cultivate us to become good… Read more »

I do?

Weddings vs. Marriages Why Christian marriage must provide subversive resistance to the capitalism of weddings By Jeffrey A Schooley $26,444. That’s the average cost of a wedding according to www.costofwedding.com. According to this CNN Money article, the average cost in 2015 was actually $32,641. Who’s actually correct is meaningless because we are all wrong for… Read more »

Unglued church

Writing my father’s obituary Can our churches learn from the process? By Mark Roth My father died in April. He was 94, and outlived my mother by just five weeks. When he learned he had chronic kidney failure, he chose not to go through dialysis, and agreed to use hospice services instead. As hard as… Read more »

Guest Commentary

War and Peace: A short reflection A veteran’s view of peacemaking By Charlie Pratt The deliberations in the 222nd General Assembly’s Peacemaking and International Issues Committee were long but exciting. As an observing student, I tried my best to keep quiet during the debate on overture 12-06, “Risking Peace in a Violent World: Five New Peacemaking Affirmations.”… Read more »