The Layman Stating that the “blood of little children cries out to God and to Christ’s Church for protection and justice,” a presbytery is calling for the Presbyterian Church (USA) to enter into a two-year season of reflection on the plight of unwanted children. In Overture 015, South Alabama Presbytery has asked the 221st General…
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A letter written to accompany the Confession of Belhar declares it to be a “word from God” in the first paragraph, thereby raising the confession to the level of canonical, instead of being what it is – the word of men. Written by the Special Committee on the Belhar Confession, the 3,131-word…
By Steve Salyards Fair warning – this probably qualifies as another one of my rants on one of the topics I rant about from time to time – Where are the ruling elders? In the last few days two documents have come out of agencies of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) that seem to overlook the…
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — An amendment to delete two of the 12 protected categories in the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s Churchwide Plan for Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action failed during Thursday afternoon’s Presbyterian Mission Agency Board meeting. Saying that he believed that it was important for the PCUSA to say that “people need to be Christians…
By American Jewish Committee NEW YORK – AJC is challenging the Presbyterian Church (USA) commitment to Israeli-Palestinian peace, following the publication of Zionism Unsettled: A Congregational Study Guide. This study guide, billed by the church as an educational resource, was produced by the Israel Palestine Mission Network (IPMN), one of the church’s educational arms. “It…
By Tom O’Neill Baby steps matter, be they cultural, humanitarian or political. That was the takeaway for two local Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) members who — while on a recent refugee-assistance trip to the Middle East — were unexpectedly included in a quickly scheduled meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus. At the Jan. 18…
By Michael Gryboski A committee within the Presbyterian Church (USA) has recommended that the mainline protestant denomination divest from three companies that do business with Israel. The Committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investment (MRTI) recently submitted a report calling for divestment from Caterpillar, Hewlett Packard, and Motorola Solutions. In their report, MRTI argued that the recommendation…
By Annysa Johnson In recent years, as Christian denominations voted to allow openly gay and lesbian clergy, hundreds of congregations have broken away to affiliate with more theologically conservative bodies. It is a painful process, fraught often with acrimony, recriminations and lawsuits over property. But a Presbyterian congregation in Sheboygan County and the Presbytery of…
By Leslie Massey A substantial pile of burdens is placed on the shoulders of clergy every day. And those demands put ministers at an alarming risk for depression. “The statistics show that something like 90 percent of pastors end up quitting the ministry,” said the Rev. Graham Baird, senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church in…
By Andrew Webb I was recently asked to outline some of the major differences between the Presbyterian Church in the USA (PCUSA) and my own denomination the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) and I came up with the following 13 point list: 1) The PCA does not ordain women to either of the offices in…