“The Prison Ministry Network is our challenge to the faith communities to live out the gospel in very specific ways and to stand in the gap,” says Shaw, who believes that hope relies on the volunteer power of communities coming together. “More than ever, our churches are needed.”
How many pastors find there’s something major they encounter in their first call that no one in seminary had prepared them for? Just about everyone. The first few years of a pastor’s ministry can be extremely stressful as they negotiate new terms of call, copy machines, pastoral care issues, boundaries in friendships and relationships, and the...
Beginning late summer or the beginning of September, the Synod of the Northeast will be looking for someone to work full-time, on a temporary basis (during a maternity leave), in the office in Syracuse. The position is Administrative Assistant to the Stated Clerk/Communications Manager. An updated position description is being prepared, as well as a salary...
Our emotions fill a wide range, from weeping and deep grief to strident anger. We continue to search for meaningful ways to respond to what we know to be a deep and devastating dysfunction throughout our nation and within our local communities. Calls come looking for ways to mobilize the witness of our regional Presbyterian community...
Since the beginning of the YAV program, there have been 10 YAVs who have built partnerships in Boston. The YAVs have gone on to live their faith in a variety of ways, from attending seminary to working for Americorps, to being a children's advocate at the Virginia Poverty Law Center, to enrolling in nursing school, to working...
After using the April Synod Mission and Ministries meeting for a retreat in which we reflected upon the synod’s foundational text Isaiah 43:19, the Commission went back to business the last weekend in June. We began with the unveiling of our new synod video, which in many ways is an expression of the Isaiah text. If you haven’t had...
For a first discussion and vote at General Assembly our overtures did very well. The overture proposing to amend the Book of Order so that Sessions can ordain Ruling Elders for service beyond their congregation such as in a presbytery or a synod received much discussion both in committee and on the GA floor. This overture which...
1) And now, the number-one thing this Assembly did was to complete the process of adding the Belhar Confession as the twelfth confessional document contained in the Book of Confessions. While this was pretty much a foregone conclusion — since more than three-fourths of the presbyteries have already given their required assent — still, it is...
A message from Thia Reggio, our Synod Moderator: Suddenly, there is death in the midst of life. Again. There is pain, shock, grief, too much familiarity, and too little hope of change. Then come the labels, the meaning making, attempts to understand, but more than that, attempts to create distance between ourselves and the shooters, between...
Lima first came to the United States to assist another pastor in his ministry. He quickly discovered, however, that in many communities in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, Brazilian immigrants lacked a church home. They had worshiped as Presbyterians in Brazil, but now they weren’t able to find a Presbyterian, Portuguese-speaking congregation that understood the unique challenges...