Encouraging, challenging and equipping congregations to thrive spiritually and be apostles for reconciliation
From the General Presbyter One day during Advent in New Castle Presbytery, the Administrative Assistant and I were talking with our volunteer Treasurer about our holiday plans. This gentleman who, upon discovering that his whole family would descend at his house on Christmas Eve, said “I need to go to the store so I can […]
From the General Presbyter How do we keep Advent from feeling like Groundhog Day? You know, doing the same thing over and over. Answer, we don’t. Yes, we can freshen up traditions, update language, use contemporary illustrations. But we are waiting, and waiting and waiting for God’s love to be revealed in the flesh. We […]
From the General Presbyter The Enduring Witness fund was initiated in 2019 to resource pastors and congregations by funding the following grants: The grants, funded from proceeds from sold church buildings, have provided desired and needed support to half of our congregations. However it is time to re-evaluate. While the grants are suspended (with the […]
From the General Presbyter “As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine…” – Ephesians 4: 14a NASV Lisa Lai, an Executive Coach wrote a piece for the Harvard Business Review on the topic of Strategic Ambiguity. Symptoms include the […]
From the General Presbyter The other day I was driving by the community center near my home and noticed some children playing under two basketball hoops. They could not have been more than four or five years old, and they looked tiny compared to the tall basketball hoops designed for adults. One or two of […]
From the General Presbyter When I looked on CNN to find information about the mass shooting at a Baltimore City block party, I found nothing. Never let it be said that I don’t think shooting of school children is front page news; it is a heinous crime that deserves full coverage. Yet, I am afraid […]
From the General Presbyter Fake Worship? I still remember when the phrase “Fake News” was coined. It represented a sentiment that what was being reported was not an actual event, sometimes as the event was unfolding in real time. In some ways it was designed to get folks not to believe what they saw, but […]
From the General Presbyter Connectional vs. Relational The Presbyterian Church USA boasts of being a “connectional church.” From a practical perspective, it means each “council” of the church supports each other. The congregation supports the Presbytery who supports the Synod and General Assembly. On a good day, we then practice a kind of trickle down […]
From the General Presbyter Last week, I did what I always do, and asked myself, “What am I going to do for Lent?” Am I going to give up something, pray more, read a devotional, what? And every year, I look around for inspiration or hope that something will drop in my lap, and I […]
From the General Presbyter “We Is The New Me” (from the movie Khakee: The Bihal Chapter) So how was it? Christmastime worship, I mean. Did folks come back on Christmas Eve? Was the sanctuary fuller? What about Christmas Day? Did your “friends at home” as my yoga teacher would say, experience the celebration of the […]
