How Gender Justice Brought Me Back to the Church “I have always found it difficult to walk away from the church, but
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The Mission Coordination Committee of the General Assembly considers: “Mission programs authorized by General Assembly; PC(USA) vision and mission goals; Organization for Mission and General Assembly Mission Council Manual of Operations; mission budget; audits; churchwide compensation; initiatives on church growth
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Halloween and Christmas have a lot in common. Both started as pagan traditions appropriated by Christians and adopted into the liturgical calendar. Halloween as “All Hallows’ Eve” was originally celebrated the day before All Saints’ Day to remember the dead. Christmas as the “Christ Mass” of
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The Mission Coordination Committee of the General Assembly considers: “Mission programs authorized by General Assembly; PC(USA) vision and mission goals; Organization for Mission and General Assembly Mission Council Manual of Operations; mission budget; audits; churchwide compensation; initiatives on church growth and the 1001 Worshiping Communities program.” (Source: www.pc-biz.org). Topics Addressed:
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Watering down the LGBTQ/Q Apology Overture at GA222 I never thought “collateral damage” was a term I’d identify with as a church-lady. I was wrong. I was baptized as a young girl in a Presbyterian church that would become my family’s spiritual home for the next fifteen years. I remember
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When I heard the reports and then saw the video of Eric Garner’s arrest, something deep inside me clicked. I’ve been involved in interreligious social justice movements for more than 25 years and thought that nothing could surprise me. However, in those moments I didn’t just see the injustice of
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A Response to Dr. Barbara Wheeler Barbara Wheeler, former President of Auburn Theological Seminary has written an article in response to Overture 11-05 coming before the General Assembly this summer in Portland, an overture apologizing to LGBTQ/Q members of the PC(USA) for “harms done”. Wheeler does not contest the damages
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How Gender Justice Brought Me Back to the Church “I have always found it difficult to walk away from the church, but I have also found it difficult to walk with it.” [1] Those evocative words, the first sentence of feminist theologian Letty Russell’s formative work Church in the Round, are
MoreAffirming Diversity and Life-Sustaining Relationships The following article was originally published in the May/June 1994 edition of Church & Society. Download a PDF of the original here. Listen to the words of Elizabeth, an enslaved woman and minister, born in Maryland in 1766: “I betook myself to prayer and in
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This article was originally featured in Believe Out Loud. This past week, I have sat at the Table. Not just any table, but the Table of Christ, around which I have gathered since I was a child. This week, however, the Table looked different than I have ever imagined. It
MoreThe Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) will soon make headlines, one way or another. The decisions we make at our 221st General Assembly will be reported across national media outlets through words loosely connected to what we actually experience together as a denominational family. (Prayers for you, reporters!) Amongst other decisions—some of
MoreMarriage in the PC(USA) That’s my daughter there, with the rainbow face paint and the “Love who you are” sign. We were downtown in Richmond, VA, standing with same-sex couples who have asked Virginia to recognize their marriages. Ours is one of the states that currently ban same-sex marriage. Last
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