A longstanding practice at Synod School is to offer a talk-back session with the convocation speaker each evening. At the start of his talk on Tuesday, Dr. Corey Schlosser-Hall, this year’s convocation speaker, shared some of what he learned during Monday evening’s talk-back.
For the past three years, the Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), has emphasized the need for the denomination to take the necessary steps to be the church of the 21st century. Those steps include innovation, imagination, and a lot of young people with the energy and vitality to take it on.
In the final part of the Nelson Legacy series, J. Herbert and Gail Porter Nelson reflect on communication advances and hope for the next generation of church leaders.
“That’s the way we’ve always done it.” This is a familiar response church leaders hear when they propose making changes to the status quo. With violence on the rise and more and more people moving away from organized Christian denominations, churches are having to look at new ways of reaching people that go beyond Sunday morning worship.
The Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), says it’s OK to try and stumble. But don’t give up.
Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, the Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II has been calling on congregations across the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to be innovative and creative in how they minister in their communities.
But the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the PC(USA) also believes it will take more than technology to reach people in need. In the second part of our interview, Nelson shares his thoughts on taking the church out of the buildings and into the neighborhoods.
As the coronavirus pandemic shifts into a new state of normal, companies and other organizations across the country and world are learning how to work differently. The Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) believes churches have to do more than offer in person and online worship.
In the first of a two-part interview, the Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II, says churches need to change the way they share the gospel and be “our neighbor’s neighbor.”
On Reformation Sunday, observed the last Sunday in October, Presbyterians are reminded of their Reformed heritage, hearing once again how in 1517 Martin Luther nailed to the cathedral door in Wittenberg, Germany, his Ninety-five Theses. Some pastors might use this Sunday, which is Oct. 30 this year, to reenact Luther’s bold move, while others might choose to open worship with Luther’s majestic “A Mighty Fortress is Our God.” Still others will weave in the Reformation mantra “reformed and always reforming” into the sermon, prayers or benediction. Last fall, though, the Rev. Carol Holbrook Prickett took the celebration of Reformation Sunday a step further. The pastor of Crescent Springs Presbyterian Church in Crescent Springs, Kentucky, created a service to educate today’s “reformers” of the legacy of following a God who is always creating something new.
Living a life of faith means stepping out confidently into the unknown with hopeful assurance that God’s promises can be trusted.
Not worrying about tomorrow is easy to say yet difficult to do, especially when our world is in such a state of turmoil.
The Committee on the Office of the General Assembly (COGA) began the second day of its fall meeting by hearing from its third working group, which is focusing on the issue of merger between the Office of the General Assembly (OGA) and the Presbyterian Mission Agency (PMA). COGA established three groups this summer, made up of COGA members, to look at specific issues currently facing the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
The last time members of the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly (COGA) met face-to-face was in Baltimore last February. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the group to meet by Zoom ever since and committee members are addressing topics they didn’t think they would have to face this soon.
The fall meeting opened on Monday with a continued conversation about the church of the 21st century and feedback on the recently completed 224th General Assembly (2020).