Keeping in Touch

ANDREW BLACK CALLED TO CONSTITUTIONAL SERVICES POST: Andrew Black, a Presbyterian teaching elder and member of Santa Fe Presbytery, has accepted the call to become the next director of constitutional services for the Office of the General Assembly. In his new position, Black will facilitate developments of the Book of Order that serve the church's goals and facilitate vital, alive Presbyterian congregations for a multicultural world of the 21st century. He will work with mid councils and other PC(USA) agencies to develop resources and opportunities for equipping and training a new generation of leadership for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The complete announcement from the Office of the General Assembly can be found at "Constitutional Services."

ATLANTA NEW CHURCH DEVELOPMENT FOCUSES ON JOURNEY, NOT INSTITUTION: Kairos Church, a ministry experiment of the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta, is located in downtown Atlanta. But it was born out of a small rural village in Japan. Beth and Thomas Daniel, co-pastors of Kairos since it began in their living room in 2007, first met in that Japanese village when they were both part of a teaching program. "I had not been inside a church for probably 10 to 12 years," Thomas said. "But one of the other teachers ... was getting baptized in a house church run by two Norwegian women and invited us both to come." The complete Presbyterian News Service story is at "Journey."

NEW CHURCH DEVELOPMENTS TOLD TO 'CAPTURE PEOPLE'S IMAGINATIONS:' There's been a lot of talk lately around the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s "1001 in 10 challenge" - to plant 1,001 worshiping communities in the next 10 years. Various entities within the denomination have begun making commitments to plant 100, 200 or even 250 of these new communities. But fairly quickly comes the question: Where will these 1,001 communities come from? It's a question that Craig Williams, associate for the PC(USA)'s Western Office of New Church Development, has been pondering. The complete Presbyterian News Service story can be found at "1001 Challenge."

NCD CONFERENCE TOLD TO EMBRACE FULL HUMANITY OF JESUS: As anyone who's ever been to a church potluck knows, food that looks good can taste terrible. The same can be said for our lives, said Kim Hammond, speaking Aug. 11 at the New Church Development Conference in St. Petersburg, Fla. Hammond, a Christian Reformed Church minister and pastor at Community Christian Church in Chicago, asked conference attendees if they could taste God in their lives. The complete Presbyterian News Service story is at "NCD Conference."

NEWLY REVISED STUDY ENCOURAGES CONGREGATION-WIDE BIBLE READING: Bible literacy is on a steep decline. Fifty-five percent of adults surveyed by the Pew Research Center could not name the four Gospels, 66 percent do not know who delivered the Sermon on the Mount, and 12 percent of Americans questioned identified Joan of Arc as Noah's wife. "The Year of the Bible" is a comprehensive Bible-reading program designed for group and individual study. Newly revised, this study offers a sweeping introduction to biblical themes, persons and concepts. The complete announcement from the General Assembly Mission Council at "Bible."

EFFECTIVE EVANGELISM MEANS ALL MEMBERS ARE MISSIONARIES: Although the concept of tentmaking - serving as a minister while earning a living in another field - is often only applied to church leaders, all Christians should be tentmakers, said the Rev. Dan Kimball, speaking to new church development leaders in St. Petersburg, Fla., Aug. 10. Kimball, a pastor at Vintage Faith Church in Santa Cruz, Calif., said that we often think of missionaries in the context of overseas service. But by studying the demographics of their own community before planting a church, Vintage Faith was able to better understand the mission field in their own backyard. The complete Presbyterian News Service story is at "Evangelism."

LATIN AMERICAN PROTESTANT LEADERS CRITICIZE U.S. BUDGET DECISIONS: More than 100 Protestant leaders from 12 countries in Latin America, representing diverse denominations and ministries, have written an open letter expressing their concern over the economic crisis in the United States and the decisions being made by the U.S. Congress to address it. In their letter addressed to Christians in the United States, the Latin American leaders urge them to "lift up the voice of the millions of people who do not have a part in the major economic decisions being made in Washington, D.C." The complete Presbyterian News Service Story is at "Latin America."