Member Church News: Expressing, Responding, Exchanging, Building

At the 223rd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) one of the Middle East resolutions that was approved in record time was a resolution “On Gaza Violence,” expressing “profound grief and sorrow for the families of all Palestinians killed in the Great March of Return protests at the Gaza border.”

Uniting Church minister Ann Scull and her husband Joe have just returned to Australia after spending five weeks living in Bethlehem. Read excerpts of Ann’s letters back home during her recent stay that she agreed to share.

Five budding radio presenters and producers from Church of Scotland parishes in north-east Glasgow are embarking on a unique learning exchange trip to Zambia, hosted by the United Church of Zambia.

Pastor Davide Ollearo, of the Waldensian Evangelical Church (Italy), writes about the commitment of the United Reformed Church (UK) to ensure that borders do not become walls and barriers between people.

United Church of Christ (USA) churches, clergy and congregants are reaching out with hope and in faith to migrants at the borders and immigrants across the country. Many more are asking what they can do to respond to the government policies that detain and separate families. The Southwest Conference UCC, acting with Justice and Local Church Ministries, is calling each member of the denomination to build on that immigrant-welcoming effort this fall as one Church to Keep Families Together.

The Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations has played host to a group of doctoral students from Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia. The ten students and faculty have been taking a week-long seminar course entitled “The Church in a World of Displaced Persons.”

“Church and Society” was the theme of a youth camp attended by more than 170 young people held in Paraguay by the Iglesia Evangélica del Río de la Plata.

The role of young people in nation building in Pakistan, in the context of the forthcoming general elections in the country, was the theme of a seminar held on 11 July at the National Council of Churches in Pakistan with the participation of young people from various churches in Pakistan.