Clerks’ Corner
Below are the latest articles from the Clerks’ Corner blog.
Monmouth Presbytery Clerks’ Corner
For Hmmm… the Bell Tolls
We’ve changed our Good Friday practice at the church, in the last year or so. Faced with dwindling attendance at the noon-to-three service we used to offer in conjunction with several other churches in the community, we finally gave up on that service and decided to hold one at seven p.m. in the evening, instead. Tonight we’re offering what we expect will be a simple but moving Taizé service, backed by the Chancel Choir, who are in the process of learning what contemplative chants are all ab…
Two by Two
It’s not too often that Monmouth Presbytery sends an overture to the General Assembly, but just in case anyone’s thinking about writing one, there’s a possible change in the works that would affect how this is done.
The last General Assembly approved a constitutional amendment that would, for the first time, require a presbytery sending an overture to first convince another presbytery or synod to pass a similar overture. In other words, an overture would be treated something like a motion, wit…
Sandy and Connectionalism
Connectional.
That’s a word we Presbyterians are fond of using as we describe what makes us different from other Christian churches.
To be connectional is not to be hierarchical (with the church ruled from above), nor is it congregational (with the church governed as a pure democracy on the local level). Rather, the way we order our life together is a mix of both approaches.
We like to think we get the best of both worlds.
I’ve been seeing the advantages of our connectional approach as Point Plea…
A Hymn Following Hurricane Sandy
We have many church members whose homes have been severely damaged. Some of those houses will be uninhabitable for quite some time. Others have lost their homes completely.
Here’s a hymn we’re going to use this Sunday i…
Movin’ On Out
Today I ran across a provocative blog entry by Marcia Myers, who studied in the M.Div. program at Princeton Seminary the same time I did, and now serves the PC(USA) as director of the Office of Vocation.
Reflecting on the growing national dialogue in our denomination about the need for Presbyterians to think outside the box with respect to ways of growing the church – part of which is the much-heralded 1001 New Worshiping Communities challenge – Marcia encourages local congregations not only t…
