Where should announcements about church and community be placed in a Presbyterian (Reformed) service of worship? This question needs to be asked since, although they provide essential information about the mission of the church, they may also seriously disrupt the flow of the worship of God by injecting the trivial into contemplation of the eternal.

There we were, Mark, Barbara and I, our arms stuck out a second-story window, trying to tie knots in ropes to secure a newly printed AIDS awareness banner to our church building so people passing by could see it.

A pastor whom I admire recently scoffed at technology. A not-for-profit agency director did the same, saying especially that she was determined to avoid Facebook.

A Presbyterian pastor seeking to work alone on sermons outside the office she kept in the church building was parked in a corner of an outdoor Starbucks courtyard in the Washington, D.C., area.

On Dec. 6, 2011, Jack Haberer presented a Webinar titled, “What’s to Become of Our Church?  …Trajectories of Hope.”  In it he presented a case for retaining structural unity with a denomination – even if feeling estranged from it – instead of separating from it.  After responding to questions for 30 minutes, many questions remained, so he has prepared responses to all those questions and they are available here to read by all. 

If you would like to view the actual Webinar, an archived version is available for on-demand replay or as a DVD.

Click here to view Jack's responses to additional questions from participants.

In October, the public watched the debacle of poor police reaction to the “Occupy Oakland” protests.

Sometimes we make church too complicated. And in the process of impressing ourselves and others with our erudition, we lose focus.

          On Aug. 25-26, about 1,900 people came to Minneapolis to learn more about what the Fellowship of Presbyterians is proposing, and to help sort through their own decisions about whether to stay in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) or to leave.

          Those attending included pastors and elders, as well as some presbytery and synod executives and national leaders of the denomination. While no details were released on demographic factors such as age, race, and gender, the crowd included people from all 50 states and 3 countries beyond the U.S., and appeared to be predominantly white and male. The list of speakers was somewhat more diverse.

          This was a meeting primarily for discussion of ideas – not for voting on a particular course of action. Here are some of the highlights: