Features Archive
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U.S., Cuba church leaders celebrate unity
Havana, December 7, 2011 – A meeting of U.S. church leaders with leaders of the Council of Churches of Cuba concluded here December 2 with a joint declaration celebrating signs of greater unity between U.S. and Cuban churches. Sixteen representatives of U.S. National Council of Churches member communions were in Cuba November 28 through December 2 [...] -
Serving up prayer and coffee to go
The young couple appears to live out of their car. He says, “I could really go for a cup of coffee.” She responds, “You just have to have a little faith.” A moment later they see a sign inviting them for a free cup of coffee and a prayer. Another woman comes for coffee and connects [...] -
An unintentional tentmaker
In a denomination with declining membership and where many available pulpits are no longer able to sustain a full-time pastor in the traditional model, many in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) have been calling for more tentmakers. Tentmakers are those who work in pastoral or ministry roles but whose primary source of income comes from their jobs [...] -
Need a doctor? Free church medical clinics offer hope, help
The parking lot fills quickly on Tuesday afternoons at St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church in Brookings, Oregon as dozens of hopeful residents line up, take a number and wait their turn to see a doctor or other health-care provider. But first, they’re fed a hearty, healthy meal. “People can take a number, come eat lunch, and that’s the [...] -
NCC, 150 others, join the call for re-authorization of VAWA
Organizations signing on to a letter to members of Congress today said, “Since its original passage in 1994, VAWA has dramatically enhanced our nation’s response to violence against women. “More victims report domestic violence to the police and the rate of non-fatal intimate partner violence against women has decreased by 63 percent,” the letter said. “The sexual [...] -
Church gets unemployed ‘job ready’
Katherine Simons sees it all the time. Hopelessness. She sees it on the faces of the thousands of out-of-work people who walk through the doors of the Job Networking Ministry that Simons organizes twice a month at Roswell United Methodist Church in the Atlanta suburb. “That look” is all over their faces. Their smiles are forced. Their [...] -
Kathryn Lohre installed as NCC president
Chicago, November 9, 2011 — Kathryn Mary Lohre, Director of Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Relations in the Office of the Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, was installed as the 26th President of the National Council of Churches. The installation took place during the Council’s Governing Board meeting at the ELCA Churchwide Office in [...] -
Showered with fellowship
Santa Fe, N.M., is gifted with a warm climate — which is at least one reason why the city also has a sizable homeless population. First Presbyterian Church, located in downtown Santa Fe, is using a unique feature of its building to reach out to these sometimes forgotten people. The church has showers on its main level, [...] -
A Peace of Bread, Faith, Food and the Future, debuts on ABC
This fall, on ABC affiliated stations, the three-time Emmy Award-winning filmmakers of Diva Communications bring you a new interfaith documentary – A Peace of Bread: Faith, Food, and the Future. With a generous grant from Odyssey Networks and the support of the New York Board of Rabbis, the National Council of Churches, Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in [...] -
Artificial limbs change Sierra Leone lives
“Sound of gunshots echoed throughout the village. People were running helter-skelter. I grabbed my sewing machine and dragged it inside the house, was about to return to the veranda to snatch other materials when a gun-wielding, furious-looking young man halted me at the door and commanded that I return with him inside. “Did you hear the [...]
