LGBTQ-focused business at the 222nd GA
This year’s General Assembly will see several important items of business that affect the wholeness and well-being of LGBTQ people in the Church and in society. At each Assembly, the Covenant Network seeks to discern how our efforts can best support justice and grace in the decisions of the church’s highest council. This year, the Covenant Network has played a part in supporting those who have proposed some of these overtures and will work hard for their passage, serving as a resource as they come forward; in other instances, we will work either to oppose, or to encourage language that will make them more helpful to the church.
Join us at the 222nd General Assembly
It's time to purchase your tickets for the CovNet events at the 222nd General Assembly in Portland this June. Plan to join us Friday evening, June 17, for the Voodoo Doughnut Commissioners' Convocation, and Monday for the Covenant Network Luncheon.
Covenant Network Undertakes New Initiatives in a New Day
The Covenant Network Board of Directors announced today that it is recommitting to its work seeking a more just and generous church, living into a new and expanded mission of seeking inclusion and affirmation for LGBTQ people and working for reconciliation among people of all races and ethnicities, sexual and gender identities, and theological perspectives in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
Joy in the Year Ending; Hope in the Year to Come
We have emerged with a clear calling to keep working toward a church that is truly inclusive, whose generosity and justice reflect our Savior’s. You have told us how much work there is left to do—at General Assembly, in denominational structures, in congregations and presbyteries, in hearts and minds. And we have heard that our resources, our history, our relationships are still crucial to seeing that vision accomplished in the life of the church. It is the church that has told us how much this work still matters.
Don't Call Us Brave: Pastoral Care for People Who Are Transgender
One of the most popular workshops at Covenant Conference 2015 was led by Meghan Foote and Susan Barnes. They have graciously shared their PowerPoint presentation.
Remembering Pam Byers
The tribute to Pam Byers at the Covenant Conference in Denver prompted her friend and former colleague Rosemary Bledsoe to offer these memories of Pam and the early days of the Covenant Network: "Most people saw her at GAs and conferences and meetings all over the country. I saw her pushing cartloads of envelopes out to her car to take to the post office, plowing through stacks of papers on her desk, sweating out deadlines, anxiously monitoring the never-quite-adequate bank balance, stunned with fatigue, hoarse from constant conversation, frustrated, determined, and somehow usually fairly hopeful."
"Better Than a Hallelujah"
A Sermon on Isaiah 65:17-25 and 2 Corinthians 5:16-21, 6:1-2 by Marci Auld Glass for Covenant Conference 2015, Saturday, November 7: "The Belhar Confession reminds us that we are called to proclaim this new heaven and new earth that God is about to create. But we can’t do that in a way that tells people to be okay with the pain they are experiencing NOW, or with the injustice that is breaking their backs and their souls NOW. We aren’t called to be Pollyanna and deny the truth of people’s lived experience. As Paul Roberts said the other night, we are not called to just be nice. We are called to disrupt."
The Covenant Network: The Work Ahead
Executive Director Brian Ellison addressed the 2015 Covenant Conference on Saturday, November 7, lifting up our vision for the organization’s mission and ministry now and in the future, in a talk entitled “The Work Ahead.”
Progress, Pushback, Possibilities: A preliminary look at the 222nd GA
On Saturday morning at the 2015 Covenant Conference, national organizer Tricia Dykers Koenig offered an early look at the Covenant Network's priorities at the 222nd General Assembly (2016), which will meet next June in Portland, Oregon.
2015 Covenant Conference Video - All sessions NOW ONLINE
The plenary sessions of the 2015 Covenant Conference, Unity Matters: Living into God's Future ... Together, will be available online! Access the livestream at https://www.comf5.com/live/live-connections.
Announcing the Workshops at the 2015 Covenant Conference
The leaders: Mark Achtemeier, Susan Barnes, Michelle Bartel, Bill Calhoun, Meghan Foote, Beth Hessel, Cliff Kirkpatrick, Ken Kovacs, Kimberly Bracken Long, David Maxwell, Carol McDonald, J. Herbert Nelson, Gradye Parsons, Ann Philbrick, Paul Roberts, Libby Shannon, Patti Snyder, Lucy Strong, Landon Whitsitt, Layton Williams.Participants at the Covenant Conference, November 5-7 at Central Presbyterian Church in Denver, will be able to choose two workshops from among a superb line-up. Check it out!
Living History at the Covenant Conference
At the 2015 Covenant Conference -- November 5-7 at Central Presbyterian Church in Denver, Colorado -- you will be able to have your own story added to the chronicles of the PC(USA). The Presbyterian Historical Society will be present, interviewing conference participants for the Society’s Living History Films series.Register for the Conference before October 1 for the regular rate.
Join us November 5-7, 2015, in Denver!
Your chance to save on registration for the Covenant Conference, to be held in Denver November 5-7, lasts through Labor Day.Read the article for more information about ways to connect, participate, and support the conference.
'A Season of Welcome' Continues
Beginning in the fall of 2011, the Covenant Network gathered stories from LGBTQ individuals who heard a call to ordination and how they were experiencing the changes in the life of the church. We collected those at a special website called “A Season of Welcome.” You can find them here: https://covnetpres.org/a-season-of-welcome/. More stories are welcome! If you’d like to add your story to this permanent archive, please contact Tricia Dykers Koenig.
Pre-Conference Workshops in Denver
Plan to come early to Denver so that you can join us from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, November 5, for one of two theological conversations. Professors from two of our PCUSA seminaries are planning in-depth conversations. Choose "Radical Reconciler: Reading the Bible as the Word of God," led by Cynthia L. Rigby, or "Inclusive Wedding Services," led by Kimberly Bracken Long.
The Addition of Belhar, the 50th Anniversary of C-67: Confessions the Church Needs for “Such a Time as This"
Stated Clerk Emeritus and CovNet Board member Cliff Kirkpatrick will lead us in exploring the significance of our confessions - particularly Belhar and the Confession of 1967 - at the 2015 Covenant Conference, November 5-7 at Central Presbyterian Church in Denver. Have you registered?
Covenant Network Grateful for Supreme Court Decision
The Covenant Network is profoundly grateful for the decision of the Supreme Court in Obergefell v. Hodges, in which the Court proclaimed that states may not refuse to grant marriage licenses to couples of the same sex, and must recognize valid marriages contracted in other jurisdictions. The decision expands marriage equality nationwide and affirms the equal dignity of all persons, removing one form of legal discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
2015 Conference Registration Now Open
Join the Covenant Network November 5-7 at Central Presbyterian Church in Denver to explore UNITY MATTERS, with keynote speakers Cynthia Rigby, Clifton Kirkpatrick, and J. Herbert Nelson; and preachers Kim Clayton, Paul Roberts, and Marci Auld Glass.
What's next for the Covenant Network?
A lot of people have been asking us over the last few months what’s next for us. Now that the presbyteries have voted to approve Amendment 14-F, affirming that ministers may officiate, and sessions may host, same-gender weddings, and now that LGBTQ people are being ordained in congregations and presbyteries around the country, what will the Covenant Network do? What does our mission look like going forward?Executive Director Brian Ellison addresses the question in this video.
Meet the two newest Covenant Congregations
First Presbyterian Church of Santa Monica (CA) and College Avenue Presbyterian Church (Alton, IL) have, by Session action, adopted the Call to Covenant Community. We welcome their partnership in our work!