On April 28, 2009 the Executive Board elected the Rev. Dr. Marian McClure Taylor to be the Executive Director of the Kentucky Council of Churches. Dr. Taylor will enter this position on June 15, 2009. Dr. Taylor is currently Associate Director and North America Representative of "Edinburgh 2010: Witnessing to Christ Today," the centenary celebration of a pivotal world mission conference that challenged Christians to greater ecumenical and evangelistic collaboration in 1908.

Dr. Taylor is also on the board of the Overseas Ministries Study Center, serves as adjunct faculty in the Doctor of Ministry program at Louisville Presbyterian Seminary, and chairs the Evangelism Committee of the congregation she attends. Her earned doctorate is in political science from Harvard University. She then worked for the Ford Foundation for more than five years as a grant-making officer serving both Mexico and Central America.

After responding to God's call to seminary education she was ordained and focused her church work on participation in world mission. In demand as a lecturer, preacher and facilitator of mission-focused group retreats, Dr. Taylor is also a mezzo-soprano church soloist and member of the Louisville Choral Arts Society. For more information about Dr. Taylor and her new role, click here.

The staff of your Kentucky Council of Churches is pleased to serve on the steering committee that will plan an important statewide Empowerment Summit. The theme will be "Economic Prosperity through Minority Empowerment" and the focus will be on Economic Development, Education, and Leadership. Bookmark this page and we will update it as more information develops.

Cover your cough. Clean your hands. Cover your sneeze. If you are sick, stay home. Plan for the impact of a pandemic on your organization and its mission. Communicate with and educate your staff, members, and persons in the communities that you serve. Plan for the impact of a pandemic on your staff, members, and the communities that you serve. Set up policies to follow during a pandemic. Allocate resources to protect your staff, members, and persons in the communities that you serve during a pandemic. Coordinate with external organizations and help your community. Click here for a more detailed checklist and more specific information.

Lucy Arthur-Paratley, a junior at Bryan Station High School in Lexington, KY is the statewide winner of the 2009 Earth Day Every Day essay contest sponsored by the Kentucky Council of Churches. The contest began on April 22, 2008 and the cutoof for submissions was January 1, 2009. The Kentucky Council of Churches' Program Unit on Local Economies and the Environment announced the winner on April 22, 2009.

We are very pleased to help spread the word that a new course, entitled "The Ecumenical Movement and Its Current Developments," will be offered from 1:30 to 2:50 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays for the Louisville Presbyterian Seminary fall term (Sept. 10 - Dec. 10, 2009). Click here for a copy of the proposed syllabus for the course that outlines in more detail the themes that will be covered and the bibliography that will be used. Also on our web link you will find information on how non-degree students may be part of classes at Louisville Seminary and a registration form.

Thanks to the generosity of the Knight Foundation, the National Council of Churches has seven internship opportunities, either in Washington DC or in New York City. Click

The Kentucky Council of Churches is a member of the Kentucky Voices for Health coalition. This is an indespensible website for the latest news you need to make a difference in the health of all Kentuckians.

The The 61st Annual Assembly of the Kentucky Council of Churches was held on October 16 - 17, 2008 at Good Shepherd Roman Catholic Church (at 1050 US Hwy 421 South) in Frankfort, KY. The Rev. Dr. Nancy Jo Kemper delivered the sermon that can be read here.

The Kentucky Faith Communities Immigration Coalition will present a petition to all political candidates, calling for laws that preserve families, affirm the dignity of all people, and acknowledge the value of all people. Click here to print this petition and please get other members of your congregation to sign it as well.

The National Council of Churches has established an online "clearing house of wisdom" for those who wish to improve ministry to immigrants. Church people have introduced in their communities creative and effective immigrations ministries, and now a webpage seeks to document such resources. Check out what is available at http://www.ncccusa.org/immigrations/

Next January outgoing PC(USA) National Stated Clerk, Clifton Kirkpatrick, will join the faculty of Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary as Visiting Professor of Ecumenical Studies and Global Ministries. Click here to read the entire story.

Contact Jane Eller at 1-800-882-5271 of the Kentucky Environmental Education Council for an environmental literacy workshop to help members better understand the issues of natural resource use, pollution prevention, population pressure and basic ecosystem operation. It is a very hands-on, four-hour workshop. They can even train ministers, youth group leaders, chairs of environmental committees, etc. to put on the workshop themselves. The materials for the workshops are easily obtained and inexpensive and the activities are fairly simple to do. They also have a program that would help churches "green" their buildings. For a list of other speakers, visit http://www.kycouncilofchurches.org/EconomiesAndEnvironment.html.

http://www.environmentaldefense.org/article.cfm?contentID=5616

http://www.nrdc.org/cities/living/ggift.asp

http://www.greengiftguide.com/

Or make a donation in someone's honor or in someone's memory to further the work of the Kentucky Council of Churches.

Donated cell phones are sold to a company that recycles them. The money that they get for the phones is used to purchase calling cards that they send to soldiers outside the US. Learn more at http://www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com/

Click

You may obtain Start-Up Kits for your congregation if you either have a health ministry/parish nurse program or if you are interested in beginning such a ministry! The kit includes a number of items including a resource manual, a drug book, a stethoscope, three sizes of blood pressure cuffs and, recently added, a Healthometer scale. For additional information or for an appointment, e-mail beatrice.keller@nortonhealthcare.org.

Go to: http://prisonministrykentucky.blogspot.com/

Kimberly Hoare of Yale Divinity School has prepared a new annotated bibliography of resources that will help our churches provide pastoral care to families of persons serving in the military. She has agreed to make this information available for our use. Please click here for an html version of this resource, or click here for an MS Word version of this useful bibliography.

The KCC is able to offer worship resources for this time of war and its devastating aftermath. Please click here for access to these resources and to learn more about how Churches in KY can respond to this war. As perhaps never before in our lifetimes, our churches and our communities are going to need moral guidance and spiritual support.

Christian Unity Curricular Materials are Available

Representatives from ten Christian denominations have come together to launch a new ministry project. Forty-four ecumenical leaders from Kentucky have now completed work on curriculum materials about Christian unity. These materials were designed for use as a four-hour workshop and include a written Leader's Guide with interactive video segments. This curriculum, entitled One in the Bond of Love, is now available to every Christian congregation and parish in the Commonwealth. 

View Archived News