Alice Walker to keynote Center for Womanist Leadership gathering

RICHMOND, Va. (January 23, 2018) – Alice Walker, author of “The Color Purple,” will keynote the Bearing Witness to Womanism inaugural gathering, in Richmond, Virginia, April 5-7, 2018. The event is sponsored by the Center for Womanist Leadership at Union Presbyterian Seminary and the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University. Walker’s keynote is free and will …

Our Middle East Travel Seminar has landed!

…Middle East Travel Seminar: Diverse cultural perspectives in Roman-era Zippori Middle East Travel Seminar: A day of memory, history, hope… and sweets! Middle East Travel Seminar: The Western Wall, Temple Mount, and Dome of the Rock BY LINDA KURTZ We had an uneventful flight from Dulles to Vienna — much appreciated, I think, by our contingent who drove up from …

Started UPSem 2004: Rev. Nadine Ellsworth-Moran (MDiv / MACE 2011)

…the unique opportunity to work at the seminary’s Charlotte campus, serving as an assistant to Dean Richard Boyce while pastoring a small Presbyterian Church in Charlotte. These dual roles allowed her to be ordained in the PC(USA) and work for an institution she loved. What makes this institution so appealing for Ellsworth-Moran is her assessment that the Charlotte campus is …

Started UPSem 2005: Rev. Noe Juarez-Loayza (MDiv 2010)

…Laurie Camp Loayza, also a Union Presbyterian Seminary graduate, is from Greensboro, North Carolina. Before emigrating to the US, Juarez-Loayza was a teacher in Moyobamba, Peru. Once in Greensboro, Juarez-Loayza served as the Director of Latino Ministries at First Presbyterian Church, Greensboro. After a few years of working at First Greensboro, he enrolled in seminary at UPSem Charlotte. Now an …

Started UPSem 2021: Matt Wiedle (pursuing MDiv and MACE)

…MACE) The following is part of a series of 20 profiles that represent each year that Charlotte has been enrolling students. Senior Business Development Manager Wickfire, LLC Asheville, North Carolina Born in Indiana but raised in Illinois, Matt Wiedle now calls Asheville, North Carolina, home with his wife and one “fur baby.” Receiving his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Millikin …

Congregational Corner: You are invited!

…youth group. Invite the young adult down the pew to join you. Look one another in the eye and share an invitation to join together in this crazy journey of life and faith! Alumna Jordan B. Davis is associate pastor for youth and young adults at Kirk of Kildaire Presbyterian Church in Cary, North Carolina, and editor of Congregational Corner. …

Congregational Corner: Take on, Loving Yourself

…and to pure love we will return. Embrace the dust of today, rather than sweeping it away; Love who you are today, rather than hiding your beauty away. Alumna Jordan B. Davis is associate pastor for youth and young adults at Kirk of Kildaire Presbyterian Church in Cary, North Carolina, and editor of Congregational Corner. Photo by freestocks.org from Pexels …

Congregational Corner: A prayer for the new year

…by your Son, and guided by your Light from one day into the next, from year to another, so that all might know your love and grace. Amen. Alumna Jordan B. Davis is associate pastor for youth and young adults at Kirk of Kildaire Presbyterian Church in Cary, North Carolina, and editor of Congregational Corner. Photo by freestocks.org from Pexels …

New Book by James Atwood coming November 2019

Pastor, author, activist, and UPSem alumnus James E. Atwood (M.Div.’59) addresses the issue of gun violence in a new book to be published November 5, 2019. In “Collateral Damage,” Atwood issues an urgent call to action to Christians to work together to stop gun violence. An avid hunter for many years, Rev. Atwood enumerates the tragic and far-reaching costs that …

If my people

…prayer, He will forgive them, He will heal their land. These were definite conditions that God put down for Israel, and their history that demonstrates the accuracy and literalness of these specifics. 2 Chronicles 7:14 has a message for us, too. It contains a formula for this time. “My people”—God has a people which we call the church or the …

Dr. Cannon to Keynote the 2017 Princeton Women in Ministry Conference

…diverse ministries from around the world, raise your voice in solidarity with all women struggling to find a voice in society today, respond anew to God’s call to all people to minister in Christ’s name. Katie Geneva Cannon is the Annie Scales Rogers Professor of Christian Ethics at Union Presbyterian Seminary, Richmond, VA.   Register at wimconf.ptsem.edu today!     …

Union Seminary announces faculty appointments

RICHMOND, VA (April 27, 2018) – Upon recommendation of the faculty and the president, the board of trustees of Union Presbyterian Seminary has appointed the Rev. Dr. Rebecca L. Davis as associate professor of Christian education, with tenure, at the Charlotte campus; and Dr. James E. Taneti as assistant professor of world Christianity at the Richmond campus. Taneti’s primary role …

Started UPSem 2010: Rev. Charmaine Smith (MDiv 2017)

…MACE) The following is part of a series of 20 profiles that represent each year that Charlotte has been enrolling students. Stated Supply Pastor Laurens County Presbyterian Churches Clinton, South Carolina A child of the South, Rev. Charmaine Smith (MDiv 2017) was born in Nashville, Tennessee, grew up in Mississippi and Florida, and now lives in Clinton, South Carolina. Growing …

The biggest question

…the church down the street that we forget how to be the best version of ourselves. I pray that each one of us might find new ways to discern what that means in our congregational and personal lives. Alumna Jordan B. Davis is transitional associate pastor at Kirk of Kildaire Presbyterian Church in Cary, North Carolina, and editor of Congregational …

Live simply

…money, which is here today and gone tomorrow. Tell them to go after God, who piles on all the riches we could ever manage — to do good, to be rich in helping others, to be extravagantly generous. If they do that, they’ll build a treasury that will last, gaining life that is truly life” (vv. 17-19).” Many people today …

Black Lives Matter! MLK

…28, 1955, in Mississippi. Medgar Wiley Evers, a civil rights activist and NAACP field secretary for the state of Mississippi, was murdered in his driveway on June 12, 1963. Four black girls (Addie Mae Collins, Carol Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley) were killed when four members of the Ku Klux Klan bombed the 16th Street Baptist Church in …

City approves Union Seminary’s special exception request

…since that time, the seminary has been pleased to allow anyone and everyone from every part of the city free and unencumbered access to the land,” Blount said. “Union has been a good neighbor to the Northside community for over 100 years. The BZA’s decision helps us continue in that effort by contributing new housing to the community and creating …

Linger at the Levine Museum

…I am delighted to serve as the host for this inaugural gathering. The Charlotte area is rich with Union grads, a potential network of support, friendship, and connection. Let’s gather and enjoy that! Whether you graduated from our Richmond campus or our Charlotte campus, this gathering is for you. I look forward to seeing you on August 18 at the …

Civil Rights Information Sheet Journey to Freedom NEW DATES

President Search

…’91, ’07), Charlotte Faculty–Christian Education Frances Taylor Gench (’82), Richmond Faculty–Bible Matthew A. Rich (’00), Trustee, Advancement; Pastor, Unity Presbyterian Church, Fort Mill, SC Rodney S. Sadler Jr., Charlotte Faculty–Bible Richard W. Voelz, Richmond Faculty–Practical Theology Michelle Walker, Staff–Dean of Students/Director of Financial Aid Peter M. Wherry, Trustee, Academic Affairs; Pastor, Mayfield Memorial Missionary Baptist Church, Charlotte, NC     …

Union Seminary to mandate COVID-19 vaccine for students, employees, visitors

…seminary classes and operations online. To begin preparations, staff will return to on-campus work August 2 in Richmond and August 3 in Charlotte. This transition assumes that such a return will be compliant with guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and regulations established by state and local authorities in Virginia and North Carolina. Currently, all such regulations …