Worship

On Homecoming (Sept. 8), Senior Pastor Scott Black Johnston introduces Curate Your Heart, a 12-week sermon series that aims to train our hearts to “love good stuff”—God and our neighbors, our enemies and ourselves, truth and justice, youth and truth. Week-by-week details are on the worship calendar.

“Great Is Thy Faithfulness” is the theme of the 2020 Pledge Campaign, which co-chairs Kathy Henderson and Chris Strickland will kick off during worship on Sunday, Oct. 20. Throughout the five-week campaign, members of the church will offer testimony about the faithfulness of God—and this church—in their lives.

Music + Arts

The 2019-20 concert season begins on Sunday, Sept. 15, with an organ recital by Ryan Jackson. Mozart and Haydn headline the Chamber Choir’s fall concert on Friday, Oct. 18. Lunch+Listen, the popular series of half-hour Sunday concerts that debuted in 2018, returns in November.

Meanwhile, the Arts & Our Faith Committee will unveil Faith in Song, a historical exhibit on 200 years of music ministry at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. The exhibit, due to arrive in September, will remain on view in the Chesnut Gallery until Thanksgiving.

Church + Society

David Brooks, the best-selling author and longtime columnist with The New York Times, will deliver the second-annual Anita and Antonio Gotto Lecture on Wednesday, Oct. 30. Brooks will be sure to cover both his latest book—The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life—and his latest initiative, Weave: The Social Fabric Project. Watch for registration details to be announced in September.

On Thursday, Nov. 14, Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church hosts the eighth-annual William S. Perper Symposium, featuring public health experts from Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center and the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The focus of this day-long event is “Understanding Substance Use Disorder: A Community Approach to Healing.” Details and online registration are available here.

Finally, Adult Education is taking the fall sermon series—Curate Your Heart—to heart! Classes will center on many of the same themes our preachers will be exploring from the pulpit—love of God, love of neighbor, forgiveness and reconciliation, mercy and justice. The fall semester begins on Sunday, Sept. 22.

And Much More!

Check out our Events listing for information about what’s coming up in Family Ministries, 20s+30s, Community Life and other ministries of the church. Our Volunteer page outlines our ongoing service programs, as well as upcoming events in need of your time and talent.

And if you prefer to explore offline, come to our first-ever Open House: Fifth Avenue, an evening to meet with pastors and senior staff about the ministries and programs of the church, and how you can get involved. Open House: Fifth Avenue is happening on Thursday evening, Sept. 19.