Mary Lee Talbot
Staff Writer
The Rev. Robert W. Henderson, who will serve as chaplain for Week Two at Chautauqua Institution, said, “There is so much reporting, news and contention in the world, and I think it would be good for the world to see what a ‘spacious moral vision’ provides. If there is a takeaway from this sermon series, I hope it will be a renewed commitment to demonstrate the expansiveness of God in Jesus Christ.”
Henderson preached at Chautauqua in 2021. He will preach at the 10:45 a.m. Sunday morning worship service in the Amphitheater. His sermon title is “A Spacious Moral Vision.” At the 9:15 a.m. morning worship service on Monday through Wednesday, he will preach in the Amphitheater. His sermon topics include, “Perfection?,” “Conflicted?” and “Imago Dei.”
At 9:15 a.m. Thursday, he will share his faith journey in the morning worship service in the Hall of Philosophy.
The specific phrase “a spacious moral vision” refers to author Reynolds Price’s 2003 book, A Serious Way of Wondering: The Ethics of Jesus Imagined. Henderson said, “When I think about a ‘spacious moral vision,’ I see a message that is inclusive, multifaceted, focused on community, is ethical, reconciling and helps us to reconnect with the image of God in the other.”
Henderson is the sixth senior minister and head of staff at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. He has served there since 2008.
Charlotte, he said, has been undergoing the same strains as other cities in the United States. There has been vigorous political debate, racial reconciliation as well as racial tension and action by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol. Most of the faith and civic leaders were not accustomed to the new tactics the government agents were using.
“The congregation rallied around our employees, who come from all over the world, to provide for their safety and the safety of their children in our preschools. The congregation expressed its solidarity with them,” Henderson said.
A respected pastor, preacher and leader, Henderson is known for cultivating congregational vitality and meaningful community engagement. His ministry focuses on the centrality of worship, pastoral care and vibrant mission programs.
Both personally and through leading his congregation, Henderson continues his active involvement in uplifting local and international communities. Within recent years, his congregation has invested $8-10 million in affordable housing projects. In Greensboro, North Carolina, they initiated an innovative partnership with an underprivileged neighborhood.
Directly at Covenant Presbyterian Church, Henderson’s congregation opened a need-based child development center. The church is also home to a unique pastoral residency program for seminary graduates. Henderson enjoys seeing people grow in their personal faith and has particularly witnessed this through organizing and participating in mission trips in places such as Appalachia, Nablus, Bethlehem, Kenya, Haiti and Mexico.
In addition to his work with the Covenant Presbyterian Church, Henderson has been leading renewal conferences for large church pastors. He is also actively involved at Davidson College, serving on the board of trustees and presidential search committee.
In Stone Mountain, Georgia, he was associate pastor of Eastminster Presbyterian Church from 1988 to 1993. From 1993 to 2008, Henderson served as senior pastor at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Greensboro.
Henderson received his Doctor of Ministry degree from Columbia Theological Seminary, Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary, and Bachelor of Arts in economics and religion from Furman University.
This program is made possible by generous support of The Geraldine M. and Frank E. McElree, Jr. Chaplaincy Fund and the Harold F. Reed, Sr. Chaplaincy.
