“We never outgrow fear,” John Pavlovitz said in his second plenary at last week’s annual event of the Association of Partners in Christian Education. “As we get older, we just trade in our terror for more age-appropriate models.” Pavlovitz, a pastor, writer and activist from North Carolina, then described the two responses we have at any age to the storms that scare us: “We become frozen or frantic.” Read more »
February 2, 2023
APCE workshops address trauma and faith
“We never outgrow fear,” John Pavlovitz said in his second plenary at last week’s annual event of the Association of Partners in Christian Education. “As we get older, we just trade in our terror for more age-appropriate models.” Pavlovitz, a pastor, writer and activist from North Carolina, then described the two responses we have at any age to the storms that scare us: “We become frozen or frantic.” Read more »
Whatever Covid stage churches find themselves in — post-pandemic, a return to in-person worship, a re-evaluation of what hybrid worship looks like, whatever the case — “we need to be attentive to the way our sermons are being offered to people,” the Rev. Dr. Peter Henry said Wednesday during the monthly “Equipping Preachers” webinar offered by the Synod of the Covenant. 
Last week’s Association of Partners in Christian Education annual event included a helpful and important online workshop on the role churches play in mental health. The Rev. Talitha Arnold, pastor of the United Church of Santa Fe, New Mexico, led the workshop attended by about two dozen people. 
Beginning the fall, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary will offer all its masters and certificate programs in a hybrid format — allowing PTS to be your neighborhood seminary regardless of your neighborhood location. 
A congregation-based community organizing group in the Annapolis, Maryland area is helping churches and other groups to champion local causes through working together as a united force. 
Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) condemns the violence and attacks being reported [in recent] days in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt). We grieve the loss of both Israeli and Palestinian lives and call on the U.S. government to do everything possible to bring an end to the violence. Unless the core causes of the conflict are addressed, violent acts perpetrated by both sides will continue. 
The Rev. Charlie Gross, who’s honorably retired from Donegal Presbytery, signs his emails with “Extravagant Blessings!” You get the feeling he wrote the book on Christian encouragement.
In fact, he did. 
Dr. Tori Smit, a diaconal minister and professional Christian educator in the Presbyterian Church in Canada serving the 262 churches in the Synod of Central, Northeastern Ontario and Bermuda — yes, that Bermuda — offered an insightful workshop during last week’s annual event of the Association of Partners in Christian Education, addressing a situation many churches find themselves in: “What to do when the kids are few.” 
People sensing God’s call to be a catalyst for change in their community can consider enrolling in “Lead Change: A Certificate in Community Faith Formation,” a new certificate in community faith formation being offered by Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary. The inaugural cohort of 15 learning partners, as the seminary calls its students, will begin in March and finish in late November. 
The second installment of a video/webinar series highlighting the Christian mission in Myanmar (formerly Burma) resumes at 6 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday. An ecumenical prayer service commemorating the violent regime change in 2021 will broadcast live on the World Mission Facebook page.