For the past decade, the Presbyterian Giving Catalog has offered individuals, churches, and communities ways to contribute to causes across the globe according to their unique interests and passions. For one school in California — and the church that surrounds it — this past year’s Giving Catalog offered a whole new way to make Christmas meaningful.
“How many people are out of power?” was the opening question in a Tuesday night call between Christian formation leaders hosted by the Office of Christian Formation of the Presbyterian Mission Agency. Mission associate Miatta Wilson welcomed a group of a dozen church leaders, saying, “It’s great to have people who are from various different parts of the country and time zones.”
A special one-time grant program from the Office of Christian Formation suggests that rest may be the hardest thing to learn when practicing what you preach.
Birmingham’s history of civil rights set the stage for the Association of Partners in Christian Education (APCE)’s Annual Event, held in the city Jan. 25–28, with pre- and post-event touring and learning opportunities around Birmingham and Alabama available to participants.
Last week as part of the Association of Partners in Christian Education’s annual event, it fell to the Rev. Elizabeth Boulware Landes to lead the workshop “The Language of Grace.”
“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.”
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 attending the Association of Partners in Christian Education’s annual event had a role to play at the start of pastor and author John Pavlovitz’s final plenary Saturday morning: Pavlovitz turned over the microphone and asked them what they’ve experienced since the conference opened on Wednesday.
Brought on stage by a powerful version of “I Want My Life to Make a Difference” by G. Phillip Shoultz, III, who provided music for the Association of Partners in Christian Education’s annual event this week, keynoter John Pavlovitz continued his theme Friday of dealing with the turbulence in our lives.
At the annual corporation lunch for the Association of Partners in Christian Education on Thursday, the Rev. Dr. Kathryn Campbell was sworn in as president along with other new officers: Tori Smit (president-elect), and Deb DeMeester and Jim Monnett (Co-Treasurers).
