“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.”
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.
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.
The ministry areas of the Presbyterian Mission Agency and offices of the PC(USA) practiced being good neighbors in the marketplace at this week’s Association for Partners in Christian Education event. APCE’s Marketplace, which features a bookstore and informational resources from various denominations, seminaries, and church-adjacent non-profits, is a major attraction at the annual event.
“Are we innkeepers? Are we family? Are we guardians?”
Presbyterian educators recently intoned these questions in the opening of a virtual session addressing the changing modalities of Christian formation and support networks within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
With a big assist from the gifts of music leader Mark Miller, closing worship for APCE’s Circle of Faith event in Chicago ended Saturday where it had begun the Wednesday before, with Hebrews 12:1-2.
One by one, and sometimes in pairs or trios, denominational partners of the Association of Partners in Christian Education rose Saturday to tell those attending APCE’s annual even in Chicago and online how they’re sustaining their faith communities, especially as pandemic obstacles to faith formation enter their third year.
