Workshops

This workshop seeks to provide a historical overview, basic tools for engagement, a shared common language, and information on the current reality of the situation on the ground in Israel/Palestine –  the land and people of the Christian, Muslim and Jewish faiths.

The goals of the Israel/Palestine Mission Network of the PCUSA are to:
1) Encourage involvement of individuals, congregations, presbyteries, task groups and other entities in the search for a just peace in Israel/Palestine.
2) Educate the church about the facts on the ground.
3) Find constructive avenues to change conditions that erode humanity of both Israelis and Palestinians, especially those living under colonial occupation in East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza.

Bring your questions, curiosity, and an open heart and mind. Leave with a toolkit for ways to move out of this space in prophetic action.

This workshop offers biblical and theological foundation and practical help in ensuring the church’s full welcome and embrace of LGBTQIA+ people. We’ll acknowledge the different ways our churches have addressed issues of sexual orientation and gender identity and how views have changed. We’ll consider particular acts of hospitality we can take with our words and deeds to strengthen our congregations and our common life for all people. The workshop includes a basic overview of terminology, deeper theological reflection, and practical help. Participants will share ideas and shape the content through their own interests, experiences and needs.

The world doesn’t look like us, exclusively. God has shown us what is good. God calls for actions that are impartial, love for compassion, and walking respectfully with God. Native American Presbyterians continue to be some of the most overlooked constituencies in Christianity. Often only considered when a “mission trip” is on a church’s agenda or during Christmas when considering doing something “nice” for the least among us. Toward a Just, Compassionate and Respectful Pathway with Native Americans is not a history lesson but a real-world example of that journey of understanding with God and our neighbors. It presents cultural awareness between the Native American cultures of this country and those who came after them. The workshop uses five-hundred years of documented information to reveal what most have never heard concerning the lack of honesty, grace and respect toward Native Americans and shows the pathway Micah describes for all God’s children. God emphasizes value in moral and spiritual obedience more than ritual and ceremony. Micah 6:8 isn’t just referring to humility; Micah is inviting us to give, sacrifice and empty ourselves into our world. This leads to restoring God’s image not only in us but inspires us to be instruments of change to everyone, not just family and friends, not just to those who look like us.
This workshop should be our first step on a journey, “El Camino”, of understanding —with God and with our neighbors. The actions Micah is sharing are a heavenly roadmap for living honestly, showing grace, and walking respectfully in our faith journey.

Noted as one of the nation’s premier heritage and cultural museums, the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee, is steadfast in its mission to share the culture and lessons from the American Civil Rights Movement and explore how this significant era continues to shape equality and freedom globally. Established in 1991, the National Civil Rights Museum is located at the former Lorraine Motel, where civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968.  You will have a 90-minute private tour through the exhibits to learn more about a tumultuous and inspiring period of change.
The museum underwent a $27.5 million renovation in 2013 and 2014, adding more than 40 new films, oral histories and interactive media to the already robust galleries. The result is a one-of-a-kind experience that has been featured on the History Channel and CNN, in USA Today and as the focus for the Academy Award-nominated documentary The Witness: From the Balcony of Room 306.  Additionally, the museum is among the top 5% of institutions to be accredited by the American Alliance of Museums and is a founding member of the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience, which brings together historic sites, museums and memory initiatives from all around the globe that connect past struggles to today’s movements for human rights and social justice.
Fee: $37

Tour this once deserted “disaster” of 1.5 million-square-foot building that now anchors a thriving neighborhood in Memphis. Built between the World Wars to be a Sears store and shipment center, Crosstown Concourse has been readapted as a “vertical village.” The building houses a YMCA with a pool, a health clinic for the working poor, a high school, condos and apartments, offices, restaurants, bars, shops, a theater and a contemporary art center. We will explore the building and hear about the years-long redevelopment of this property from one of the developers, art history professor and MDiv, Todd Richardson. During the visit, there will be an opportunity to visit a stall or two on your own for shopping, coffee, or a snack.
Fee: $40

Over three workshop blocks, this in-depth Bible study will dig below the surface of the seven I AM declarations in the Gospel of John. The sayings, such as “I AM the Bread of Life,” “I AM the Light of the   World,” are remarkable, yet appear in no other gospel. Why? Who is the audience? What is the context? How does the author use familiar concepts and settings to hammer home the importance of Jesus and God being one? Over and over the writer of John uses these particular images to reveal the reality of God come to earth through Jesus. Bring your Bible and join us as we explore together these rich statements and more. *This workshop is a continuation of workshop 100.

Sometimes we take on more than we can accomplish. But, reconnecting to our spirituality is a path that offers us the ability to spring back into shape and to find our resilience. The 2025–2026 PW/Horizons Bible study author, Rhashell Hunter, will lead participants in learning about Biblical women and exploring Jesus’ witness to faithfulness. You don’t have to be a PW to benefit—everyone will enjoy rediscovering our joy and our identity in Christ.

Working and living in Beloved community requires engaging theological discussion, creativity, collaboration, and vulnerability. Church workers are often asked to lead ministries which deftly navigate the intersections of culture, politics, and faith formation. Dr. Sarah Leer (she/her), an educator, former youth worker, and practical theologian, will invite participants to engage in practical conversations of LGBTQIA+ affirmation and belonging through the lens of abundance. In this interactive workshop, we will wrestle with what it means for all to know they are Beloved. We will discuss power-sharing with youth and young adults, LGBTQIA+ affirming terminology, and resources to affirm and celebrate LGBTQIA+ people in our midst. Sarah will create a space for participants to learn together while also equipping them with resources to deepen and express belonging in their ministries.

Wonder of Worship has completed its first year of the five year, Lilly Endowment funded grant regarding nurturing children through worship and prayer. We’ve done a lot of listening this first year and are ready to share what we’ve learned from child research projects, sub-grants awarded to churches for their own projects, new ideas from Quicksheets and podcasts, and our first Godly Play training sessions. We look forward to engaging workshop participants in these conversations and activities and learning from each other in the process, so that we may get closer to forming beloved community that includes all ages and abilities in corporate worship.

We all want church to be fun and enjoyable for children. But what happens when our goal in children’s ministry is to entertain instead of to form faith? What effect do entertainment models and curricula have on children’s long-term faith formation? In this workshop, we’ll explore how to form faith in your children’s ministry through the following:

• Engaging the history of children’s ministry with particular attention to what Scottie May refers to as the, “Carnival Model,” and exploring her suggested alternatives to this model.
• Exploring how theology matters when choosing children’s ministry curriculum and how various curricula views children and their capacity for deep conversations about faith.
• Examining a variety of curricula, evaluating whether it emphasizes forming faith in children or represents more of an entertainment-based approach.
• Experiencing activities that encourage faith formation as we try out elements, such as wondering questions, that are included in faith-forming curricula.

Participants will be introduced to a variety of resources, including Sunday school and children’s worship   materials, that create space for children not just to learn about God, but to encounter God. It is our hope that participants will leave fully equipped to create children’s ministry spaces that form lifelong faith in their children.

One more thing? Are you kidding me? This workshop is designed as practical hope for church workers who are exhausted. The theology of scripture reveals an inexhaustible God but that does not propel or compel us to run on empty. Come to study and share, to pray and to learn new practices. Come for a framework that offers hope beyond burnout, compassion fatigue, and exhaustion.

Through recent research efforts by Springtide, CYMT, and other organizations we know that parents feel ill-equipped, ill-informed and unsupported as the primary nurtures of their children’s faith. In this workshop we will take proven methodology, innovative processes, and practical tools to train Christian educators to equip and inform as well as create communities of care and support for parents in their contexts.

In 2023, GenOn Ministries received a grant to work with parents and caregivers, families, and churches to create resources that support the three systems collectively. Since June 2024, we’ve been hearing from the 213 families participating in the testing of these resources. Join me for a session on what we’re learning from the families and what your church community can do to connect with caregivers, kids, and youth.

Leadership teams, committee members, and ministry staff are all groups that need to work together. Team building is not just something we do for youth groups. There are activities that are designed to help adult groups develop effective communication and problem-solving skills. During our time together, we will look at different exercises that help group members broaden their abilities and work together.

One of the things we wrestle with is finding high quality adult education resources that are theologically sound, context appropriate, engaging, and affordable. This is particularly hard for smaller and rural churches that may not have a large adult ed budget or staff to search for and screen resources for bible studies, adult Sunday School classes, and other adult ed opportunities. First Presbyterian Church of Hastings in Nebraska was wrestling with this, so we decided to create our own adult ed resources. We are blessed with a Millennial pastor, a Gen X pastor, and a retired religion professor who serves as our “scholar in residence.” None of us knew too much about technology, but all three of us were willing to learn. Over the course of the last five years, we have generated more than 400 digital video resources that include bible studies, classes on a variety of topics, book studies, and more.
Our workshop aims to equip churches to create their own adult education resources while also sharing free resources that are already available. In our workshop we will teach Christian educators how to record podcasts and adult education classes. We will include recommendations on equipment and suggestions on how to effectively record and share these resources. In addition, we created a website called “Abundant Harvest” www.midwestministryhub.org to make the resources that we have created at FPC Hastings accessible and searchable. We hope to make these resources available for free to any church that is looking for a source of high quality, theologically sound, context appropriate adult education resources.

Come gather and participate in handicrafts to knit communities together and build relationships. Have you felt the desire to craft new avenues to engage and serve your community? This is sew the spot for you! Let’s weave our ideas together and engage in conversations around crafting as a tool for ministry as fellowship, worship, justice work, study, and good old-fashioned fun. Some simple supplies will be provided, but feel free to bring your own works in progress.
Cost: $15

What would it look like to flip our current mindset for worship planning to operate more out of a mindset of abundance, rather than scarcity? What if we began by finding the gifts in “what is,” right here, right now? At the heart of being intergenerational is a practice of receiving with gratitude each and every person as a unique gift from God. As we plan worship, how would this fundamental practice help us flip the tables, opening us to a new paradigm, when it comes to finding the gifts of our faith communities, and designing and planning creative worship arts?
In this interactive, collaborative space, we will discuss flipping the worship planning paradigm in these ways:

• Flipping from a program-oriented design process toward spiritually formative practice-mindset for both worship designers and participants
• Flipping from a scarcity mindset to an abundance mindset when assessing worship gifts and practices
• Flipping from a closed position to an open position, utilizing my method of “Finding the GIFTS” (an assessment tool that helps teams be more open to finding and including the various gifts of their communities)
• Flipping from a top-down (1 or 2 leading) approach to an empowerment model for worship (leadership of many).

We will also brainstorm how we might practically take these ideas into our own unique communities, seeking to create a collaborative “wrestling” with ways we might flip the tables in our own worship communities. Come ready to discuss, create, share, collaborate.

 A recent study found that 1 in 3 Americans experience religious trauma at some point in their lives. The lasting impact of these traumas varies for most, with the exception of those in the LGBTQ+ community who experience more numerous and lasting effects. Though there is no reliable data on the percentages of emerging adults with religious trauma, many are more aware of its presence in their lives and the lives of their friends. This workshop discusses what religious trauma is and how ministry leaders can become more aware of its impact, provide safe spaces for individuals to process and name their experiences, and explore avenues toward healing.

Can you remember a time when you were a child, and you had an idea about how to help someone in your community? Imagine a place where your inspiration was cultivated, like the seeds from the Parable of the Sower that fell on fertile soil. Then imagine how it would have felt seeing your idea make a difference in your community. LEAD is a faith formation method designed to be youth-led and hands-on where participants learn about God’s call to serve as they design and implement small mission projects. This method provides youth with important relationship-building opportunities that are necessary for a strong church community, as adults mentor youth and older youth mentor younger youth. Most importantly, youth learn how the congregation works together to accomplish its mission, by actually leading the congregation in mission tasks.

Over three workshop blocks, this in-depth Bible study will dig below the surface of the seven I AM declarations in the Gospel of John. The sayings, such as “I AM the Bread of Life,” “I AM the Light of the World,” are remarkable, yet appear in no other gospel. Why? Who is the audience? What is the context? How does the author use familiar concepts and settings to hammer home the importance of Jesus and God being one? Over and over the writer of John uses these particular images to reveal the reality of God come to earth through Jesus. Bring your Bible and join us as we explore together these rich statements and more. This workshop is a continuation of workshops 100 and 300.

When a new family comes into our faith community, we typically invite the adults(parents) to a New Members class. There they learn all about our faith community and being Presbyterian. Yet, when youth and children come into faith communities, we send them off to Sunday school, Youth group, or Mid-week programming without an opportunity to learn. The assumption is that they will get it in Confirmation! This workshop will give you some ideas on how to have an intergenerational gathering to welcome the whole family into the faith community!

This workshop will help participants dig deeper into trans and queer approaches to the Bible in ways that can help them transform their teaching, preaching, and personal interpretation/devotional practices. The workshop goes “beyond the basics” by skipping over the traditional “clobber passages” and questions of “what the Bible says about LGBTQ people.” Instead, it will use unexpected passages to help participants understand how trans and queer approaches can inform how they read and teach any story or text from the Bible. These approaches are heavily informed by current, cutting-edge work being done in trans and queer Biblical Studies, including but not limited to the workshop leader’s work on queer approaches to Paul’s letters and the New Testament. The workshop will be highly interactive in order to show participants how they might incorporate these methods into their work with adults, youth, or children. Instead of telling them what a queer or trans approach to a text is, the leader will challenge participants to learn and embody these approaches using guided examples and collaborative learning techniques. Participants will leave feeling empowered to dig deeper into the Bible using these approaches and skills–and with resources that help them adapt and apply these reading techniques to their many different contexts for faith formation.
Although this workshop is pitched as “beyond the basics”–in order to be a resource to LGBTQ leaders and allies who have already done the equivalent of “Inclusion 101”-type workshops–the workshop welcomes folks with all levels of experience–with the note that we will not be going over basic concepts of gender, sexuality, or usage of pronouns.

Pop culture influences the clothes we wear, the music we listen to, the attitudes we hold, and even the language we use. In fact, the average American spends two hours per day consuming digital media! Yet church educators are often unsure how to leverage television and film in their adult faith formation groups. Through this workshop, we will examine three real-life groups who have successfully used shows like “Ted Lasso,” “The Good Place,” and “Good Omens” as a catalyst for faith formation. Participants will then consider their own context: what shows would speak to their congregation, what setup would be most appropriate, and what buy-in would be needed. Finally, participants will learn how to design and execute an 8-session adult small group study that explores faith through the lens of popular television or film.

My story: In 2021, I lost both of my parents suddenly to Covid within 10 days. As a worship leader, I was immediately struck with how little room our faith communities provided for grief, let alone a framework or language for offering Christian lament. Interestingly, my children became my worship leaders, teaching me the rhythms and practices of daily lament, as we grieved together.
Proposed Workshop Content: Like adults, children and youth experience loss, trauma, transition. They encounter deep disappointments and grief, sometimes even the loss of a family member, or friend, or a special pet. Like us, younger generations often learn to inhabit the liminal spaces of waiting, disappointment, illness, moving, divorce, and so much more. We live in a world full of bullying, violence, racial injustice, poverty, and discrimination. But do we, as God’s children, no matter our age, know that we can approach God honestly with our pain and confusion? Do we realize that God invites us to practice daily rhythms and rituals that allow us to lament with one another, no matter what age, in community?
In this workshop, we will discuss the following:

• a brief theology of lament as a spiritual practice for worship and daily life that enables us to approach God and community with honesty, vulnerability, and authenticity
• an exploration of how we might make room for lament in our faith communities and at home
• new language to aid us in practicing lament with children and youth together utilizing the Psalms of lament and biblical examples (Job, David, Hannah, Jesus)
• practical resources drawing from culturally diverse faith communities and experts (over 22 interviews I conducted in 2023) in this field to facilitate and create practices of lament through rhythms and rituals.

*We apologize for the change, but this workshop has been canceled at the request of the workshop leader.

The reality is that we know very little about death. It’s the greatest mystery know to humankind! The certainty that we will die, coupled with the complete uncertainty of when, how, or what (if anything) happens next is truly a fantastic paradox. We live in a death-denying culture. Our personal relationships with death impact how we show up on behalf of others during times of death and/or the dying process. How the church responds to the particular needs of its congregation, its community, as it relates to caregiving and walking alongside those directly affected by death, or are in the dying process themselves, is reflective of who the church is called to be “on earth as it is in heaven” (Mt. 6:10b) – as the living embodiment of the “new heaven and new earth” (Rev. 21:1).
Through critical discussion as a means to explore the theory and practice of group talk, this workshop aims to achieve the following purposes:

• To help participants reach a more theologically and critically informed understanding about death and dying.
• To act as a catalyst in helping people take informed action in journeying alongside others – as spiritual caregivers – during times of death and dying.

Centering the question, “What must one do to be at peace with themself so that they may live presently and die gracefully?” participants will engage in theologically-grounded, critical discussion as a way to build connections; with the goal of learning how to identify and use their spiritual gifts in support of care seekers during their most vulnerable time of need.

In today’s society, where the demands of organized sports often collide with ministry programming, finding harmony between the two can be challenging. This workshop delves into the intersection of ministry with college students and young adults with athletics. One key focus is to explore how the Church can be a presence in the lives of young athletes and the athletic world. Participants will learn about the vital role of chaplains and a ministry presence in the sports community, whether you know everything about sports or nothing at all. Attendees will gain practical insights into athletic chaplaincy and how it can positively impact the lives of young athletes, fostering personal growth, resilience, and a sense of purpose both on and off the field. We also explore how to incorporate elements of athletic chaplaincy into your ministry. Perhaps we no longer have to wrestle with ministry versus athletics!

People are constantly texting, taking pictures, and checking social media with their smart phones. What if we took people’s preoccupation with this technology and used it for games and team building activities? This session will explore the recreation that can be led with youth or adults and their cell phones. Please come join the fun (and don’t forget to bring your phone)!

The Lilly Endowment has funded 2 large initiatives in the last few years that have the potential to significantly contribute to what we know about faith formation and how we engage and develop programs. The Christian Parenting and the Nurturing Children through Worship and Prayer initiatives have been awarded to over 100 denominations and organizations for nearly 200 million dollars. We have much to learn from their work and research! This workshop will assemble an ecumenical panel of several grant recipients. The panel will talk about their project, how leaders can engage and what they are learning about how to best support children and youth both at home and in the faith community.

When our struggles seem overwhelming, we need spiritual practices that help us move towards wholeness. Come learn to use writing as a pathway toward healing for individuals and groups. With creative prompts from poetry, scripture, photos and more, we’ll write and share as we experience a gathering of beloved community during a busy conference.
Fee: $5

A continuation of the discussion from 2024. Last year participants discussed the struggles parents, congregations, and pastors face when worshiping with infants and were presented with a Biblical, theological, and developmental foundation for including infants in the worship experience. Participants this year are presented with ways to help pastors, congregations, and parents understand the faith value of including infants in worship. Strategies (such as Serve and Return, observation, and levels of sleep) to welcome, support, and engage infants in active worship are presented and practiced. Participation in the 2024 workshop is not a prerequisite.

Student ministry is not limited to discipleship and relational time spent with students. At a time of life when students assert independence from parental figures in their lives (for good developmental purposes), there is great value in cultivating supportive and strong relationships with parents. This does not necessarily mean inviting parents into the youth ministry space. In this workshop, we will explore ways to minister to students and their families that create good boundaries, supportive partnerships, and create trust with both students and their parents/guardians. Participants will explore the value and importance of working with parents to support the faith and personal development of students. Through interactive discussions, case studies, and hands-on activities, participants will gain practical tools for developing effective communication, building relationships with parents that are positive, and addressing challenges that may arise in partnerships.
Topics we will discuss during this workshop:

• Understanding the benefits of partnering with parents
• Developing strategies for effective communication with families
• Building trust and rapport with parents
• Addressing diversity in parent partnerships
• Collaborating with parents to support student learning and spiritual development
• Managing challenging situations and conflicts with parents

Eileen VanGieson is the Associate Pastor at Christ Presbyterian Church, Carlsbad, California. She has been involved in Youth Ministry since 2003 and continues to love working with youth students. Whenever possible, Eileen will jump on a plane to discover beauty around the world, seeing God in all places and people.

Together, we will name those places and spaces where our congregations experience stress, anxiety, or trauma that impedes creating community and being fully present. By using trauma informed practices to create transformative contexts, we can help our congregations and ministry settings be open and available to engage challenging ideas, difficult truths, and being careful/caring with ourselves and others.
Transformative Teaching happens in that space where one is a bit uncomfortable, but still open to learning. For four years, Kat has studied with Breathe For Change to use the very successful TEACH method of trauma informed programming in the local church. You will learn the seven components of trauma informed teaching. Using mindfulness practices where they meet spiritual practices, teams will work together to design a class, program, or project that holds space to be an ideal context to welcome transformative learning.
Trauma informed practices are vital to emotional and social hospitality for a post-covid-church. Hear how these practices have been implemented. Try these practices out with equity sharing protocols and a template for easy use. Wonder how these practices can serve your church as we “lead with love for beginnings, presence, inclusion, harmony, creativity, compassion, collaboration, playfulness, gratitude, communication, social justice, and inspiration” (BreatheforChange values, breatheforchange.org). These practices and principles can be used for in person and on-line gatherings.

Memphis was the site of one of the longest running and most consequential church kneel-in campaigns of the 1960s. From March 1964 to January 1965 racially mixed groups of young people attempted unsuccessfully to enter Second Presbyterian Church for worship. Resistance to their efforts led to national media coverage, pressure on administrators at the local church-related college where many of the protestors were enrolled, a denominational decision to move the site of the 1965 General Assembly, and a church split. This presentation tells the story of the Memphis kneel-ins based on contemporary press reports, church documents, and interviews with those involved.

Calvary Episcopal Church in downtown Memphis is now into its 102nd year of offering its Lenten Preaching Series to the community and world. The series has attracted internationally acclaimed preachers, poets, writers, and scholars including Marcus Borg, Barbara Brown Taylor, James Lawson, Brian McLaren, and Padraig O’ Tuama. Over the years, it has added an in-house dining ministry called “The Waffle Shop” and a pop-up bookstore. The series now includes a live conversational podcast with speakers on Wednesday nights. The Reverend Paul McLain, associate rector of Calvary, will share the colorful history and year-round planning process of this amazing series!

What does it look like to be a helpful, loving presence with children and families whose lives are marked by serious illness, death, and other significant losses? This workshop will explore ways to accompany families living through their highest levels of pain and distress. The workshop will introduce a model for walking alongside families in such times and identify key factors to consider when planning meaningful ministry with them.

For many congregations, the “traditional” Sunday school of our childhoods is a thing of the past. Today, churches are doing Sunday School in a myriad of different ways and the choices can be overwhelming! In this workshop, we’ll look at current Sunday school trends for children and youth, rundown a list of popular models and curriculum options, and discuss some things to consider when choosing what will work best in your context. (*This workshop is not a sponsorship for any particular curriculum or publisher.)

The adolescent mental health crisis has been at the forefront of national conversation, yet it continues to plague our local communities and congregations. The church has a unique opportunity to address the adolescent mental health crisis by allowing and equipping youth to rest in their identity as beloved children of God. Yet, how can the church resist the temptation to perpetuate the toxic cycle of achievement that runs rampant in our culture? How do we as pastors and educators cultivate hope in our young people as they navigate the world? How can we equip young people with Christian practices that will ground them during life’s chaotic moments? Join us as we build our mental health toolbox, exploring techniques and practices that we can bring home and share with anyone in the church who is passionate about the lifelong faith formation and flourishing of young people.

This workshop is designed to explore this and other important questions by demystifying A.I., exploring both its practical uses and the ethical considerations it brings to our faith communities. You’ll learn about generative A.I. programs like ChatGPT, understand their capabilities, and discuss how these technologies can be harnessed to enhance your ministry. In the first part of the class, we’ll break down how generative A.I. works, what it can do, and its potential applications in your daily ministry tasks. The second half will focus on our collective response as faith leaders—how can we ethically and effectively integrate A.I. into our work while staying true to our values as faith leaders?
This workshop will be a blend of lecture, lively conversation, and hands-on praxis, allowing you to experiment with generative A.I. tools and reflect on their role in your ministry. Whether you’re tech-savvy or just curious, this session will provide valuable insights and practical skills to help you navigate the digital landscape with confidence and faith. Come ready to explore, discuss, and discover how generative A.I. may become a meaningful part of your ministry toolkit.

Interact with members of APCE’s Strategic Planning Task Force and Implementation Team who have created new strategies and a new structure with the goal of ensuring that APCE remains vibrant, relevant and useful into the future. Discover how this new plan will provide support for you in your role as a leader in faith formation. Be inspired to become involved in one of the new Mission Teams. May your soul be stirred by what lies ahead!

Is your Sunday School hour for children and families thriving or dying? How involved and enthusiastic are your children and families about your regular worship services? During COVID, we took the opportunity for change to begin a new program that would reach more children and families who wanted to be together on Sunday mornings. Family Worship is first and foremost child and parent friendly. That means the worship content is developmentally appropriate for all ages, specifically focusing on younger children. This is a service where all are welcome and children feel free to move about and parents do not feel judged. Children and parents engage in the liturgy through singing, prayers, retelling scripture, storytelling, sacraments, sensory activities, and a fellowship time with a snack. The worship moves through fun-loving and relaxed tones to thoughtful and deep moments. Come and experience a Family Worship service and learn how to incorporate into your own faith formation and worship contexts.

“A Telos for Diverse Worship” explores the concept of telos, or purpose, within the context of diverse worship practices. It delves into the idea that worship serves as a means of expressing and embodying the ultimate purpose or goal of the Christian faith. Participants engage in discussions and reflections on how diverse worship practices can contribute to the fulfillment of this telos, embracing the richness of various cultural, linguistic, and musical expressions in worship. By embracing Revelation 7:9 and Through practical insights and theological reflections, the workshop aims to inspire participants to cultivate inclusive and meaningful worship experiences that reflect the diversity of God’s people and contribute to the flourishing of Christian community.

The Godly Play Foundation is engaged in a multi-faceted initiative to inspire brave spaces so that every child who comes close to Godly Play encounters a felt sense of their inherent worth and dignity as uniquely and fully created in God’s image (Beloved Me) and co-creates a way of being and inspiring and inclusive communities which celebrate the diversity of God and God’s creation (Beloved We). This workshop will introduce the process we have used to carry out this vision on both a macro-level (organizationally) and micro-level (auditing our lessons and materials for implicit bias). We will include some Godly Play storytelling so participants can experience first-hand some of the new language and materials that have been developed as part of this process. In addition, we will share the work that has taken place to date and tips for how to update your own Godly Play materials (or any other curriculum you may be using at this time) to reflect the diversity of God’s creation.

Sometimes our souls hunger for nurture in solitude. But often we are nurtured in our lives of faith in community. Come prepare your heart, mind and soul with an interactive art experience. Visio Divina is a spiritual practice of sacred seeing. It invites us to see with our hands, our eyes and our spirits what God is saying to us, what God invites us to be doing in this world. Our souls are quenched, our thirsts are satisfied when we spend time with biblical texts, engaging texts with our heads, our hearts and our creative spirits. In this workshop you’ll have a chance to sit with and respond to music, poetry, and biblical texts using a variety of materials including fiber, paper, paint, beading, stitching, and simple weaving. Yes, you should come if your soul is parched. Yes, you should come if your soul needs nourishment so you can nourish others during Lent. Yes, you should come if getting messy and creative with art is what you love.

Over the last two decades, new research methods have enabled child development experts to reconsider their assumptions about how children grow and learn. They’ve discovered that many of the universal stage theories we’ve taken for granted underestimate the capabilities of children and devalue their ways of exploring and interpreting the world. This means simple linear charts outlining ages and stages according to Piaget, Erikson, Kohlberg, Fowler, and others are no longer reliable accounts of children’s engagement in faith formation. Come explore the world of new developmental theories and their implications for nurturing children’s spirituality. Learn to recalibrate your thinking about developmental tasks and milestones so that you can better support children’s faith journeys. Imagine new approaches to teaching religious stories, ideas, and practices that lean into children’s unexpected abilities. Together, we’ll create new developmental frameworks to guide religious education in congregational settings and at home.

This workshop is an invitation to explore how your congregation can welcome neurodivergent children and support their families. You will learn about neurodiversity and gain awareness of how the needs of neurodiverse and neurotypical children differ in congregational life. Participants will leave the workshop with practical advice, tips, and “tools in their faith formation toolkit” to include neurotypical and neurodivergent children in worship, faith formation activities, and congregational life.

Generational theory provides valuable insights into understanding the diverse perspectives and unique characteristics of different age groups. Within the church community, we have the remarkable opportunity to engage with all six living generations. This workshop will explore the characteristics of Gen Z (born 1995-2012); what makes them tick, what worries them, and what they are seeking in today’s world. In the workshop, we will reflect on how insights from generational theory can inform our approach to being a welcoming and relevant church community for Gen Z.

What started out as an experiment, turned into a dynamic community at Weldon Valley Presbyterian Church in Colorado, fostering spiritual growth and connection between the different generations.  Through fellowship and creative exploration of the Bible’s teachings-participants engage in journaling; blending artistic expression and thoughtful reflection. The diverse range of ages (age 11-90) fosters a unique exchange of perspectives and wisdom.  This group has emerged as a vibrant tapestry where the threads of faith, art and fellowship weave a richer understanding of God’s word.  The design of the overall program will be shared along with an opportunity to experience a shortened version of the activity along with ideas on how to adopt this to your ministry.

Are you wondering if there is such a thing as a work – life balance in youth ministry? Burn-out and turnover is high in youth ministry positions, which is bad for youth workers and the congregations they serve. The health of those entrusted with guiding and nurturing the youth of our congregations directly impacts the overall health and vibrancy of church communities. The Presbyterian Youth Workers Association (PYWA) maintains that Healthy Youth Workers = Healthy Churches. That premise helps us understand that the pursuit of a healthy ministry becomes not only a personal endeavor, but also a communal responsibility. Join us for an empowering session where we’ll unpack five essential pillars of healthy youth ministry…

Healthy Advocacy: Discover how (and what) to advocate for job benefits tailored to the unique needs of youth workers, and how that can enhance retention, morale, and effectiveness in ministry.

Healthy Boundaries: Learn effective techniques for establishing boundaries between work and personal life, preventing burnout, and sustaining long-term passion for serving youth.

Healthy Schedules: Develop strategies for crafting balanced schedules that prioritize ministry commitments and personal well-being, ensuring that youth workers are operating at their fullest potential.

Healthy Spirit: Create space for spiritual practices and a rich faith life beyond work, enabling youth workers to approach ministry with wholeness, authenticity, and resilience.

Healthy Community: Cultivate supportive relationships and promote vitality beyond our congregations, providing a healthy outlet outside of the church community.

This workshop is intended for BOTH youth workers and those in ministry with youth workers.

Presbyterian pastor and TV personality Fred Rogers welcomed everyone into his neighborhood and modeled the importance of seeing ourselves and others, listening to ourselves and others, accepting ourselves and others, loving ourselves and others.  These are the basics for creating a positive community.  How do we, as people of faith like Fred Rogers, grow, learn, and model peace for our communities and families?  In this interactive workshop with activity and conversation, we will take time together to consider the importance of self-worth, curiosity, listening, trust, play, and solitude and then how to incorporate practices into our everyday faith, community and household life.

In the aftermath of Congress’s 1994 decision to make incarcerated students ineligible for federal Pell grants, most post-secondary education programs in American prisons came to an end. With the restoration of Pell rights for incarcerated students in 2020, college-in-prison programs have begun to flourish again. This presentation highlights Rhodes College’s efforts to make liberal arts education available to incarcerated women in Tennessee by establishing a Liberal Arts in Prison Program, through which 75 women have earned over 700 Rhodes credits since 2019.

This workshop will help church leaders plan, organize and prepare the policies and practices that create camps, conferences, retreats and regular gatherings that are truly and authentically inclusive and fun for youth of all gender identities and sexual orientations. We’ll explore the theology of authentic welcome, examine particular policies, and share creative ideas for both fun and faithfulness. We’ll answer thorny questions about restrooms and sleeping arrangements, offer help navigating parental concerns, and have time for sharing questions and ideas from participants’ own experiences. (This workshop emerges from an APCE-sponsored class on LGBTQIA+ youth ministry offered online in 2023.)