ADVOCATE
Planning For Online Children’s Sunday School This Fall – Curriculum Update
by Tori Smit What will we teach this fall? For many of our churches, thinking creatively about how and what our Sunday schools will be teaching this fall as we go online, over Zoom, or become parent-led is a huge and overwhelming concern. As each of us begins to look...
The Role of Advocacy for Educators in the PCUSA
Once upon a time, emboldened by 19 years in educational ministry in tiny to very large churches and a whole lot of APCE meetings, a Certified Christian Educator in the PC (U.S.A.) was appointed to the “Workgroup on the Role and Status of Christian Educators.” Two...
Our Stories in God’s Story
by Sharon Warkentin Short The need to make sense of our lives seems to be a fundamental human drive. We all do it by interpreting our individual experiences in light of some larger controlling story. The “small stories” of our everyday lives take on whatever meaning...
Hearing From Our Youth During COVID-19
by Christy Williams A youth worker’s spring and summer are traditionally filled with planning meetings, permission form retrieval, special gatherings, conferences, camps, and mission trips. During this spring and summer, in the midst of a global pandemic when churches...
How We Began: The History of TAUPCE (The Association of United Presbyterian Christian Educators)
In a previous blogpost, our readers were introduced to the story of the great cloud of faithful witnesses at work in the Association of Christian Educators (ACE), one of APCE’s predecessor organizations. Yet the history of those faithful witnesses is only part of the...
How We Began: The Story of the ACE (Association of Christian Educators)
When the 50th Anniversary Team began its work and chose its theme, Circles of Faith: Fifty Years and Beyond—Connecting, Enriching, Empowering, Sustaining, we could hardly have imagined just how challenging a time was on the horizon. But in the midst of planning for...
Permission Granted for Self-Care
by Kathy L. Dawson I have been observing the amazing work of educators for many years now. What I have seen is people who are creative and resilient in the face of change. In this time, we have been on a steep learning curve regarding online ways of continuing and...
Leaning Out, Letting Go
By Kathy L. Dawson As educators, we know that there are certain times in the liturgical year that are busier than others. The cycle of Lent to Holy Week to Easter to Pentecost tends to be one of those periods of intense activity and for good reason, as this is the...
What Will You Offer This Summer?
by Beth Herrinton-Hodge Standing on the edge of summer, while many of our churches have not returned to “in person” gatherings, we continue to wrestle with questions about engaging with our families, children, and church communities. Many “tried and true” activities...
That One Big Breath
by Kevin Cartee One big breath. Every Camp Director knows it’s coming. Works for it. Waits for it. Longs to breathe that one breath that comes at the end of the summer camp season. It’s breathed deeply as the last campfire song of the season fades, and summer staff...