ADVOCATE
Leaving the Church
By: Beth Terpstra I'm a young adult, and I've left the church. I guess I should qualify my statement. I haven't left the church. I've left my church, my denomination; the secure structure of Reformed theology that was very formative throughout my childhood. While my...
Making Lifelong Faith Formation a Reality
By: John Roberto Every Christian congregation wants faith formation that helps people grow in their relationship with God throughout their lives; live as disciples of Jesus Christ at home, at work, and in the world; develop an understanding of the Bible and the...
Finishing Well
By: Toni Schaefer People who are experiencing the advent of their own mortality, or that of a loved one, go through a profound experience, a solitary, yet communal one. It is the communal aspect we can affect — all the while realising that this is someone else’s...
The Present of the Church
By: Charles B. Hardwick “We need more children in the pews. After all, children and youth are the future of the church.” If church staffs had a dime for every time they heard a sentiment like this, the Christian education budgets would grow in churches around North...
Family Faith Practices
By: Marilyn Sharpe Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. —Deuteromy 6:6-7 NRSV How do we follow Moses’...
The Gracious Gift of Retirement
By: George Brown Jr. My wife Willa retired at age 63 and now, seven years later, I have retired at age 70. Our experience reflects something of the diversity in expectations for retirement of those engaged in religious vocations. Some years ago at a pre-retirement...
Resources for Forming Faith
By: Mary E. Speedy Faith Formation 4.0: Introducing an Ecology of Faith in a Digital Age, Julie Anne Lytle. Morehouse Publishing, 2013. Using an ecological approach to study how emerging technologies affect individual and communal formation, Faith Formation 4.0 looks...
On a Mission
By: Forrest Palmer “The mission of APCE is to connect—enrich—empower—sustain all persons serving in educational ministry in the Reformed family of churches.” As the gavel is passed from one president to another, the mission of APCE is always lifted up to help provide...
This Journey of Faith
By: Susan Wisseman Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we...
Keep Wrestling and God’s Grace will Seep Out
By: Emily K. Bisset From there [Jesus] set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him,...