wfn.org | It's a Whole New World out There

[PCUSA NEWS <pcusa.news@ecunet.org>]

9-February-2000 
00061 
 
    It's a Whole New World out There 
 
    APCE participants talk about innovative educational ministries 
 
    by Jerry L. Van Marter 
 
HOUSTON - "If we wait for the right tomorrow, we'll probably miss life 
today." 
 
    The Rev. Angela Ying, associate executive for Seattle Presbytery, urged 
the nearly 1,000 participants in the 2000 conference of the Association of 
Presbyterian Church Educators (APCE) to follow that paraphrased message 
from Paul to the Romans as they conduct the educational ministry of the 
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). 
 
    Using Romans 13:8-12 - from which the conference theme, "Wake up! The 
hour is here" was taken - Ying reminded APCE participants that Paul spoke 
with a sense of urgency.  "Now means now, not later," she said. 
 
    "The spirit is in us," Ying continued.  "Let it break out and break 
open in our living."  Living authentic Christian lives, she said, "lies not 
in knowing the answers but in being willing to live faithfully amid the 
complexities." 
 
    The Presbyterian News Service interviewed numerous APCE participants, 
who in their ministries, have heeded Ying's call.  These are some of those 
stories: 
 
                    Conyers (Ga.) Presbyterian Church: 
                        Healing a broken school 
 
    "If you're involved in anything at all in Conyers, you know everybody," 
said Georgia Conner, a church educator and youth minister at Conyers 
Presbyterian Church. 
 
    So on May 20, 1999, when the most recent school shooting in the U.S. 
tore apart Heritage High School, the entire community was devastated.  As 
Presbyterians in Conyers gathered in the aftermath of the shooting, "one 
thing stuck," Conner recalled, "and that is that some of the best healing 
occurs when kids can get together and sort it all out themselves." 
 
    As she talked with Heritage students in the couple of days immediately 
after the shooting, Conner said, "God just put an idea in my head."  Told 
by one Presbyterian Heritage student that she had felt robbed of the end of 
the school year and things like getting her yearbook signed by friends at 
school, Conner responded by floating the idea of having a picnic on the 
grounds of another Presbyterian church in Conyers, where Heritage students 
could gather, sign yearbooks and "have a time of healing." 
 
    Students from Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., had called to 
see if they could help.  Conner invited them to the picnic.  Delta Air 
Lines heard about the event and offered free plane tickets to the Columbine 
students.  A local caterer volunteered to donate enough food and drink for 
the gathering.  Nearly every church in Conyers passed out flyers for the 
gathering on Sunday morning.  All this within 72 hours of the tragedy. 
 
    And so, less than two weeks after the horrific shooting, the students 
of Heritage High and the whole community of Conyers "had a really neat time 
of healing," said Conner.  And the friendship has continued, soon a group 
from Heritage is flying to Littleton to support the healing that is still 
going on at Columbine.  They will be joined by students from Jonesboro, 
Ark. - where another school shooting occurred - for a "Summit of the 
Schools" to "focus on the future and determine what these kids can do to 
help other kids, because shootings like these seem to be inevitable," 
Conner said. 
 
                Second Presbyterian Church, Norfolk, Va.: 
                         Sunday school rebirth 
 
    The problem is not new - a medium-sized (250 members) church with a 
small Sunday school, staffed by a dwindling core of increasingly dispirited 
teachers and attended by mostly disinterested kids. 
 
    But at Second Church, a resurrection has occurred, said Virginia 
Armstrong, a Christian educator now in her third year at the church.  Last 
fall, Second Church's Sunday school moved to a rotation model - based on 
"learning centers" rather than traditional age-based classes. 
 
    Three Sundays a month, three "centers" are set up: "Bible Challenge" (a 
quiz show like activity), "Faith.Com" (religious computer activities) and 
"Creation Station" (contemporary arts and crafts).  "The kids are really 
excited," Armstrong said, "but what's really interesting is the impact of 
this model on the adults.  They are so turned on and there's so much 
excitement.  It has created a whole new sense of community." 
 
    Armstrong said the church's pastor, the Rev. Steven Frazier, has been 
preaching on finding spiritual gifts "and this has given all these adults a 
perfect example of what that means - they can use their gifts of drama, 
computers and story-telling and don't have to be controlled by someone 
else's curriculum." 
 
    The models have even begun to appeal to older kids, the 12-18-year-olds 
"who haven't been coming at all," Conner said.  And as kids become more 
involved in Sunday school, she added, "they've gotten more involved in 
worship and the mission of the church, too." 
 
                Sunrise Presbyterian Church, Salina, Kan.: 
                      Let us break bread together 
 
    Cottage dinners are not new in Presbyterian churches around the 
denomination. 
 
    At the 500-member Sunrise Church, they have become an educational high 
point of the congregation's Lenten celebration, according to the Rev. Don 
Schroeder, the church's pastor. 
 
    At Sunrise, Lenten cottage dinners - which typically involve anywhere 
from eight to fifteen church members - include a period of Bible study and 
theologically reflection.  The study is based on the lectionary readings 
and Schroeder's sermons so that "the fellowship life, the devotional life 
and the worship life of the congregation all ties together." 
 
    Nearly a quarter of the congregation participated last Lent and 
Schroeder expects that number to increase this year.  "It has also," he 
added, "served to reclaim the role of pastor as teacher for this 
congregation." 
 
                Trinity Presbyterian Church, Arlington, Va.: 
                       "M & M" (Music and Mission) 
 
    Trinity Church has always been mission-minded, said Mary Marcotte, the 
congregation's Christian education staff person.  "But it has always been 
too focused on adults writing checks and kids not being involved at all." 
 
    So the Trinity Church has begun a monthly program for elementary 
children called "M & M," which stands for "Music and Mission."  First the 
children spend an hour learning songs - camp songs and praise music. 
 
    Then they all sit down and put together 200 sack lunches for homeless 
persons in the community.  The program has now expanded - the kids produce 
party favors and table decorations for a local hospice and senior citizens 
residence, as well as the local hospital. 
 
    While the kids work on their project, Marcotte said, adults are there 
"as a presence to help the kids talk about issues and how they can take 
their faith into everyday life." 
 
    The program has led to much greater cooperation at Trinity Church, 
Marcotte said.  "There's no more arguments about program versus mission and 
our church has become much more intergenerational - people of all ages want 
to come be part of `M & M.'" 
 
                First Presbyterian Church, Highland, Ind.: 
                          Figuring it all out 
 
    Transitional times between pastorates can be traumatic.  They can also 
be times of creative thinking about the life and ministry of a 
congregation.  At First Church the latter appears to be the case, said the 
Rev. Stephen Kolderup, who has been interim pastor of First Church since 
last September. 
 
    The previous pastorate was a lengthy 25 years and the church's 
Christian educator left the staff when the pastor retired.  "They're [the 
church's members] are having to figure some stuff out for themselves, and 
that's fine," Kolderup said. 
 
    During a transition, especially the transition after a long pastorate, 
Kolderup said, "We should want to step back and ask about our ministry: 
`Who's it for? What do we want to do? How should we go about it?'" He said 
he's encouraging the church's leaders to "start over rather than continuing 
to shore up what they have always done." 
 
    And there is healthy receptivity, he added.  Christian education has 
historically been a broadly-graded "one room schoolhouse."  Kolderup 
suggested that the Christian education committee look at the new PC(USA) 
"Covenant People" curriculum and "they said fine!" 
 
    It really helps, Kolderup said, that there are professional teachers on 
First Church's Christian education committee.  "I know what I want 
theologically, but only the teachers know if this stuff will work." 

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