Posts Categorized: Creativity

Pentecost: Creating Welcoming Spaces for Youth with Disabilities

Like most kids, Josh Davenport-Herbst has a hard time saying no to his parents, especially when it comes to showing up for stuff at church. But unlike most kids, both of Josh’s parents are PC(USA) pastors and unlike many of his peers, he doesn’t like to be around too many people, loud noises or too… Read more »

Pentecost: More Than We Can Plan

From the day they are born and even before they are born, we are busy making plans for our children. Some of our planning is about the really big things, like the name they will carry or finding the college that will help them fulfill their dreams. Some of our planning is much smaller, like… Read more »

Celebrating the 2022 One Great Hour of Sharing with Our Youth

Engaging the children of your congregation with the four churchwide Special Offerings has never been easier or more important, whether you are engaging them in-person or virtually. There are numerous ways children can connect with One Great Hour of Sharing (OGHS) during the season of Lent, including the ever-popular fish coin banks that often arrive… Read more »

Becoming Flesh

By Rachel Yates We marked each Sunday in our Advent season with God’s promises for hope, peace, joy, and love.  We lit candles at church or in our homes as tangible signs of these promises fulfilled in Jesus Christ. For many of us in Southeast Wisconsin, however, these promises have felt hollow or distant.  Our… Read more »

Celebrating the 2021 Christmas Joy Offering with Our Youth

Engaging the children of your congregation with the four churchwide Special Offerings has never been easier or more important, whether you are engaging them in-person or virtually. There are numerous ways children can connect with the upcoming Christmas Joy Offering, sharing in the joy of the perfect gift, Jesus Christ. This year’s curriculum was written… Read more »

Peace & Global Witness: The Light Shines On

Have you ever felt so far from God’s peace that you couldn’t even imagine it? Natalie Pisarcik testified during Sunday worship in her home congregation, First Presbyterian Church of Boonton, New Jersey, that she was in that place. A place so dark that she was ready to end her pain. Ready to take her own… Read more »

Peace & Global Witness: Seeking Light Through Creative Expression

Beirut’s 2020 port explosions shattered Nada Raphael’s world. The devastating blast that tore through the port area of Beirut — one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history — left hundreds dead, thousands injured, an estimated 300,000 people homeless and artists like Raphael psychically wounded. “Beirut is my city,” said the Lebanese-born photographer, videographer and… Read more »

Is it time to crowdsource the stewardship campaign?

By the Rev. Rosemary C. Mitchell Crowdsourcing existed long before the internet. Of course, we didn’t call it that. In some instances, we called it a miracle. Consider this: What was, for you, the miracle of the Feeding of the 5,000? Was it that Jesus single-handedly fed 5,000 people with two fish and five loaves?… Read more »

Summer Stewardship

By René Myers In the words of Nat King Cole, “Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer.” Summer is upon us, typically a time of respite from normal routines and activities — school, work, church programs. This summer might not be quite so “lazy,” as the world is emerging from pandemic isolation now… Read more »