Members of a General Assembly 222 (2016) special committee created to study the Reformed Perspective of Christian Education in the 21st century led a discussion asking APCE attendees what they would like them to know as they address these questions.

Speaking to attendees at the 2018 gathering of the Association of Presbyterian Church Educators (APCE), the Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II, Stated Clerk of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), assumed the role of cheerleader for educators during today’s opening worship service.

As a mission co-worker and cultural worker in the Philippines, sometimes I am utterly exhausted. There are periods that require quite a bit of travel related to meetings and theater-based trainings for children, youth, church workers, teachers, women and others. When I am in Dumaguete, days sometimes stretch into late evenings for rehearsals with our youth theater group or with Silliman University Divinity School students preparing for the annual church workers convocation. So a few years ago, when asked by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Young Adult Volunteer (YAV) program if my husband, Cobbie, and I would consider reopening the Philippines YAV service site, we pondered, could we? Should we? Could we say no?

Leaders of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) are remembering an anniversary this week, but not one they are happy with. On January 27, 2017, President Donald Trump signed an executive order halting all refugee admissions and temporarily barring people from seven countries that are predominantly Muslim.