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| Amy Beveridge |
Partners in Education (P.I.E.) built on last year’s popular and successful series of “Stepping Stones” workshops, both by increasing the number of workshops for Christian Educators and including a new series of workshops for youth ministers. Sixty persons registered for the first youth ministry workshop. Although the first snowstorm of the season reduced the number who actually attended to 40, the program, “Youth Culture,” generated energetic discussion. Altogether, over 160 persons attended the eight Youth Ministry and Christian Education workshops between January and April, held at locations from Fairfield to Torrington and Willimantic. The Christian Education programs focused on a variety of subjects, including Children in Worship, Christian Education in Small Membership Churches, and Spiritual Development of Children.
Many of the Partners attended the Regional Meeting for P.I.E. in Framingham and Boston, MA, at the end of March and were introduced to the new curriculum that the United Church of Christ is now offering, Gather ‘Round. Published by Brethren Press and the Mennonite Publishing Network, Gather ‘Round is a Bible storybased approach and will replace Bible Quest, which will be available for only one more program year, 2007-2008. Churches interested in learning more about the new curriculum may call on our Connecticut Partners to guide them through the new material.
The Ruth Dudley Resource Center continues to provide resources on many aspects of local church ministry. New materials are added frequently, and occasional electronic notices and articles in ConnTact advise church leaders of resources they may not have known were available. This year, we have built up our collection of materials that help support family ministries through the congregation and resources that focus on practices of faith.
