Virtual Sunday School

For the last year and a half we have had an adult Sunday school class focused on current events at Third Presbyterian Church. In January the opportunity came up for our current events class to join the other adult Sunday School class in its new study. While many in the current events class were in favor of joining the other class, they really enjoyed the current events discussion and did not want to lose those conversations. As we discussed different options for continuing our current events discussions, we came up with the idea of having a virtual Sunday school class. While we no longer have a current events class that physically meets together on Sunday mornings our discussions are continuing by blog. The current topic is emailed out to class members each Thursday afternoon. After reading the article class members are encouraged to go to the blog and post their thoughts. Now instead of having Sunday school available one hour a week, it is available 24-7.
Technology is playing a larger role in our society every day. However, many of our congregations utilize very little technology in worship and programming. What role, if any, do you think technology should have in the church today? What are the pros and cons of offering things like virtual Sunday School classes? In what ways could technology be used to better meet the spiritual needs of all the generations served by the church today? I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

New Calvin Video

Just finished viewing the new video John Calvin His Life and Legacy, produced by Witherspoon Press and distributed through the Presbyterian Distribution Service (http://www.pcusa.org/marketplace/item.list.jsp), and I highly recommend it. It features a number of scholars and pastors from several traditions and institutions talking with great animation about Calvin's impact on his world and ours. Well worth adding to your church's library.

Confirmation

I'm looking for some help with Confirmation resources.

This fall I'll be leading a joint Confirmation class of 7th and 8th graders. Since Westside is a union church (PCUSA/UCC) I don't want to use denominational materials. What experience has everyone had with, for example, the Logos Confirmation materials?

And while we're on the subject of Confirmation: I've always been an advocate of a fairly short-term (8-10 week) Confirmation program, but both Vail and Westside had been running two-year programs. I did a one-year program in 2007-2008 and was pretty happy with it. What philosophies are out there in PHP?

Thank You

Thank you to Westlawn Presbyterian Church for hosting the February 7, 2009 Presbytery meeting.

Mission Trips

With all the snow on the ground it is hard to think about summer, but summer will be here before we know it and many of our churches will head out on youth and adult mission trips. Please share your mission trip experiences with us. What was the greatest mission trip your church every took? Why? For a church looking for a mission trip what sites can you recommend. Where are you going on your mission trip this summer? Do you have room for people from other churches to join your group?