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Vermont
Conference, UCC
Christian Education (CE)
E-LINK
December, 2009
Vol. 1, No. 2
For Pastors -
Christian Educators - Teachers - Superintendents -
Youth
Leaders - Parents
All Who Care About Our Kids and Our Youth
and Our Adults
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Greetings!
If
worship is the heartbeat of a congregation, then Christian
Education is the church's soul - and together worship and
education cause hands and feet and voices to reach out and
help build God's Kingdom here on earth.
WANTED:
INFORMATION
Who
is the person in your church who is responsible for Christian
Education? Who is our Conference Contact
person? For some of our churches we have a long
list of persons who may or may not still have any connection
with Christian Education - members of CE Committees, teachers,
superintendents, paid and unpaid CE staff. For some of
our churches we have the name of the curriculum resources
which are being used. And for some of our churches we
have no information at all!
Please email me at lucasp@vtcucc.org with:
-The
names, position and contact information for your Church
Educator and Youth Coordinator; and
-The
Curriculum resources you are using; and
-Subjects,
resources, themes, ideas, questions you would like to see
addressed in this Newsletter.
This
will be helpful as the Department of Christian Education seeks
the best ways to support and empower your local church in this
ministry of Christian Education.
Pam
Rev.
Pam Lucas
Associate
Conference
Minister
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 O
Come All Ye Faithful!
To the
Christian Education Communities of
Practice!
In early 2010 there will be four
Christian Education Communities of Practice forming in
the four quadrants of the Vermont Conference.
The Vermont Conference wants to nurture and
enable our local Church Educators with collegial support
and professional development, with resources and sharing
of ideas, with safe space to problem solve and sacred
space to feed their souls.
Our prayer is that
these communities will covenant to meet every four to
six weeks for the above reasons. Each Community
will be facilitated by a Facilitator/Partner in
Education. Our prayer is that we will keep
discovering the "still more excellent ways" we might
help people of all ages to grow in faith, in hope and in
love.
Look for your invitation!
(Which is the
reason we want to know who to contact in your
church.)
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Multiple Intelligences:
Understanding the Many Ways We Learn
Free Teaching Tool
The Thoughtful Christian
has released a free teaching tool entitled "Multiple Intelligences:
Understanding the Many Ways We Learn" that
describes how understanding the concept of multiple
intelligences can unlock your ability to teach all types
of people. Click here to
access.
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The
Whys & Whats of Christian Education Curriculum over
the past 60 years
A Seasoned
Church Educator Remembers...
A Turning Point for
Curriculum:
How Did We Get
Here and Where Are We Going? by Rev. Frank
ProctorThroughout the twentieth century, a number of
trends in curriculum resources made their way into our
churches. Each time a curriculum resource was about to
retire or was in need of being revised, a new approach
to Christian education came into play. That moment led
to a
rethinking of the underlying educational and
theological theories in shaping a new product. Let's
review a few of those basic principles and the
curriculum materials that grew out of the corresponding
theories:
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Children
and the Emerging Church
by Rev. Dr. Ivy
Beckwith
Get a taste of NEAUCE (New England Association
of United
Church  Educators) and read this
article by Ivy
Beckwith who is scheduled to be the Keynote
speaker at this spring gathering of Christian Educators
from around New England:
There is a
lot of buzz in the church world these days about
emerging churches and what it means to be an emerging
church. The challenge in making sense of all this
conversation is how to define these slippery terms
because they mean different things to different groups
of people. For some, to be emerging is to change one's
way of doing church but not change the essential message
of the church. For others, to be emerging means both
changing the message and the method. And then there are
a large number of people who fall in between those two
broader definitions. Despite the wrangling over what it
really means to be emergent, this entire conversation
has opened the door to meaningful discussions about how
the church facilitates the spiritual formation of its
participants, including children.
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Vermont
Conference Resource Center
Teaching
Resources
Help! I Teach Children's
Sunday School
by B. Max Price
A
teacher in a Sunday school program is a valuable asset
in a child's spiritual formation. Much of what they do
lays the foundation for a child's growth in the
Christian faith and life. They are a vital resource to
children and their parents. What they do during this
crucial Sunday morning time truly matters. This book is
an aid book for these special teachers of infants
through sixth graders. This guidebook to teaching
excellence in the Sunday school will be a help to
beginning and experienced teachers alike.
~~~~~
Teaching
Today's Teachers to Teach by Donald L. Griggs
This book is a basic, comprehensive manual
offering practical guidance that helps teachers learn
the art and practice of teaching. Throughout the book,
the author identifies the basic elements of the teaching
process and outlines the essential ingredients needed
for effective teaching. A revision of a standard
resource for classes and seminary courses in Christian
education.
To borrow either of these titles,
email: resource.center@vtcucc.org
or call 802-728-4999.
Sybil McShane,
Communications and Resource Coordinator
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Christian
Education Events
For Clergy . .
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 Woodbury Leadership Workshop 2010:
Emerging Leadership for an Emerging
World
When: Thursday,
February 4, 2010 - Friday, February 5,
2010
Where: Andover Newton
Theological School, Newton Centre, MA
Cost: $175 ($160 if
payment is received before December 11,
2009)
Click
here for more information or to register.
 Winter
2010 Seminars - Enroll now in one of Andover Newton's
on-line seminars to grow in your faithfulness and
effectiveness as a leader. You can do it from your own home,
on your own time. 2010 Seminars include:
~Recruiting and Supporting
Volunteers
~Never
Call Them Jerks with Arthur
Paul Boers
~Spiritual Leadership with Graham
Standish
~Helping Congregations Do
Theology with Tony
Robinson
~Using Congregational Stories
to Bring New Meaning to Lent with Charles Olson
~Church Uses of Social Media
with Tony
Jones
For more information and to register go to
the LEARN website at www.ants.edu/learn or contact Jeff Jones,
Director of Distance Learning at jjones@ants.edu.
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For Christian Educators . .
.
 Godly Play Supporting Workshops - The
Parables
When: Saturday, January
9, 2010
Three Locations:
Mystic, CT, Northhampton, MA, Exeter, NH
Time: 9:00 am -
3:00 pm
Click
here for more information or to register.
Click
here for information about other Godly Play Training
opportunities in the Northeast.
 NEAUCE
(New England Association of United Church Educators) 39th
Annual Conference on Christian Education - In the Potter's Hand: Shaping the
Generations with Ivy Beckwith, as she speaks about her
new book, Formational
Children's Ministry.
When: May 4-6,
2010 Where: Craigville
Conference Center Cape Cod, MA
Click
here for a flyer. See the NEAUCE webpage for
updates: http://web.mac.com.ddjb/AUCE_HomePage/New_England.html.
~~~~~
For
Youth . . .
When: June 24-27,
2010
Where: Boston University,
Boston, MA
A weekend filled
with fun, laughter, worship, workshops, music, and making
friends. For High School aged UCC Youth who will be entering
9th grade in Fall 2010 through those who graduated in June
2010. Join hundreds of youth from across New England for this
once in a life time Celebration. Registration materials will
be available after January 15, 2010.
Click
here for the flyer. Please print out and post in your
church and spread the
word.
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