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Connecting our Conversations

Author: The Presbytery of Southern New England

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Connecting our Conversations is hosted by the Presbytery of Southern New England, a regional governing body in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). This is our space for conversations that push the edges of our faith and help us deepen discipleship. 

20 Episodes
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Won't you bee my neighbor? 🐝 At First Presbyterian Church of Stamford, CT, more commonly known as the Fish Church, bees truly are neighbors! In this episode of Connecting our Conversations, Rev. Dr. Shannan Vance Ocampo chats with Rev. Shelley Donaldson, Associate Pastor at First Pres in Stamford, and with John Bitner, who has been a member for 30 years and served as a deacon and elder. Shelley and John share how they transformed an old garden bed into 5 hives and the variety of t...
In this episode of Connecting our Conversations, Rev. Dr. Shannan Vance-Ocampo speaks with Rev. Ben Bond (Faith Inclusion and Belonging Associate at RespectAbility) and our Communications Manager Katie Grosh, about disability and church communities. Ben shared tips about how to be more accessible and welcoming in your congregational communities, including giving visual descriptions, attending to a variety of physical and sensory needs, and shifting attitudes. Ben also gave a Disability 101 ov...
In this episode of Connecting our Conversations, Rev. Shannan Vance-Ocampo speaks with Christian educators and pastors in our Presbytery who attended the recent Association of Partners in Christian Education (APCE) conference in St. Louis Missouri. Tara Church, Patrick Notley, Karen Hammond, and Mark Montgomery all share their takeaways from the conference and what the future of Christian Education holds.Featured on this episode:- Tara Church, Director of Children's Ministry at First Presbyte...
The church is changing. Wilton Presbyterian Church is thriving with innovative staffing and programming! In this episode of Connecting our Conversations, the Rev. Shannan Vance-Ocampo talks with Wilton Presbyterian Church's triple-pastor team:Rev. Jessica Jones - Co-Pastor, Pastoral Care and EducationRev. Chris Tate - Co-Pastor, Outreach and TechnologyRev. Mark Montgomery - Co-Pastor, AdministrationGet to know each of them, and how they work together in this unique model of church leadership....
Get to know our PSNE Moderators! In this episode of Connecting our Conversations, Rev. Shannan Vance-Ocampo interviews our Moderator, Rev. Kevin White, and our Vice Moderator, Rev. Dallas Bradel. Especially as our stated meetings are online this year, it's important to have opportunities to get to know one another in different ways. This is both an introduction to Kevin and Dallas, as well as a behind-the-scenes look into what the job of Moderator / Vice Moderator is like! Connecting our...
Connecting our Conversations is hosted by the Presbytery of Southern New England, a regional governing body in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). This is our space for conversations that push the edges of our faith and help us deepen discipleship. Today, Shannan Vance-Ocampo speaks with Bruce Reyes-Chow about his new book, Everything Good about God is True: Choosing Faith.In this primer on progressive, expansive, generous Christianity, writer and pastor Bruce Reyes-Chow offers his own "faith m...
Friday December 1st is World AIDS Day, but HIV and AIDS is something that Rev. John Merz thinks about everyday. John is the CEO at Advancing CT Together (ACT), which addresses the root causes of poverty, addiction and health inequities through strength-based services and advocacy to ensure all people in Connecticut have equitable resources necessary to achieve multi-generational health, wealth and happiness. Learn more at these links below:Why Congress Must Reauthorize A Life-Saving Program t...
How can we work in our churches and communities to address systemic poverty? Rev. Shannan Vance-Ocampo talks with Rev. Dr. Alonzo Johnson (Coordinator at SDOP), Juliet Owuor (Young Adult Volunteer at SDOP), Keyarra Johnson and Jazz Kearse (Jubilee Arts: Youth in Business), about the mission and impact of Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People (SDOP).Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People is a ministry that affirms God’s concern for humankind. We are P...
In this episode of Connecting our Conversations, Rev. Shannan Vance Ocampo speaks with Rev. Julie Emery about an exciting summer sermon series: The Gospel According to Ted Lasso. Rev. Julie joined Westminster Presbyterian as lead Minister in 2014. She brings creativity and a passion for inclusive worship and preaching and a heart for social justice. Julie grew up in Michigan and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Religion from the University of Michigan. She received her Master o...
In this "pivot moment" in the life of the church in the United States, where what it means to be The Church and to live out a Christian faith is constantly being questioned, our Presbytery is leaning in to our ongoing antiracism and equity work of discernment - how are we currently structured? How has our church been coopted into systems of injustice and sin? If we are by nature a cooperative group, how can we in our work together speak the same language of antiracism?In this first episode of...
Content Warning: This podcast discusses suicide and suicidal ideation, and some people might find it disturbing. If you or someone you know is suicidal, please, contact your physician, go to your local ER, or call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255), or message the Crisis Text Line at 741741. Both programs provide free, confidential support 24/7----Members of Presbyterian Promise have a conversation about LGBTQIA Youth in our communities and the unique role the chu...
PSNE's the Rev. Anne Weirich has been leading groups to the Holy Land for years...but this Feburary 2022 trip was the first since the Covid-19 pandemic. Communication Manager (and fellow Holy Land pilgrim), Erika Plank Hagan, talks with the Rev. Anne Weirich, the Rev. Carol Howard Meritt, and Greg Botting about their recent trip: surprises, renewal, and the connections (and the food!) that they brought back with them.
PSNE's the Rev. Dr. Tracy Mehr-Muska, Minister for Mid and Later Life at Asylum Hill Congregational Church in Hartford, CT and author of Weathering The Storm: Simple Strategies for Being Peaceful and Prepared, talks about her work in researching and teaching Resiliency - and how it's not something we're born with but characteristics we can cultivate. How are we as faith communities uniquely situated to be resilient and nurture resiliency?
Recorded in December of 2021 as the Omicron variant of Covid-19 was surging in New England, the Rev. Mieke Vandersall and Matt Beams share about the strange blessings of the pandemic and their worshipping community, Not So Churchy, whose participation has nearly doubled as they shifted to a virtual community, welcoming people from all over the country. How did the Queering of Things inform how this community navigates the pandemic? What does it mean to Queer the Church? Let's find out: ...
Advent is a season of waiting, of darkness, of anticipation. In this Advent season of 2021, PSNE Communications Manager, Erika Plank Hagan, talks with the Rev Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery, Pastor of Martin Luther King Jr. Community Church in Springfield, MA, near the one-year anniversary of the hate crime where their building was destroyed in a fire, and about how that community is looking forward and not backward to their new ministry in the world.As our church moves into 2022 after two years of ...
Presbyterian clergy are ordained to a call - a vocational calling. PSNE Communications Manager, Erika Plank Hagan, talks with three of our Presbytery's newest ordained clergy, the Rev. Dale Green, the Rev. Jessica Jones, and the Rev. Grace Woodward, on their calls to chaplaincy during the Covid-19 pandemic and its fallout.How has God prepared us for *this* moment? What can we learn from ministering to the sick and vulnerable and those who care for them, and can we apply any of it to our...
PSNE Communications Manager, Erika Plank Hagan, talks with the Rev. Kevin White and Elder Nancy Boyd about the recent celebration of Calvin Presbyterian's 50th anniversary - made more complicated by Covid - and how the church's beginnings as two churches pivoting to become one church perhaps informs where we are now, pivoting into a post-Covid church world.
A June 2, 2020 conversation with Jessica Vazquez-Torres of Crossroads Anti-Racism Training and Organizing about the why behind our summer book group, our anti-racism work as a Presbytery and what our explorations will and can be this summer.
Season 2, Episode 2: No Justice No Peace - Confessional Interactive Art at FPC New Haven.PSNE Communications Manager, Erika Plank Hagan, talks with the Rev. J.C. Cadwallader, Pastor and Head of Staff at First Presbyterian Church, New Haven.When it became apparent that FPC New Haven wouldn’t be worshipping together at the church Fall 2020 due to the continued spread of coronavirus, leadership began thinking about how they could use their space to share their faith. This moment coincided with t...
Our two Presbytery Commissioners to the 224th General Assembly, Walter Manual and Jenny Peek, hosted a Zoom conversation about the Assembly and some of its actions. They were also joined by PSNE Stated Clerk, David Baer, and Shannan Vance-Ocampo and Tom McNeill from our Presbytery who were corresponding members and resource persons to the Assembly. Anthony Trujillo, a good friend of our Presbytery, who is under care of the Presbytery of NYC is on the national PCUSA Native American Coord...
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