The Parish Resource Center presents a variety of workhsops and events during the year. Below is an archived listing of workshops.

"There's Hope For Your Church"

Workshop CANCELLED

Saturday, May 19, 2012

9:00 a.m. - 12 Noon

Leader: Dr. Gary McIntosh

Dr. McIntosh will be here to discuss his NEW BOOK of the same title.

This is THE seminar for churches with declining membership!

Fees: Subs $35  Non-Subs $50

LEARN MORE!

Decision Making for Church Boards

Saturday, April 21, 2012

9 a.m. - 12 Noon

Leader: Dr. Nancy Bieber

The process of making a decision influences the community as surely as the actual decision made.  In this workshop we consider decisions to be opportunities to practice spiritual discernment---the way of attending to divine guidance in our decisions.  We focus on learning ways for reducing conflict by building consensus.  Through presentation and discussion, exercises and examples, leader Nancy Bieber offers practical tools for decision making by church boards though a three-fold approach to spiritual discernment.  

The author of Decision Making & Spiritual Discernment The Sacred Art of Finding Your Way,  Nancy  L. Bieber is a teacher, psychologist, and spiritual director.  She teaches at Oasis Ministries for Spiritual Development and Lancaster Theological Seminary and leads retreats at Pendle Hill Retreat Center and for church groups around the country.  Nancy is a member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quaker) and  lives in Lancaster County (PA) with her husband Larry.  In this workshop, she draws on her experience as clerk (moderator) of her Quaker community and her spiritual discernment work with church leaders.

Nancy invites participants to contact her in advance with situations to use as anonymous teaching examples.

Fees: Subs $20  Non-Subs $35

Church Building EXPO

Saturday, April 14, 2012

8:30 a.m. - 12:00 Noon

Location: (Newly remodeled) Mountville Church of the Brethren

Is your church looking to build or expand its current facilities? Is your chuch up-to-code and handicapped accessible? Join us to meet with builders, architects, engineers, designers, and stewardship program managers to get your project started!

This is a FREE event, but we would like participants to register so we can have plenty of coffee and donuts ready!

Click Here to learn more about the businesses represented and schedule for the morning.

Christian Concepts (or Perspectives) on Heaven and Hell

Saturday, March 31, 2012

Location: Parish Resource Center

9:00 a.m. - 12 noon

Speakers: Fr. Demetrius Nikoloudakis, Pastor of St. Matthew's Orthodox Church and

Rodney Martin, Pastor of Lititz Mennonite Church

Sponsored by the Orthodox/Mennonite Dialogue of Lancaster County

FREE, but please call 717-299-9932 or click here to pre-register.

Lancaster Area Spiritual Directors Gathering

This gathering was cancelled. Keep checking our website, we plan to re-schedule in the fall.

Monday, March 19, 2012

4-6 p.m. Meeting; Book Group 3-4 p.m.

Book - Henri Nouwen's Life of the Beloved

Coordinated by Tracey Marx & Sharon Bitner

Outreach Isn't Optional:

Why Community Ministry is Essential to Your Congregation's Future

Saturday, March 24, 2012

9:00 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.

Leader: Joy Skjegstad

Learn More!

Vienna Boys' Choir Concert

Saturday, March 10, 2012

7:30 p.m.

Have you always wanted to hear the Vienna Boys Choir? Here is your opportunity—in Lancaster! Their program promises rich incredibly beautiful voices which will create a magical night for all who attend.

Tickets are still available in the Orchestra Sections at $42; Loge Sections at $35 and just a sprinkling of single seats in the Mezzanine sections at $28 are still available.
Ticket sales will continue today (Friday, March 9) until 5pm.

After 5pm Friday, tickets will still be available online up until the time of the concert, Saturday, March 10, 7:30pm. Ticket window will open at 6:45pm at HPAC (providing we still have seats available); auditorium doors open at 7pm.
We are depending on our Parish Resource Center friends to help us

FILL THE HOUSE!
Hempfield Performing Arts Center map. All seats in the Performing Arts Center provide an excellent view of the stage. Click here to view the HPAC from the stage.

This is a fundraising benefit for the Parish Resource Center.

If you have problems purchasing tickets online, please call toll free 1-866-967-8167.

Click here to print a March 10 program

Click here to print Program Notes for March 10

Click here to print Manolo Cagnin, Choirmaster, Biography

**Click on the pictures to hear the Vienna Boys Choir.

The Vienna Boys choir is currently touring the United States. Listen to an interview with the conductor and two of the boys:

February 9, 2012-- John Clare speaks with two choristers and Manolo Cagnin, the conductor of the Brucknerchor touring arm of the Vienna Boys Choir. They talk about their beginnings with the organization, what they like to sing, and how they spend their free time.

"Vienna is a beautiful city," Cagnin tells Clare. "And for a musician like me, the opportunity to travel, to do concerts around the world [with this] important choir, [makes me] really proud." From Texas Public Radio

Special Needs Roundtable II

This Workshop Has Been Postponed until Fall, 2012

Monday, April 16, 2012

6:30 - 8:00 p.m.

Levina Huber, PRC Consultant, will facilitate

This is our second roundtable to continue the conversation on how the church is meeting the needs of all people who come through the church door. Several of the agencies that are part of the Lancaster Christian Council on Disability will be sharing with the group. There will be time for questions and reflections. This workshop is FREE, everyone is invited.

Banner Making: A Hands-on Experience

Monday, February 27     6-7:30 pm     Preparation of fabric, transferring design - See what happened!

Monday, March 5           6-7:30 pm     Application of Gesso layer - Application Pictures

Monday, March 12         6-7:30 pm     Painting and hanging tips - Painting

Leader: Jane Kintzi

Have you ever wanted to learn to make painted banners for your church? Here's an opportunity to get instruction

and hands-on experience. For three Monday evenings in February and March, consultant Jane Kintzi willbe working on two new banners for the Parish Resource Center with your help. Work alongside

her as she talks you through the design process, fabric selection, transferring the design to the fabric,

application of gesso layer and painting and hanging. No experience necessary!  Really!!

You will leave knowing how to create your own custom banners. And you will help the Parish

Resource Center create its newest banners. Please register for one, two, or all three sessions.

These are the banners Jane will be working on:

Music Lunch Bunch

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Theme: Taize Music II

To open the doors to trust in God, there is nothing to replace the beauty of human voices joined in song.  Short texts, taken mainly from the Bible, sung over and over again form the basis of the music of Taize, a monastic community in France, now visited by young people from all over the world. We invite YOU to attend the Music Lunch Bunch meeting on February 29, when Rev. Sharon Freudenberger and Juliet Dodge, Cantor, will present TAIZE part 2.  Bring a sandwich.  The PRC will supply beverage and dessert.   

Music Lunch Bunch is FREE and open to the public. Registration is requested.

Music Lunch Bunch

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Theme: Taize Music

Rev. Sharon Freudenberger, leader of Taize services at First UMC in Lancaster, will be our guest. Taize music originates from a monastic community in France.

Music Lunch Bunch is facilitated by PRC Consultant, Betty Ferruzza.

Bring a bag lunch; dessert and beverage are provided.

Music Lunch Bunch is FREE and open to the public. Registration is requested.

The Church's Legal Check List

This workshop was been cancelled!

We hope to reschedule later in the year.

Monday, January 9, 2012

6:30 - 8:30 p.m.

Leader: Bob Cooper, PRC Consultant

Coaching Through Grief

This workshop was been cancelled!

Lyn Barrett has been called to a church in Connecticut and will be moving ASAP.

Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2012

6:30 - 8:30 p.m.

Leader: Rev. Lyn Barrett

PRC Art Show

December 5-14, 2011

Theme: "A Thrill of Hope, The Weary World Rejoices"

Click here for more information

Click here to see pictures of Opening Night Reception

Spiritual Discernment for Pastors/Leaders

Wednesday, November 16

9:00 - 12 noon

Leader: Dr. Nancy Bieber

More Information

Church Builders' Expo

Saturday, Nov. 12, 2011

8:45 - 12:30 a.m.

Location: Mountville Church of the Brethren, Mountville, PA

FREE EVENT, everyone is welcome!

Learn More

Music Lunch Bunch

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

11:30 am - 1:00 pm

FREE to PRC subscribers & non-subscribers!

TOPIC:  A LOOK AT JEWISH SACRED MUSIC OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.  A quote from Pasternak underscores the role of church musicians in ancient times: "The importance of music in the life of Jewish people is found at the beginning of the Old Testament...musicians are mentioned among the three fundamental professions...Music was viewed as a necessity in everyday life..."  Bring your Old Testament, and a piece of Jewish sacred music, your sandwich, and the PRC will supply dessert and beverage. 

Living in Expectation:

Preaching, Music and Worship in Advent

CANCELLED

Friday, Sept. 23, 2011

9:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

Leaders: Bruce Epperly and Daryl Hollinger

Learn More

Digital Media in Worship

Monday, August 29, 2011

7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

Leaders: Dave Helmuth & Dan Siewert

Learn More

Christian Education Week

August 22 through August 27, 2011

Stop in anytime for ideas!

Special "mini-workshops" will be held Monday, August 22—all are free!

Our hours are Monday & Tuesday 9am to 8pm; Wednesday, Thursday & Friday

9am to 5pm; Saturday 9am to 12 noon.

Learn More About the Workshops!

Music Lunch Bunch

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Topic: Latino Music Part Tres (3)

This exciting "bring a bag lunch" network provides opportunities for pastors, choir directors and organists/church musicians to learn and share with fellow musicians and others interested in the music in their congregation. Betty Ferruzza, PRC Consultant, facilitates the event and also provides dessert and a beverage to attendees!

The theme is still Latino Music! We have been getting excited about faith songs created by Hispanics/Latinos. We'll celebrate the rhythms of central and south America and the rich mix of sounds that can be embraced by all! Beginning with Alabare(O Praise the Lord) and closing with Pues Si Vivimos (We Belong to God.) We'll find time to eat, sing, pronounce Spanish words, and have fellowship in between!

The event is free to anyone who would like to attend. Please register by Monday, Aug. 15.

Conversation With Gabe Lyons

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

12 Noon - 12:30 p.m.

The PRC will broadcast a live conversation with Gabe via Skype. Hear about his new book The Next Christians, with time to ask questions.

Gabe Lyons is founder of Q, which serves to educate Christians on their historic responsibility to renew culture, and author of The Next Christians: The Good News About the End of Christian America

(Doubleday, 2010). His first book, unChristian, was co-authored with Dave Kinnaman and revealed exclusive research on pop-culture's negative perception of Christians. His work represents a fresh perspective

on Christianity's role in culture and has been featured by CNN, Fox News, the New York Times and Newsweek. Gabe, his wife Rebekah, and their three children reside in Manhattan.

Fee: FREE - First 24 registrants will receive Gabe's new book. (Thanks to St. Mark's UMC, Mount Joy)   All are welcome to attend.

Spiritual Directors Gathering

Monday, May 16, 2011

11:00 am to 2:00 pm

Leader: Tracey Marx

Music Lunch Bunch

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

11:30 am to 1 pm

Topic: Latino Music

Bring a sack lunch and join PRC Consultant Betty Ferruzza for a fun filled lunch and program on Latino Music. Beverage and dessert will be provided at this FREE event. Persons do not need to subscribe to the PRC to attend this event, but registration is required.

Lanco Worship Link - Guitar Workshop

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

7:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Leader: Dave Helmuth, Worship Coach with Ad Lib Music

It’s all hands on!.....

To Lead, First Listen

Thursday, May 5, 2011  

9:00 AM - 3:30 PM

Leader: Sharon Barley

Learn to use "Appreciative Inquiry" to facilitate major change!

LEARN MORE

Facilities Facilitate Mission/Church Building Expo

Saturday, April 9, 2011 8:30 AM - 12:30 PM

Location: Hempfield UMC, 3050 Marietta Avenue, Lancaster, PA

Is this the time to consider a remodeling project or new addition to your church facility?

Now is the time and here is the opportunity to hear from local building and financial experts.

Event is FREE, but registration is requested.

TO LEARN MORE - CLICK HERE!

Make College Count Seminar: Preparing for the College Transition

Sunday, April 3, 2011

5:30 - 8:30 PM

Leader: Derek Melleby

This seminar is designed for college bound high school students and their parents and will address the transition from high school to college. This multimedia seminar is engaging, interactive, and challenges teenagers and parents to think deeply about four crucial questions to ask before entering college:

1. Why am I going to college?
2. Who am I?
3. What do I believe?
4. With whom will I surround myself?

Designed to focus on the unique pressures and influences students face in higher education, this seminar and related support materials will help students and parents better understand and prepare to face these pressures and challenges from a distinctively Christian perspective. Hope and encouragement will be offered to participants by challenging and equipping them to respond with solid and practical tools.

Derek Melleby is the Director of the College Transition Initiative, a ministry of the Center for Parent/Youth Understanding and the Coalition for Christian Outreach. He is the author of Make College Count: A Faithful Guide to Life and Learning (forthcoming, March 2011) and co-author of The Outrageous Idea of Academic Faithfulness. His seminars have been presented across the country to students, parents, educators and pastors.

Fees: $10 per person

$20 per family

$5 per person if registering with a youth group of 5 or more

Planning for Ministry in a Google World ( A Two Part Workshop)

Saturday, March 26, 2011

9:00 am - 3:30 pm

Leader: Gary L. McIntosh

Part One

Taking Your Church To The Next Level

A practical training event that helps your church leaders to discover the dynamics related to the size of their worship attendance, and the place of their church in its normal cycle of life. Built on the foundation of Dr. McIntosh's popular book Taking Your Church to the Next Level, this training event will help you and your leaders understand that "What got you to where you are will not get you to where you want to be."

Part Two

Understanding and Reaching Generations

Churches in the U.S. are experiencing conflicts due to the presence of three different generations in their churches. This workshop thoroughly compares each generation assisting church leaders to understand the Builders, Boomers, and Busters, and ...how to minister to a multi-generational church.

Gary L. McIntosh is President of the Church Growth Network and Professor of Christian Ministry and Leadership at Talbot School of Theology, Biola University and is the Author of 18 books on church growth and 6 manuals on pastoral ministry.

Fees: PRC Subscribers $55

Non-Subscribers $75

Early Bird Special: Subscribers register by Feb. 18 for $45 and Non-Subscribers for $65!

Fee includes lunch.

Registration Deadline: March 18

Digital Media in Worship

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

7:00 pm - 8:30 pm

Leader: Dave Helmuth

If you think of your screens as hymnal replacements, this workshop is for you!

Do you hope that digital media can be our servant rather than a distraction and actually help us into an experience of the presence of God?

Are you in a declining traditional church that’s lost in the waves of technology?Are you afraid that if you use technology in your traditional service, it’ll become “contemporary”?

What are the “best practices” for using digital media in worship?

What are other churches in this area doing to spread the Gospel through digital media?

What’s your answer the question “Why do you put an order of worship in your bulletin?”

Where can you find great digital media resources?

Will some the “boxes” that we do ministry in, hold up in today’s world or will [read: should] they crush under the load?

Join us for a wildly entertaining, viscerally informative, and positively encouraging evening.  [I know, that’s quite the setup…this better be good great!]  In the first hour, you’ll enjoy a learning experience.  In the second hour, you’ll be able to ask your questions, brainstorm solutions, and make connections with local leaders who will inspire you on your journey.

Dan Siewert

Dan Siewert is currently planting new forms of church in the Harrisburg/Hershey PA area for people who would not be found in more traditional churches, as well as inspiring and training traditional congregations in the Presbytery of Carlisle (PCUSA) to think outside their established patterns.  While on staff with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, Dan and his wife Alison planted and renewed ministries to collegians and post-collegians in Los Angeles, Toronto, and central Pennsylvania.  He is a graduate of Occidental College in Los Angeles.

 Dave Helmuth

Out of simple love and pure devotion to Jesus, Ad Lib Music [www.AdLibMusic.com] is eradicating isolation and burnout so that leaders bear much fruit! As a fulltime Worship Coach with Ad Lib Music, Dave loves partnering with God to transform churches and aders, drawing on 20 years of worship leading experiences. He was born in Costa Rica [se habla español], earned a degree in Music at the University of Texas at San Antonio, and currently lives in Harrisburg, PA with his wife and three young children.

 Fees: PRC Subscribers $20

Non-Subscribers $35

Methods for Equipping Lay Ministers

Saturday, February 26, 2011

9:00 am - 3:30 pm

Leader: Linnea Capshaw Nielson

During this workshop, we will dig deeper into what Equipping means......moving from what most churches think about related to equipping laity: gift-based ministry for church work, to equipping people for growth in all aspects of their faith journey. How do we equip laity to hear call and live incarnationally in the world?

Also, we will examine equipping systems as they relate to the stages on one's faith journey (as described by Janet Hagberg, The Critical Journey: Stages in the Life of Faith):

• How do we help people discover and claim their own faith journey?
• What systems do we have in place to help people connect for the care they need and the work they are called to do in the world?
• What are the various ways we grow on our faith journeys based on the stage we're in?
• How do we continue to help people grow as they live their daily lives?

This workshop will incorporate teaching, group work, action step development and sharing with all participants. Bring a team from your congregation for maximum potential to move your church into a deeper place of equipping laity!

Fees: PRC Subscribers $49/3 Persons from same congregation $125

Non-Subscribers $65/3 Persons from same congregation $170

Early Bird Special: Register 2 by Jan. 28; get 1 FREE!

Fee includes lunch.

Registration Deadline: Feb. 18

Linnea Nilsen Capshaw grew up in a pastor’s home, has four siblings who are pastors, and a mother with an M.Div. As a result, she has been enmeshed in church life for over thirty years and understands the complexities of the church environment.

Her specialties include:

• Urban Ministries: public/private/church/community partnerships
• The Emergent movement
• Lay Empowerment
• Crisis Management
• Board Member, Faith at Work

Linnea is also affiliated with Brian McLaren’s, Deep Shift & Bill Easum.

Prior to consulting, Linnea had over ten years of experience as a health care administrator, facilitating positive change by developing leaders, empowering staff and implementing new organizational systems and strategies to achieve the mission and vision of the companies.

A graduate of Concordia College, Linnea has a M.A. in Hospital and Health Administration from the University of Iowa. Linnea is married to Daniel Capshaw, and lives in Columbia, Maryland.

Music Lunch Bunch

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

11:30 am - 1 pm

Facilitator: Betty Ferruzza, PRC Consultant

Theme: Spirituals - Part 2

There are Spirituals for all seasons of the church year—come join us! Sing and add percussion as we explore the variety of styles.

You'll be able to create your own simple anthems for your choir, and find Lenten solos!

Please bring a sack lunch, dessert and beverage will be provided.

Music Lunch Bunch is a FREE networking event which is open to ALL.

Writing to God: 40 Days of Praying With My Pen

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

12 Noon - 1:30 pm

Leader: Rachel Hackenberg

Please bring a sack lunch and the PRC will provide a beverage and dessert! Rachel Hackenberg will help you experience a new spiritual discipline for Lent with Writing to God: 40 Days of Praying With My Pen, her soon to be released book. Pastors AND church staff are invited to attend this lunchtime workshop to practice prayer-writing and learn tools for using Writing to God in small group settings. Be sure to come back Tuesday, Feb. 8 to actively explore praying through the pen as a spiritual practice.

Tuesday, February 8

6:30 - 8:30 pm

Leader: Rachel Hackenberg

So often we pray silently in our minds or aloud with our voices, yet embodied prayers—walking labyrinths or knitting prayer shawls, for example—can help us to connect body, mind, and spirit in prayer. Learn to embody your prayers through the movement of your pen across paper in a workshop led by local pastor Rachel Hackenberg, based on her new book Writing to God: 40 Days of Praying with My Pen. The book offers daily prayers and then invites readers to write their own prayers based on a scriptural prompt; Writing to God is ideal for the Lenten season, but it can be used for any 40-day journey. Writing to God is published by Paraclete Press as the newest addition to its "Active Prayer Series."

Fees: Subscribers Free

Non-Subscribers $10 per workshop

Church Meetings That Matter

Monday, January 31, 2011
7:00 pm- 8:30 pm

Leader: PRC President David Loughery

Dave Loughery will lead this workshop that will explore ways to make your committee/board meetings less about business and more about fulfilling the mission of the church, less about decision making and more about disciple making.

Fees: PRC Subscribers FREE

Non-Subscribers $10

Registration Deadline: Jan. 4

Reaching the Google Generation

Saturday, January 29, 2011

9:00 am - 3:00 pm

Leader: Carol Howard Merritt

Carol Howard Merritt, Presbyterian pastor and author of the “Tribal Church” will lead this workshop to assist churches in ministry with younger generations.

Many churches are seeking ways to reach out to younger generations. Unfortunately this often manifests as either a “come be just like us!” attitude—suggesting an unwillingness to change in order to be inclusive of young people—or as a slick marketing campaign that targets young adults in much the same way secular advertising does. Both of these approaches often leave young adults feeling that "they want you for your demographic.”

Carol Howard Merritt, a pastor in her mid-thirties, suggests a different way for churches to be able to approach young adults on their own terms. Outlining the financial, social, and familial situations that affect many young adults today, she describes how churches can provide a safe, supportive place for young adults to nurture relationships and foster spiritual growth. There are few places left in society that allow for real intergenerational connections to be made, yet these connections are vital for any church that seeks to reflect the fullness of the body of Christ.

Fees: PRC Subscribers $49

Non-Subscribers $65

Registration is Now Closed.

Fee includes lunch.

Registration Deadline: Jan. 21

Writers' Workshop

Tuesday, January 25 & Tuesday, February 1, 2011

6-8:30 pm

Leader: Dr. Daniel Frick

Local professor Dr. Daniel Frick will lead a two-part writers' workshop at the PRC. Sparked by the November appearance here of William Paul Young, author of The Shack, the workshops are designed to help people share their stories of faith.

In the first session, Dr. Frick will assist writers as they develop the elements of their story. He will offer practical steps, as well as questions for brainstorming details to enhance their story. Writers will bring a draft of their story to the second session, during which Dr. Frick will guide them through the process of refining and polishing it.

Dr. Frick is director of the Writing Center and adjunct professor of English and American studies at Franklin and Marshall College. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Elmhurst College, where he earned high honors, and Master of Arts in English and Ph. D. in English and American Studies from Indiana University. He has authored numerous articles and a book and has offered similar writing workshops at his home church, Hamilton Park United Church of Christ, Lancaster.

Fees: PRC Subscribers $20

Non-Subscribers $30

An Evening with the Author of

"The Shack"

William Paul Young

November 9, 2010

Lancaster Bible College, Chapel Auditorium

At 7 pm William Paul Young, author of THE SHACK took the stage in

Chapel Auditorium on the campus of Lancaster Bible College.

An audience of nearly 800 people were totally captivated by his frank,

yet optimistic story of his life and faith. Below are just a few pictures taken at the event.

Thank you to our Gold Sponsors

PRC ANNOUNCES IT'S FIRST ONLINE TRAINING COURSE!

Called to Teach is a 2 hour self-directed workshop for new and experienced Sunday School teachers. You will explore the many facets of teaching children from preschool through 6th grade. Upon successful completion of the course, a downloadable certificate will be issued.

Topics covered include:

• Teaching as a scriptural calling
• Spiritual development
• Age level characteristics of children
• Multiple intelligences
• Curriculum
• The teaching environment
• Discipline
• Spiritual practices
• Church home connection

Fee: $10.00

Click Called to Teach to begin!