This five-week class with Pastor Stephen is for those who are new to our community and interested in learning about what it means to be a Christian or to become a member of APC. At the conclusion of the class, you will be invited to formally join the church as a member. Whether or not you are seeking to join, we would love to see you in class!

Mondays at 7 pm via Zoom.

Please contact Lizzy Gray for more information: lizzy@allentownpresbyterian.org.

The Working Group for Racial Justice is hosting a fall book study on the New York Times bestseller, “I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness” by Austin Channing Brown. Austin Channing Brown is an author and speaker and a woman of faith who seeks to awaken people to the current realities of systemic racism and the everyday actions which make it possible.

Austin Channing Brown’s first encounter with a racialized America came at age seven, when she discovered her parents named her Austin to deceive future employers into thinking she was a white man. Growing up in majority-white schools and churches, Austin writes, “I had to learn what it means to love blackness.” Austin writes about her journey to self-worth and the pitfalls that kill our attempts at racial justice. “I’m Still Here” helps us see how white middle-class Evangelicalism has participated in an era of rising racial hostility, inviting us to confront apathy and recognize God's ongoing work in the world.
   

Most of us have an implicit desire to maximize our positive feelings and to minimize our difficult feelings. How does that desire impact our mental well-being? What wisdom might our feelings hold for us? How do we come to know ourselves as beloved, to love God and neighbor, and to contend with suffering in our lives? How do the secrets we keep leave us isolated, cause others to feel shame, and inhibit us from experiences of grace? How can we attend to our own mental health not only because God cares about it, but also so that we can care for others well? If these questions matter to you, then this class is for you.

Over the next six weeks, Reverend Matthew Rhodes will cover topics such as how our faith and our mental health are connected, the neurobiology of the brain, attachment psychology and the need to be understood, family systems, and more. Matt is a Presbyterian minister and serves as the Director of Religious Ministries for Penn Medicine Princeton Health. He runs the Clinical Pastoral Education program, co-chairs the Bio-Medical Ethics Committee, chairs the Employee Benevolent Fund, and leads many of the psychological and emotional well-being initiatives for healthcare workers at the hospital. Outside of work, Matt serves as Board President for Womanspace, as Co-Moderator for the PC(USA)'s Special Committee on the Future of Christian Education, as well as in volunteer leadership roles with L'Arche USA and ACPE. In addition to his Master of Divinity, he also has a Doctorate of Psychology in Clinical Pastoral Supervision, and is currently completing his MSW. Matt is married to Rachel, who is the Senior Pastor at Morrisville Presbyterian Church and is daddy to Madeline Jane and Benjamin.

Sundays at 9:45 am
In-person in Schulte Hall (masked and distanced) or via Zoom

There will be midweek follow-up discussion groups, both online and in-person, for those who wish to go deeper with the content in small groups (you do not need to have attended the class on Sundays to join a small group). 

Please contact Pastor Lindsay Anderson-Beck for more information: lindsay@allentownpresbyterian.org.