Adult Education

After two years of primarily online and hybrid adult education programs at BMPC, we entered 2022 with more opportunities to study together in incarnate community. January brought the completion of the Ministries Center renovations which meant moving into and living into our newly-imagined meeting and classrooms on the ground floor.

During the spring and summer the Converse Library collection reemerged from storage and was moved into its new location in the Fullerton Room. Volunteers and staff spent countless hours helping to create a new online catalogue for the collection, reshelving and organizing books, and updating our checkout system to transform the Converse Library into a 21stcentury collection. Now church members can even browse our catalog online at home and even reserve a book to be picked up later: https://www.libib.com/u/converselibrary

Another significant change we experienced was the creation of two smaller rooms from the previous Gloucester Room. By dividing Gloucester in half, we were able to rightsize our classrooms and create a sister room to Gloucester named after and dedicated in memory of the Rev. Dr. Katie Geneva Cannon. The first African-American woman ordained in the Presbyterian Church and the pioneer of Womanist theology, Cannon also served in ministry at First African Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, one of our longstanding partners in mission. In April church members, clergy, neighbors and Dr. Cannon’s family gathered for an afternoon dedication service where we celebrated her legacy and reflected on how her vision for justice and inclusion can and will shape the work we do as a congregation.

A highlight of the year was our annual Rev. Dr. David and Ruth Watermulder Theologian-in-Residence program with Lisa Sharon Harper. Harper is a writer, theologian, activist and public advocate on issues of diversity, equity, belonging and inclusion. The focus of her two lectures and her worship leadership was her newest book, Fortune: How Race Broke My Family and the World and How to Repair it All .

A Philadelphia native, Harper used the story of her family to help trace the story of racism and inequality in our national story and shared her vision for reclaiming the possibility of the Beloved Community.