Adult Education Committee

The Adult Education Committee, under the leadership of Rev. Peter Grandy, seeks to provide opportunities at AHCC for learning and spiritual growth through classes, seminars, guest speakers, and small groups.

This year Peter offered two lecture courses: Facing Mortality: Biblical Wisdom and Modern Insight, and Faces of Islam: Understanding Our Muslim Neighbors, including four speakers from the Muslim community. In addition, AHCC member Myron Congdon offered a course The Bible and Beyond, and we again offered the video course Financial Peace University, a 10-week money management series using Biblical principles.

During the year we were also blessed with a series of speakers including AHCC members Linda Beher, who spoke on Darfur; Nancy Bush, who spoke on Near Death Experiences; Mally Cox-Chapman, who shared insights from her book The Case for Heaven; and Russ Jones who led us on a walking tour of the historic Cedar Hill Cemetery. One of our featured speakers was author Maggie Callanan who offered a morning workshop entitled Final Journeys, Final Gifts – Compassionate Counsel for Death and Dying.

This year we also tried to include events specifically designed for small group gatherings, including two short- films retreats, three small groups engaged in an interesting series entitled Living the Questions, and the initiation of

both a film group and a book group. Another group of AHCC members have joined together to create our Earth Ministries Group, providing education and information to our congregation around ecological concerns.

As in year’s past, our Grandtimers continued to meet on selected Thursday mornings for travelogues and presentations about aging; and our Sunday Forums visited topics from Global Climate Change to Hartford poet, Wallace Stevens. Our Lenten season would never be complete without our Lenten Suppers where members of our congregation share with us a part of their faith journey.

The committee continues to solicit your ideas and desires for topics worthy of our study and discussion. Please contact any member of the committee or Peter Grandy with your thoughts.

Respectfully submitted,

Beverly Duncan, chair