This summer, Pastor Isabel, Pastor Melissa of the Mennonite congregation, and Pastor Sue of First Congregational Church will be using our joint sessions to discuss “resilient communities.” We all know that “resilient” means the ability to withstand and recover from difficult conditions. We typically think of resilience in individual terms, but for this series, we are interested in probing the question of how spiritual communities survive and even thrive in difficult times. Just as importantly, we will be examining what we mean by “thrive”: how much does community survival depend upon accommodating social and cultural pressures? When does community thriving demand confrontation with larger cultural forces? The series will examine these questions in past, present, and future tenses. In this first session, Pastor Sue will be looking at historic spiritual communities that that were challenged – and, at times, challenged — their cultural circumstances.

Sue Zschoche was a professor in the History department at KSU for over thirty years. After retirement, she was mentored by her former student, Pastor Caela Simmons Wood, and began taking seminary courses. She is now a licensed minister working as the Pastoral Associate at First Congregational Church, her home congregation. A native Kansas, she confesses to a perpetually antagonistic relationship with Kansas summers.

Join us in-person on Zeandale Rd or on Zoom.