Director Rev. Suzanne Parker Miller attended the Association of Partners in Christian Education (APCE) annual conference in Pittsburgh, PA that lasted from Tuesday, January 20 to Saturday, January 24, 2026. The theme for the Conference was “Bridging The Gap: Love God. Love Self. Love Neighbor.” APCE consists of clergy and Christian Educators from the Presbyterian USA, Moravian Church in America, Reformed Church in America, and Presbyterian Church in Canada. The conference was held at the Wyndham Grand Hotel in downtown Pittsburgh.

Mr Roger’s Neighborhood was a large part of the gathering given that Fred Rogers was from Latrobe, PA (a suburb of Pittsburgh) and filed Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood in Pittsburgh for all 895 Episodes. Mr Roger’s was also a Presbyterian USA Minister ordained to the ministry of children’s television. Suzanne attended a Pre-Conference event on January 20th to visit the Fred Rogers Institute at St. Vincent College in Latrobe, PA to learn more about the Six Fundaments of Learning and Growing from Fred Roger’s perspective. Suzanne also was able to visit the Heinz History Center in downtown Pittsburgh to see more pieces of the sets and items from the show. A special highlight was seeing the Stole that Mr Roger’s wore that his aunt made him about the show.

Suzanne’s main purpose in attending APCE was to present a workshop on Friday afternoon, Janruary 23rd from 1:30-3pm entitled “Expanding Church and School Partnerships To Help Neighbors Thrive.” Mike Ferguson with Presbyterian News Service attended the workshop and wrote about it here.  Here are two additional articles Ferguson wrote about the conference: APCE Dinner showcases Innovative Ministries and Acknowledging the Hard Work.

APCE is a great week of worship, fellowship, learning, and spending time together with others doing this sacred work of ministry. If you have the opportunity to attend APCE, we highly recommend it! January 2027’s conference is in Portland, OR.