A Public Vocation

Mister Rogers' Neighborhood Congregation

Abstract

Almost 40 percent of seminary graduates plan to use their degree outside of the local church, and those who serve within the local church will be preaching and teaching online because of shifts in congregational practice. As these students follow their vocational call into the world, the radically innovative Fred Rogers and his “neighborhood” congregation offers a model for their work. His work in children’s television was ministry ahead of its time. This paper examines Rogers’ work through the lens of and as an example of public theology and considers ways in which it offers insight for twenty-first century ministry.