By Sandy Troyan, MA Children, Youth and Family senior at Luther Seminary Conversation on the First Third of Life The conversation is alive, yet holds two dominate perspectives: – I am aware that the world around me is different. Things look different. People are different. And the very nature of our wants and needs are…
Dr. David Lose weighs in on the future of seminaries, and theological education, with this provocative statement: I’d argue the single most significant cause of decline is far simpler: most seminaries are training leaders for a church and world that no longer exists. Lose references Alan Roxburgh and Fred Romanuk’s book, The Missional Leader, and…
Dr. Terri Elton discusses the Missional Church and the First Third of Life How does the church remain faithful, while also being open and imaginative? The church finds itself at an important crossroads. Aspects of church are being questioned, new challenges are stressing current practices and old answers are not sufficient for current circumstances. In…
My biased suspicions about a book on faith practices were that it will probably offer some way for the reader to try harder at adding spiritual workouts to one’s life in order to live a more faithful and effective life as a disciple and church member. There is some of that in Practicing Our Faith;…
I’m fascinated by this reflection in the Harvard Business Review blog. James Allworth dares to suggest that the pursuit of profit alone is not the key to innovation, and that Apple demonstrated this very clearly and beautifully: When describing his period of exile from Apple — when John Sculley took over — Steve Jobs described…
Recent Luther DMin alum, Chris Hagen, talks about his research project which sought to approach interim ministry not as an effort to help a congregation “solve a problem,” but rather as an opportunity to help a congregation listen to what the Holy Spirit might be inviting them to engage. Chris Hagen from Discerning Mission on…
by Christie Hallenbeck “Death is very likely the single best invention of life. It is life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new.” The late Steve Jobs’s foreshadowing thoughts now permeate mainstream conversations of death. So let’s enter the conversation. In light of public shock over the death of…
Terence Fretheim, Elva B. Lovell Professor of Old Testament at Luther Seminary, talks about prayer and relationship with God. “God understands what a healthy relationship entails, and that means communication on the part of both parties. . . What people have to say to God in this relationship counts!” Fretheim says that biblical understandings of…
This week at Luther Seminary we honor Jane Buckley Farlee with the annual Race, Church and Change award. Her work with Trinity Lutheran Congregation, the only Christian community in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis (which is predominately Somali Muslim), demonstrates the flow and vibrancy of the Holy Spirit in that context.
I don’t know about you, but as a family with children in school, this time of the year I get caught in the current. Our family tries hard to be intentional about how we spend our time, who we spend our time with and what commitments we take on all year long, but this time…
Probably one of the finest lessons taught to me about time came from a wise and learned friend from Tanzania. As a part of our growing congregational partnership, we were able to spend time together as ordinary people learning from one another and listening deeply to what the other had to share. “You see, Pastor…
Sandy Troyan, Luther Seminary student in Children, Youth and Family, weaves a powerful and timely story about the simplicity of connection for the development of faith. “We really believe in the power of this message of welcome. We see the hope it creates. We see the transformative power it holds.” Download her article.
By Gary Simpson In his August 5, 2011, letter to the rostered lay leaders and pastors of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson highlighted the calling “to discern together” what the ELCA’s 2011 LIFT Report (Living Into the Future Together) confesses is our “missionary God.” It’s no accident that the Holy…
“Everyone has a calling. Discovering it is what life is about and that calling does not come from God’s voice thundering from above; but it more often comes from whispers deep within you, from the very essence of your being. God expects nothing more from you than to live that life for which you were…
The Exemplary Youth Ministry Study results indicate that churches seeking to develop an effective formation focus make three distinctive shifts. SHIFT I They emphasize personal and community transformation understanding that, though programs are a necessary dimension of congregational life, they are a means toward an end and not the end itself. Christian formation is about…
