This week on FirstThird.org we begin sharing the amazing thesis work of our Luther Seminary Children, Youth and Family Ministry MA students. We have five finalists, and will feature one writer and their topic for each of the next five weeks. You’ll be blown away by their ideas and the quality of their thinking about…
Presently Separate & Separately Present By Derek Tronsgard Last Christmas my wife’s sister joined us while we opened our presents. A few weeks ago I did pre-marriage counseling for some friends. Yesterday I showed a friend a picture of my dog. Pretty unremarkable… …except when you consider the fact that I live in Minnesota. My…
We have spent almost two months offering various perspectives on mission and service, but at the end of the day…What’s the point? I love Chicago, and a few weeks ago I has in Chicago for a meeting. Taking the train into the city and walking the streets is exciting, at least for me. As an…
“A radically welcoming community seeks to welcome the voices, presence and power of all people — especially those who have been defined as The Other, pushed to the margins, cast out, silenced and closeted — so they can help to shape the congregation’s common life and fulfill the reconciling dream of God.” Stephanie Spellers, Treasurer,…
Trinity Lutheran College is continuing its study on what makes service projects and mission trips transformational. It’s all part of the SALLT (Service And Learning Leadership Team) program. What they have found is so vital that they have even developed and APP to help leaders through this process. Check it out at www.sallt.org/store. This…
By Eric Elton, Mission Outreach Director at Prince of Peace Church in Burnsville, MN Ah yes … the mission trip. As many of us know, on these trips, God often takes us to a new mountaintop place. A place we may have never been before spiritually. We return home … we are fired up ……
By Pastor Nancy Lee Gauche It has been a rich dialogue on mission over the past month. As I reflect on this trip, I will bracket some key practices that shape my understanding around outreach and short-term mission to add to the conversation. Enjoy! Not too long ago I led a Women’s Mission Trip to…
By Julie Hagen I am 29 weeks into my Church School calendar (only 4 more weeks but who is counting) and have a rotation of the above themes over and over and over again. Please know I’m NOT sick of teaching kids to help others. That will never get old! I think we can dig…
Want to dig deeper in the First Third conversation on mission? Webinar: Inculturating the Gospel; Dr. Colleen Windham Hughes A webinar from the Practice Discipleship Initiative by Dr. Colleen Windham Hughes, or California Lutheran University. Serving with Eyes Wide Open: Doing Short-Term Missions with Cultural Intelligence by David A. Livermore (Apr 1, 2006)…
“Many church members today recognize that evangelism is vitally necessary for the church to have a future amidst widespread decline. At the same time, few prospects provoke greater dread and discomfort. This conference offers an opportunity to reframe evangelism in a grounded, holistic, accessible way for a new apostolic age.” Dwight Zscheile, assistant professor congregational…
by Colleen Windham-Hughes, Assistant Professor Assistant Professor in Religion; Director, Theology and Christian Leadership Program; Associate Director, Center for Equality and Justice at California Lutheran University When I think of culture I like to keep yogurt in mind. For yogurt and for people culture means conditions that foster life and growth. Now, this certainly does not…
By Derek Tronsgard Earlier this week the city of Boston was rocked by bombs and tragedy. And ever since Monday, the 24-hour news cycle, the internet, TV, radio, and other media have been covering the fallout non-stop. And in the midst of all of the coverage and saturation of this event, one sentiment has gone…
by Andy Sahl There’s an often-repeated (and actually true) story at the church I serve about a meeting our mission and outreach team once had with local leaders of a Honduran Community. The team had just spent the week working on the schoolhouse for the local village and performing some medical services. Having had a…
By Dr. Nancy Going, Director of the CYF Distributed Learning Program at Luther Seminary What happens on Mission Trips? Yes, kids get exposed to parts of the world that they haven’t seen or experienced before. Yes, students have to come up against tasks that they think they aren’t capable of. Yes, kids learn…
by Brook Hickle I love my small town. Tucked against the foothills of the Cascade Mountain range in western Washington, Enumclaw is a great place to live – less than an hour from Seattle, beaches, and Mt. Rainier. The downtown is welcoming and lined with businesses owned by people everyone knows. We’re all neighbors and…
