I’m here to learn how to step into Christian leadership in my congregation and/or community.
When I was in seminary, I was required to take an “Alternative Context” course. At the time, we had programs deep in the Appalachian Mountains, and as far away as the Czech Republic. The point of studying off-campus, however, was not to teach the people we encountered about what we knew about God, but to…
Many congregations are currently in the midst of planning or implementing an annual stewardship program of one sort or another. Such campaigns will have a lot of variety, but they all likely have two things in common: numbers and narratives. In this week’s article, Cesie Delve Scheuermann reminds us of the power of storytelling. In…
One of the joys of teaching at Luther Seminary is the opportunity to learn from my fantastic colleagues. This week Matthew Skinner, Professor of New Testament, reflects on how the vision of giving in Acts 4 can inspire the church today. I’m particularly drawn to Skinner’s description of the scene as a time “when things…
For the last four weeks, our series Funding the Next Church has featured articles by leaders of new worshipping communities. These leaders have described new visions for Christian life together, and for supporting mission with money. Today, Rev. Sara Hayden explains the why behind the how of recent weeks, with a fine article about theology…
A blog post by Terri Elton This weekend I sat behind a grandpa and his preschool granddaughter in worship. It was sweet to watch him guide her and explain the various parts of worship. At one point in worship small group leaders of children, youth, and adult ministry were invited up front, and we prayed…
Courtney Young is a graduate of Luther Seminary – M.Div. with an emphasis in Congregational Mission and Leadership. Missional, a Millennial, and a new mother, Courtney shares her thoughts with us here: Two observations I’ve had since I am not being paid to be at church on Sunday morning: First, Sunday morning is the only…
A blog post by Jesse Weiss A good friend of mine is about to start his first teaching job in a couple of weeks — high school English. As we were talking about what excited him and what made him nervous, he pointed to one area in which he was very unsure of himself: where…
Courtney Young is a graduate of Luther Seminary – M.Div. with an emphasis in Congregational Mission and Leadership. Missional, a Millennial, and a new mother, Courtney shares her thoughts with us here: When my husband and I moved to small-town Minnesota, an hour away from our closest family and friends, I suddenly found myself…
A blog post by Aaron Fuller Some of you may be familiar with researcher and author Brené Brown. She’s gained traction through TED Talks and David Lose Her work centers around understanding human connection and the dynamics of shame and vulnerability. I’ve been reading her latest book, Daring Greatly: How the Courage to be Vulnerable…
A blog post by Megan Clapp There’s been a lot of “talk” online lately about millennials and the church, why they’re leaving, why they need the church, and a whole bunch of responses along the spectrum. I’ve read a lot by Rachel Held Evans, the author of all the links above, and I appreciate the way she wrestles…
A blog post by Jesse Weiss Recently, a group of young adults that are serving as camp staff this summer got into a fairly deep conversation about salvation and the question of God’s justice. Their conversation was good, but it was grounded more in cliché answers than in theological understandings. As we further explored the…
Courtney Young is a graduate of Luther Seminary – M.Div. with an emphasis in Congregational Mission and Leadership. Missional, a Millennial, and a new mother, Courtney shares her thoughts with us here: The third thing we were to take away from Rethinking Evangelism was an evangelism experiment to actually try, for realz, when we…
A blog post by Sarah Bane Coming out… I cannot claim to know the courage and poise it must take to come out to someone. But, as someone to whom more than one person has come out, I have started to notice a common thread to each story: middle school. For each loved one who…
Courtney Young is a graduate of Luther Seminary – M.Div. with an emphasis in Congregational Mission and Leadership. Missional, a Millennial, and a new mother, Courtney shares her thoughts with us here: It’s hard to recap a conference with so many different angles and perspectives on a topic that is huge all by itself…
A blog post by Tim Bowman Last week, I wrote about the different service project ideas that my middle school students came up with. Today, I want to use that experience to spark a new conversation. In varying situations, churches have avoided, wrestled with, rejected, and/or embraced our modern culture and contexts. We live in…
