I’m here to learn how to step into Christian leadership in my congregation and/or community.
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 Dr. Terri Martinson Elton, Director of the Center for First Third Ministry at Luther Seminary Yes, I’ll serve…but where am I needed? And what is needed? After listening to numerous people, inside and outside the church, I’m convinced one of the reasons serving collapses into service projects or mission trips is because most of…
By Paul Bertelson I am on a mission. My mission is to change the world. Kind of grandiose, I know. I tend to like to think big. So, how exciting it is to have been used by God to create a youth missions organization that has mobilized over half a million teenagers to be change…
by Erik C. Leafblad What’s Normal? The group from a rural, farming community in Midwestern America descended the steps of their pristine church bus with palpable energy. They were achievers. Their parents were successful, hardworking, salt-of-the-earth people. And they were ready to help. They had just driven four hours to this storied urban neighborhood, with…
By Dr. Terri Martinson Elton, Director of the Center for First Third Ministry at Luther Seminary Today we leave the celebratory experience of Palm Sunday and head straight into Holy Week. As we continue reflecting on the theme “Reclaiming the Servant’s Heart,” I want to pause a moment and change our focus from the doing…
By Andy Sahl “It’s like my first world problems really are first world problems.” I could hardly believe the words came out of her mouth as we sat in a circle reflecting on our trip to Bolivia this summer. One of our very high functioning, gifted, intelligent kids reflected that the “joke” she had been…
Want to dig deeper in the First Third conversation on mission? Here are three articles on mission experiences for different audiences: Terence D. Linhart, “Planting Seeds: The Curricular Hope of Short-term Mission Experiences in Youth Ministry,” Christian Education Journal (Series 3, Vol 2 no 2, 2005), 256-272. This paper describes the curricular nature of short-term…
By Jordan Elton Growing up as the daughter of employees of the church, faith has always been incorporated into my life. I believed this was the norm and just went with the flow of it. As a part of my childhood, my parents (one of them being a missions director) instilled the act of service…
By Dr. Terri Martinson Elton, Director of the Center for First Third Ministry at Luther Seminary Last week we introduced our spring 2013 FirstThird Dialogue theme, Reclaiming the Servant’s Heart, with the first of three webinars. The webinar’s theme was “Making Mission More Than a Trip.” This week we will get various perspectives on mission…
By Pastor Nancy Lee Gauche I heard Krista Tippett’s interview with Vincent Harding the other day. Vincent Harding is Professor Emeritus of Religion and Social Transformation at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado. Back in 1955, he paid a life-changing visit to Martin Luther King Jr. Vincent Harding says that the phrase “civil…
By Dr. Terri Martinson Elton, Director of the Center for First Third Ministry at Luther Seminary I must admit, I can live in my head. I love ideas, theories, and understanding why. But sometimes I need to be reminded that knowing about ideas is different than living out ideas. In other words, knowing is one…
By Andy Sahl “Andy, I don’t think I want to be an intern anymore.” I really couldn’t believe my ears. For years our few spots for high school interns (high school students that help with our middle school program) was a coveted role. For the last two years we’ve added the number of inters…
Courtney Young is a May 2012 graduate of Luther Seminary – MDiv with an emphasis in Congregational Mission and Leadership. Missional, millenial and now, a new mother, Courtney shares her thoughts with us here: Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about the church and social media. Partly because I used to work in seminary relations…
By Dr. Terri Martinson Elton, Director of the Center for First Third Ministry at Luther Seminary Several weeks ago I wrote about the power of gathering. Gathering is a vibrant part of abundant life, of living a Christian way of life. But there is other side of that coin, the reality of scattering. No matter…
By Julie Hagen Sam, a shy 1st grader, asked his small group leader if she would call him ‘Sam I Am’ from now on. They hadn’t seen each other for a few weeks but last Sunday, she remembered and his face lit up when he sat down by their group and heard “Hi Sam I…
