Pivot

5.57: How to Help Your Church Listen into a Hopeful Future

In this episode of the Pivot podcast, co-hosts Terri Elton and Dwight Zscheile, joined by guest Mark Lau Branson, explore alternative questions, embrace disruption, and align with God's actions in scripture for a hopeful future

“It is precisely in moments of disruption, change, and uncertainty that God acts in scripture.” – Host, Dwight Zscheile

In this episode of the Pivot podcast, co-hosts Terri Elton and Dwight Zscheile are joined by guest, Mark Lau Branson.

Mark Lau Branson is the Homer L. Goddard Senior Professor of the Ministry of the Laity and has taught at Fuller Theological Seminary since 2000. As a senior professor, his work focuses on Ph.D. students.

Leaders, if you’re tired of navigating rigid church structures, this conversation empowers you to explore alternative questions and delve into scripture and community stories. Embrace disruption and uncertainty, as these moments align with God’s actions in scripture. Mark’s books offer guidance for leaders seeking a more hopeful future.

In our next episode, we continue to explore the key pivots the church needs to make today.

Show Notes:

Shift Ministry Models
Faithful Innovation

Featuring

Prof_MarkLauBranson

Mark Lau Branson

Mark Lau Branson is the Homer L. Goddard Senior Professor of the Ministry of the Laity and has taught at Fuller since 2000. As a senior professor, his work focuses on Ph.D. students.

Dr. Branson was ordained at San Francisco Christian Center, an African American Pentecostal church, and has served on the pastoral teams in United Methodist and Presbyterian churches.

He has worked with several agencies active in education, community development, and community organizing, and continues to serve as a consultant and speaker. His most recent books are Leadership, God’s Agency, & Disruptions: Confronting Modernity’s Wager, coauthored with Alan Roxburgh (2021), a revised edition of Churches, Cultures, and Leadership: A Practical Theology of Congregations and Ethnicities, coauthored with Juan Martínez (2023), as well as Memories, Hopes, and Conversations: Appreciative Inquiry, Missional Engagement, and Congregational Change.

He has contributed to the Journal of Missional Practice, the Journal of Religious Leadership, and Transformation: An International Journal on Evangelical Social Ethics.

Branson is on the national Advisory Board of the nonprofit CHERP Solar Power, and has served on the boards of the Institute of Urban Initiatives, the Ekklesia Project, and the Academy of Religious Leadership. Mark and his wife, Nina Lau-Branson, are active at La Fuente Ministries, a bi-lingual, multicultural church in Pasadena; they have two adult sons.

Meet Your Hosts

  • Dwight Zscheile

    Dwight Zscheile is vice president of innovation and professor of congregational mission and leadership at Luther Seminary. His latest book is Leading Faithful Innovation: Following God into a Hopeful Future (with Michael Binder and Tessa Pinkstaff, Fortress Press, 2023).

  • Terri Elton

    Terri is a teacher who loves Jesus and God’s world. She currently is a Professor of Leadership and Dean of Academic Affairs at Luther Seminary, but has also served in congregations and non-profit settings. In her free time, Terri loves to bike and explore nature. She, along with her husband Eric, believes the world is interesting and together they travel to different cultures and places as often as they can.

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