Spiritual innovator Spencer Burke has launched a new venture with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Pacific Southwest Region. It’s called the Hatchery LA, and it is thoroughly invested in one idea when it comes to the future of our
“Conversations after Church” is the latest film directed by Winnipeg’s Bevan Klassen. The film explores faith and spiritual journeys of six people who at one time described themselves as Evangelical Christians and/or Mennonites. Each person’s story testifies to their experience
I just got back from team teaching an immersive learning course at McMaster Divinity College. The course was “Leadership in the New Parish” and I got to team teach it with my brother, Dallas Friesen. So grateful for the team
Came across this the other day and I watched it a few times. This is a vision of development that I need to learn more about and feels really hope filled. Check out the site for the Congress for New
Between the “Leadership in the New Parish” think tanks and the hundreds of parish walkabout Tim Soerens, Paul Sparks, and I have lucky enough to have engage over the last few years, we’ve identified 2 vital questions, and 10 practices
As Lynette, Pascal, and I have been thinking about the rhythms of our lives, we want to experiment with bringing our everyday lives in our neighborhood with our spirituality. While we don’t exactly know what that all means, we’d like
This year’s Inhabit Conference will be our fourth one, the first three all “Sold Out!” Hundreds of parish leaders gathered to celebrate the move toward a more embodied, participatory, and sustainable way of being the church. Our theme this year
Every December Christianity Today publishes its books of the year. This year in “The Church/Pastoral Leadership” CT awarded The New Parish: How Neighborhood Churches are Transforming Mission, Discipleship and Community its Award of Merit! Writing of our book for CT
Next week I’m heading to the Twin Cities to keynote at the PCUSA “Ministry in a Changing World” leadership conference. Saturday, November 1, 2014. Special thanks to Newell Krogmann, and David Parker for making this event happen. Peace, dwight
This weekend I have been invited to join the Evergreen Mennonite Church drawing out its collective narrative and listening to God’s invitation to them in light of who they are becoming. We’re calling the time: “Listening to our Story: Exploring
Bishop Kirby Unti of the ELCA NWWA Synod has invited me to serve as the 2014 keynote speaker for their region’s pastor’s conference. I will be presenting on the key themes of the new book that I have co-authored with
Parish Collective together with The Seattle School have launched a place based leadership certificate. Participants of the Leadership in the New Parish Certificate at The Seattle School share their experience and what they’re discovering. Peace, dwight
Inhabit: The Art of Parish Renewal April 19-20, 2013, Seattle, WA The last two years the Inhabit Conference “Sold Out!” Hundreds of parish leaders gathered to celebrate the move toward a more embodied, participatory, and sustainable way of being the
What a privilege to be one of the keynote speakers for this year’s PLU’s annual Summer Institute on Pastoral Theology. Granted Dr. Nate Frambach, who is the Associate Professor of Youth & Culture at Wartburg Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa was scheduled
If you know me at all, then you know how passionate I am about the mission of the grad school where I get to teach. You may have already heard that The Seattle School was recently awarded a grant to
There is a tectonic shift happening under the surface of the church in North America. Parishioners are returning to the parish. The greater our individual mobility extends, the greater the world’s longing and need for a faith that can be
Richard Florida, author of the international best seller Who’s Your City: How the Creative Economy is Making Where you Live the Most Important Decision of Your Life, writes to put it simply, about the importance of place. In his introduction
In just a couple of days I get to join one of the most important theological conversations that Emergent Village has hosted to date. The conversation will bring Dr. Musa Dube , Dr. Richard Twiss, and Dr. Colin Greene together
On October 11th at the Church of the Resurrection in the Lake Hills neighborhood of Bellevue I will begin a short series of conversations introducing folks to all things “Emerging Church.” Its going to be a blast to pull together
Got to go down to Portland at the invitation of Karen Ward to participate in an emergent conversation within the Episcopal Church. The event is “Episcopal Village West.” Its so cool to see more of denominations and faith traditions further
Parish Collective is getting ready to host three gatherings of in the Pacific Northwest (Vancouver BC, Seattle, Portland). The gatherings are designed to draw communities of faith who are deeply committed to embodying the gospel in the radical particularity of
Filled with irony, this self mocking look at emerging mega church worship is too funny. The video is made by the team over at North Point Media. Check it out. Peace, dwight
My friend, Jim Henderson, founder of Off-the-Map, co-author Jim and Casper Go to Church, and author of Evangelism Without Additives together with Tyler Mahoney started a new web service called: ChurchRater.com. On a number of occasions Jim and I have
The good folks over at the Communities First Association have invited me to facilitate a “World Café”. Tomorrow is the big day. As you may know, a world café is a structured conversational process for knowledge sharing in which groups of people discuss a
A couple of weeks ago I was able to spend a few hours with Christian Churches Together, which is a relatively new ecumenical network in the USA. I have to say that I find these ecumenical gatherings quite encouraging. For
