Church

3 in 10 USA Adults Religiously Unaffiliated

According to a Pew Research study posted on December 14, 2021, approximately three in ten USA adults are now “religiously unaffiliated.” The study reveals that self-identified Christians make up 63% of U.S. population in 2021, down from 75% a decade

Dwight J. Friesen December 30, 2021December 19, 2022

How We Gather & Who We Become

I think its safe to say, that at no other time in church history has “gathering” been so contested. Do we meet in person or online? Health and safety needs bump into our traditioned liturgical practices. If online how? How

Dwight J. Friesen December 1, 2021December 2, 2021

You up for a Chat?

One of my great joys is engaging in conversation with leaders & groups seeking to discover the church that is emerging after Christendom. So many followers of the Jesus way can feel the many ways that our times are changing.

Dwight J. Friesen October 3, 2021November 3, 2021

Parish Collective, Inhabit/Connect 2021

Here are two great panel discussions from Parish Collective’s, 2021 Inhabit Connect. “Inhabit Connect” is the pandemic substitute for Parish Collective’s annual flagship event in Seattle, the Inhabit Conference. By the Way tickets for the 2022 in person Inhabit are

Dwight J. Friesen October 1, 2021November 4, 2021

Learning from Recent Church History

Mike Cosper and a talented team at Christianity Today’s CT Podcasts have produced series exploring “The Rise & Fall of Mars Hill.” As you likely know, Mars Hill Church was planted in 1996 and pastored by Mark Driscoll in Seattle

Dwight J. Friesen September 23, 2021November 4, 2021

Flipping the Script on Church Owned Property

Flipping the Script on Stewardship: COVID-19 & the Shift from Church Property to Kingdom Building For more than a year, your church’s building has been unused. Yet, not having access to it didn’t stop your faith community from being a

Dwight J. Friesen August 2, 2021November 8, 2021

Maundy Thursday… “Wash Before Dinner”

Blessed Maundy Thursday… …God’s invitation to, “wash up before dinner!” Imagine a God who doesn’t demand your worship, mindless obedience, or tithes but actually serves you out of love, simply because that’s who God is… Imagine a God, so located

Dwight J. Friesen April 1, 2021November 2, 2022

Faithful Presence in Bend Oregon

“The Spirit teaches us how to participate with God in the restoration of all things; maybe the more common term for this would be mission…[I]t’s a mission which connects our unique desires to the work of the Spirit to keep

Dwight J. Friesen March 5, 2021November 22, 2021

The Black Church

“This is the story and song our ancestors bequeathed to us, and it comes at a time in our country when the very things they struggled and died for — faith and freedom, justice and equality, democracy and grace —

Dwight J. Friesen February 13, 2021November 22, 2021

Leadership & First Followers

In the late 2000’s (maybe 2009?) at Washington State’s Sasquatch Festival during a performance by Santigold of her hit, “Unstoppable” a lone guy starts dancing on a hill. Derek Sivers made this video famous by using it to illustrate the

Dwight J. Friesen February 1, 2021November 24, 2021

Five Signs of New Parish Expressions

Immediately following the release of The New Parish, Paul Sparks, Tim Soerens, myself, and a number of artists who joined us for legs of the tour hit the road. Our travels – which were a purposeful blending of on the

Dwight J. Friesen October 5, 2020January 13, 2021

Inhabit Conference 2020 @ Home Edition

In the revelation of this moment with COVID-19 and systemic racial injustice – is it too late to reorganize the church in the neighborhood for a more equitable future? For far too long, we as a society have ignored the

Dwight J. Friesen June 24, 2020November 8, 2022

Conversations After Church

“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

Dwight J. Friesen November 3, 2015May 31, 2022

Helping a Church Listen to Its Collective Story

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

Dwight J. Friesen April 1, 2014May 5, 2022

MESA gathering

Recently I had the opportunity to be a part of an international gathering of Emergent minded followers of Christ from Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, Brazil, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Argentina, Mexico, Australia, New

Dwight J. Friesen October 31, 2013September 26, 2022

Networked Church

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

Dwight J. Friesen June 12, 2010May 5, 2022

post-Christendom formation?

So I’m in the process of writing a short piece exploring Christian spiritual/identity formation in a post-Christendom context. I’m desperately looking for any recommended websites, readings or other resources that might help me get a better sense of the shift

Dwight J. Friesen May 13, 2010May 8, 2022

summer class – partnering with Seattle churches

Every summer trimester at MHGS I get to guide a group of emerging leaders through a selected readings course . . . for us “selected readings” means that faculty members are given some space to develop a course around an

Dwight J. Friesen April 5, 2010November 14, 2022

Relational Hermeneutic

This book was born in the context of an eleven-year life altering experiment in ecclesial life, fleshed out in learning communities with thoughtful women and men who never ceased to ask insightful and revealing questions, and now it is being

Dwight J. Friesen March 29, 2010November 9, 2021

Emergent @ CCT, follow-up

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

Dwight J. Friesen February 3, 2010November 9, 2021

WWJB – Who Would Jesus Beat?

This morning The New York Times printed a short piece by R. M. Schneiderman titled, “Flock is Now a Fight Team in Some Ministries.” Here’s how the article began: “MEMPHIS — In the back room of a theater on Beale

Dwight J. Friesen February 2, 2010September 21, 2022

local Christ-commons

I am going to begin a series of highlighting churches in the Pacific Northwest – mostly in Seattle and the surrounding area, but I hope to dip down to Portland and reach up to Vancouver from time to time. I

Dwight J. Friesen November 25, 2009May 8, 2022

Phyllis Tickle Coming to Seattle

Phyllis Tickle, author of numerous books and the recent best selling The Great Emergence: How Christianity is Changing and Why is coming to Seattle. She will be Speaking at Off-the-Map’s fall learning party called “Mirrors & Maps“. Publishers Weekly Says:

Dwight J. Friesen November 6, 2009May 8, 2022

Article in Alife, “Learning from Google”

The October 2009 issue of aLife is publishing a short piece I wrote titled: “Learning from Google.” Clearly this little piece emerges from my new book, Thy Kingdom Connected: What the Church can Learn from Facebook, the Internet, and Other

Dwight J. Friesen October 1, 2009June 17, 2022

Faith & Gender – Lauren Winner

Quest Church is hosting Lauren Winner of Duke University on “Faith & Gender” October 10-11. Lauren has authored numerous books, including: Girl Meets God, Mudhouse Sabbath and Real Sex. Register here. peace, dwight

Dwight J. Friesen September 18, 2008December 7, 2020

emerging & established churches together?

I find myself looking for conversation partners. I’m looking for new paradigm churches (emerging, neo-monastic, simple, avant-churches, etc.), who are intentionally partnering with more established congregations in mission and mutual transformation. And the reverse as well, for established congregations who

Dwight J. Friesen January 31, 2008September 21, 2022

dwight j. friesen