Church

community & intimacy

Recently, my friend Jacob highlighted Randy Frazee (author of “Connecting Church,” and “Making Room for Life”) and Randy’s encouragement to make use of certain tools to aid us in replacing “too many” weak relational connections and build a smaller number

Dwight J. Friesen August 5, 2004September 13, 2022

missionalization

So much energy has been spent wrestling with the church and institutionalization. Institutionalization happens when reified social constructs become untouchable. What is then often needed is some form of prophetic deconstruction of that social construct – enabling us to see

Dwight J. Friesen August 4, 2004June 9, 2022

Community Mapping

Bill Wallenbeck of Jacob’s Well just preached a sermon called Scale-Free Networks and the Kingdom using some concepts of Scale-free networks, he even drew on some of my research. Check it out.  Tim Samoff posted some photos of a community-mapping

Dwight J. Friesen July 20, 2004May 5, 2022

Thank You Kansas City & Jacob’s Well

Well, I’m home for one day and then I’m off again. This is not the way my life has usually is… how do people who travel all the time get the everyday stuff done? I spent the last couple of

Dwight J. Friesen June 16, 2004November 29, 2022

my relational leadership

Over the past few months I elicited a small group of friends to help me evaluate my person and leadership. This small group comprised of three men and two women have known me for an average of three and one-half

Dwight J. Friesen April 15, 2004August 31, 2022

“Church”

Church by Dwight J. Friesen Restless boy yanking at his neck tie Flipping through hymnals, Bibles and Sunday School papers No match for the sermon fidgets Those warming the pews trade yawns Waiting For the last song and benediction Long

Dwight J. Friesen April 14, 2004November 28, 2022

Putting Words in Jesus’ Mouth?

Lately I have been challenging the the assumption was raised with that God created the church. Is God drawing people together to live the the way of Jesus? – yes. Was Christ’s statement to Peter about what we now commonly

Dwight J. Friesen January 11, 2004December 13, 2022

Trans-Church

In dialogue with my friend Thomas, we found ourselves wondering about the church as trans. Take a look at the “da Vinci Code” for some of the impetus for the discussion. The church seems to struggle with its identity. One

Dwight J. Friesen December 2, 2003November 15, 2022

Worship Search

I’m not exactly looking for new forms of worship; as much as I am wanting to learn from what appears to be a human impulse to worship. Human beings seem to have a penchant to worship. Forming desire for the

Dwight J. Friesen October 11, 2003November 18, 2022

Resurrection is Impossibility

Michael Jinkins, writes: “When the church faces the prospect of its own demise (for whatever reasons), it faces a critical moment when its vocation is called into question, when it has the unparalleled opportunity to comprehend and render its life.

Dwight J. Friesen September 18, 2003November 21, 2022

Church Discovering

Recently I was in a discussion about whether we should still plant churches… or even, would the Apostle Paul plant churches today. It seems to me that we need new language to discuss the idea of pioneering new Christ-communities. I’m

Dwight J. Friesen September 10, 2003November 22, 2022

un-worship services

I’ve been having this overwhelming sense that western protestant white Church “worship services” may ultimately have the opposite effect that we hope for. Among other things, we intend to lift up Christ, to praise him, and so on, however. The

Dwight J. Friesen August 21, 2003May 4, 2022

accidental church planting

Ok, so I’m a church planter who is in danger of giving up on the idea of church planting. I’m not even sure I see much Biblical support for church planting. I see Christ sending people as bearers of the

Dwight J. Friesen July 24, 2003November 7, 2021

Where were all the Synagogue-Planters?

Ok so I just posted this on http://www.emergentvillage.com Why didn’t Jesus send out his disciples as synagogue-planters? Could it be because Jesus sent them out as people in relationship with the Divine, to bear witness to the Kin-dom of that

Dwight J. Friesen July 3, 2003November 24, 2022

Van Gogh & the developmental nature of Christ-commons

Van Gogh lifted the veil of our vision. He helped us to see dignity in the common person from coal miners to potato pickers. He lifted the veil of creation, and the common person from coal miners to potato pickers. He

Dwight J. Friesen June 7, 2003November 7, 2021

Church Faces Death

“Depend upon it, Sir,when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight,it concentrates his mind wonderfully.” Samuel Johnson, Sept 19, 1777 Michael Jinkins begins his book, “The Church faces Death” with this quote from Samuel Johnson.  If

Dwight J. Friesen June 7, 2003November 7, 2021

Ordination

Thoughts regarding ordination: I understand ordination to be a human recognition of God’s calling on a person’s life. Yet in practice it is a gatekeeping practice to ensure that those in power have a means of controlling who is let

Dwight J. Friesen November 5, 2002October 24, 2022

Communal Worship?

Thinking about worship… What is it that the church can do in worship corporately that the church can’t do individually? How did worship devolve from a wholistic way of life to a gathering on a Sunday morning? What if how

Dwight J. Friesen November 1, 2002November 14, 2022

Never Go to Church Again

“Go to church” . . . what does this even mean? I sense it may be time for us to collaborate toward destroying the erroneous notion of “going to Church.”  Jesus never told us to “go” to anything.  Jesus’ invitation

Dwight J. Friesen July 22, 2002November 6, 2021

Speaking @ Trinity Chapel

On Friday l have the opportunity to join Trinity Lutheran College and speak in their chapel. I’ve been asked to speak to the kinds of leaders I sense that the church needs now and into the future. I’m titling my

Dwight J. Friesen September 19, 2001October 22, 2022

Community Profile

As a spiritual leader of a small community of faith, I find assessing whether we are maturing to be a challenge. This may be totally nerdy but I’ve drafted, what I’m calling a “Community Profile“… it’s essentially a rubric to

Dwight J. Friesen July 22, 2001October 24, 2022

The Big Church Shift

From the birth of the church to today, the continuity and spread of the gospel has been dependant on the church passing leadership to the emerging generation.  A cosmic relay race with eternal consequences and life altering ramifications. We can

Dwight J. Friesen May 17, 2001November 5, 2021

Quest… In the Transition

North American culture is changing.  So is church culture(s). Some have suggested that culture is reinventing itself at a faster pace than ever before… while none of us have lived at another time something inside me senses that this may

Dwight J. Friesen April 18, 2001November 5, 2021

questions asked

Recently I helped facilitate an “Emerging Leaders” conference sponsored by a modernist-mission denomination.  All of the presenters/facilitators were asked the following questions, my responses are listed: Ministry Title? pastor / mystic / friend / artist / missionary / husband /

Dwight J. Friesen March 9, 2001November 5, 2021

Lingering Thoughts

A few months back I preached at Union Hill Church in Redmond. In the sermon I explored the simple question… “What is a Christian?” Turns out it may not have been as simple a question as I first thought. I

Dwight J. Friesen November 2, 2000November 3, 2022