By Dr. Terri Martinson Elton, Director of the Center for First Third Ministry at Luther Seminary Today marks the beginning of Lent. Some church bodies embrace the season of Lent, others not so much. For the ones who do Lent is accompanied with particular practices, special worship experiences, and the Christian’s call for faith to intersect with their daily life.

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 rights” never adequately described King’s

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 thing, living is another. The

By Dr. Terri Martinson Elton, Director of the Center for First Third Ministry at Luther Seminary  We’re a week into 2013 and I, like many, use this change in the calendar year as a time to reflect. It can be typical and ordinary in many ways, but I do it faithfully each year. I’m not keen on making resolutions, but

By Neil Christianson David Kinnaman, author of the book unChristian, tells us that we are operating out of an old model that isn’t effective for young adults today. In his new book You Lost Me, he says that close to 60% of young people who went to church in high school drop out after high school. Why? Barna Research gives us

By Derek Tronsgard Earlier this month the Christian blogosphere exploded when news came from the Pew Research foundation stating that the fastest growing religion in America is, in fact, “no religion”.  This self-identifying group of the “nones” are young (18-29), uninterested in joining a church (even after kids!), and evenly distributed between men & women, economic backgrounds, educational backgrounds, and even

In light of Nancy’s blog post Looking for the “Nones” and the recent Pew study that showed one in five adults have no religious affiliation, you might be wondering why people are leaving the church.  A five-year project headed by Barna Group president David Kinnaman explores the opportunities and challenges of faith development among teens and young adults within a

March 13 at 11am CST | Live Online | Tell the Story | Workshop

Thursdays, April 8 - May 27, from 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM CST | Live Online | Cultivate Community | Course

March 4, 11, 18, 25 at 1:00 PM CST | Live Online | Connect with God | Course