Three weeks on the road: Warmth amid the cold and dark
By Pat Taylor Ellison

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The farther north you go in January, the shorter the days and, mostly, the colder the temperatures. Pat Keifert and I found this commonsense statement true as we spent time in late January and early February in Scandinavia. But although the setting was chilly, the hospitality was warm.

Copenhagen, Denmark: Two networks of pastors met with us to share what they are beginning to learn as they listen deeply, through interviews, within the parishes they serve. One network lives and works in Eastern Denmark, principally in and near Copenhagen, and the other lives and works in Western Denmark, Jutland. While the pastors had believed that no one in their parishes would want to be interviewed, they did it anyway and discovered a very warm reception and a lot of fellowship. We will be blessed as we partner with them as they continue this work. Our next encounter will be in June, 2010.

Copenhagen, Denmark: Several congregations in the Vesterbro community of Copenhagen have come together to share administrative resources and inspiration while still maintaining their neighborhood distinctiveness. This is a struggle, not so much due to diminished resources but because each one is a community unto itself and is used to thinking and acting on its own. But bright, dedicated shared council leadership as well as good clergy and lay staff and some very spunky members will lead this conjoined group forward as they consider what God is already up to in Vesterbro.

University of Århus, Denmark: A major conference was sponsored at the University of Århus, called “Church and Mission in a Multireligious Third Millennium.” We spoke on the subject of Church Renewal and gave a paper together called “Attending to Local and Diverse Communities: Toward a Theological Learning Community For A Missional Era.” It made a theological argument for strong social science research that pays attention to the cultures of local church communities. Among the many presenters at the conference were Stanley Hauerwas, Andrew Walls, and our friend Darrell Guder. We met many very interesting folks, among them John and Olive Drane from the United Kingdom, connected with the Fresh Expressions movement in the Anglican Church. We will connect with the Dranes this June in the UK.

Lutheran School of Theology (known as MF) in Oslo, Norway: MF has undertaken a project to learn from and experiment with church development, and the team members asked us to consult with them on their methods. Their team of 4, along with several other persons, met for a morning to think through the architecture of the project. They also invited us to present to local pastors and MF students and faculty, on the subject of the role of pastor in times of change. About 60 persons attended that afternoon session.

Hokksund, Norway: Tunsberg Diocese: We were invited to speak to a pastors’ gathering south of Oslo the next day, where a group of 80-90 pastors were meeting for union conversations in the morning, lunch, and then presentations from Harald Hegstad (about the MF Church development project) and from us. In this afternoon we spent considerable time talking about the life of pastors in a state church and the kinds of change they currently experience, and how those things determine their roles. They were particularly captivated by Dwelling in the Word, and we heard later that a group of them has continued the Dwelling practice since the meeting.

Bergen, Norway: Pat Keifert returned to the U.S. to work with the Board of A Christian Ministry in the National Parks, and I went on to Bergen, to present, alongside Harald Hegstad and Erling Birkedal from the MF Project, to a group of 75 pastors and diaconal workers. Once again, the pastors really enjoyed Dwelling in the Word, and then began thinking whether the types of change they face routinely require technical responses or adaptive ones. They began to wonder together about how their roles as leaders would adapt, even evolve or mutate to support the Gospel in today’s Bergen.

I returned to both Vesterbro in Copenhagen and the Western network of pastors in Århus before coming back to the U.S. on February 9.

Both of us received the hospitality of Birge Nygaard, Mogens Mogensen, Sabine Kleinbeck, and especially Hans Raun Iversen and Ida Kongsbak in Denmark and Harald Hegstad, Erling Birkedal, Terje Fonk, and Halvor Nordhaug in Norway. The light of hospitality outshone the darkness and was not overcome. Doubtless we have partners in the Spirit in the far north of the world.

Pat Taylor Ellison, Ph.D., is the managing director of research for Church Innovations.