| A Letter From the President Click here to return to the Church Innovations web site. As some of you might know, I teach systematic theology at Luther Seminary. Among the main reasons I delight in this calling to teach systematic theology is the privilege to teach with a colleague from church history the primary course in our curriculum in the Lutheran Confessional Writings. In the thirty plus years I have taught this course, I have taught with many church historians, the most recent being Professor Mary Jane Haemig, M.A., J.D., Ph.D. Yes, she not only studied law at Harvard but also practiced law for over a decade before returning to Harvard to complete a doctorate under Mark Edwards in Luther Studies. Dr. Haemig is full of surprises; her lectures change from year to year in ways that reflect her ongoing research in her field and her continuous commitment to be a better teacher. One such surprise came last year when she suggested a rather unusual textbook for our course in the Lutheran Confessional Writings, one I would not have suggested for the course. The book: Crossing the Bar: Home By Another Way by James Gordon Johnson and published by Church Innovations! Upon hearing her reasons I had to agree to using the book for preceptorial discussions, small group discussions often connecting the ancient and early modern documents of the Confessions with present challenges in mission and ministry. Her reasons were tied to our commitment to connect our reading of the Confessional documents especially in light of the challenges in the western part of the United States. I had grown up in the intermountain West and served congregations there and in the Northwest. Her reasons followed from her experiences as a teacher and a citizen of the Northwest. Her first teaching position was at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington where she had the opportunity to teach, as she puts it, “many happy pagans.” She says this with true love and remembrance of these students who had lived their life to the point of taking religion classes as this Lutheran University without much contact or need of Christian religion. She noted that Crossing the Bar addressed another set of happy pagans, the cowboys, ranchers, farmers, shopkeepers, skiers, and tourists who make their way occasionally or regularly to the Bull ‘n Bear Saloon that Jim and his wife Nancy own and run. She found Jim’s love for his friends who are self- described “bar people,” who have fairly well formed, and in most cases well informed, attitudes about church people, clear and powerful. She found his insights profound and compelling, especially his ability to describe those attitudes that make it highly unlikely they will find themselves in an organized church, not unlike the happy pagans of her acquaintance. So we assigned some short pieces of the text for a couple of small group discussions. The response of the students has been remarkable. Many describe wanting to read the entire book despite their heavy reading load. Further, they have passed it on to friends, relatives, and their pastors. Their discussions of the Confessional materials takes on depth and richness as they respond to Jim’s reading and response to this lives of his friends, the bar people. Many others who have read the book respond the same way; even members of the Montana Tavern Association bought and passed the book on to friends. The coming newsletter of that organization will include a major article on the book by its editor! Many of my own family members note that finally we have published a book they enjoyed reading and could pass on to their friends. By word of mouth, our only major means of marketing at Church Innovations, church study groups are picking it up and passing it on. Jim’s book perfectly illustrates time and time again the concepts and practices of missional church. It shows how the gospel of Jesus Christ is always deeply embodied in particular cultures as Jesus is God embodied in the flesh. It discovers the work of the Holy Spirit alive and well in God’s mission in the world so loved by the Triune God, even in the world of the bar people. In this way Crossing the Bar most powerfully illustrates Church Innovations’ commitment “to innovate your church’s capacities to be renewed in God’s mission.” Not only in the journey of spiritual discernment we call the Partnership for a Missional Church, or in other parts of our learning community, or in the books on best practices for doing such innovation, or in our ongoing commitment to learning from our failures and from healthy islands of innovation, but in books like Jim’s that show a fully embodied emerging missional ministry in the Crossing the Bar community. This month we are bringing out another very practical book to assist members of congregations to introduce or strengthen their personal and communal ability to dwell in God’s Word and listen their neighbors’ into free speech regarding it: Dwelling in the Word: A Pocket Handbook. The book is small with quite a few pictures. It can fit in a shirt pocket or a small purse. Given our years of experience both with the practice of Dwelling in the Word and our use of all the practices explained in the book, we are relatively sure people in many different places will find this little book has big, very very very big, outcomes. We offer it to you as one more effort toward innovating your capacities to be renewed in God’s mission. Personally, I can’t wait for the reports of its use. I pray one comes from you. In Christ's Peace, Pat Keifert |
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