Ezekiel and the Public Church Framework (2018) — Jeremy Myers, PhD explains the Public Church Framework and the biblical imagination that serves as its engine, specifically Ezekiel’s vision of God’s abundance. There are discussion questions at the end to help churches explore how to apply this framework to build a sustainable, deep connection with its neighbors.

 (2018) — Jeremy Myers calls the church to challenge the dominant societal view of adolescents as “underdeveloped consumers” who can only contribute creatively when they mature into adulthood. Myers argues that young people are innately creative creatures called by God to love and serve right now.

“Reflections on Authenticity” by Rev. Mark S. Hanson (2018) —  Rev. Mark S. Hanson, with Augsburg’s Christensen Center for Vocation and former bishop of the ELCA, shared his reflections on the notion of “authenticity” with our learning community.

Discernment Questions for Faith Communities (2017) — Consider these questions an opportunity to engage your leadership, young adults and other key people in your community as you discern your faith community’s possible call into deeper ministry with young adults.

ARTICLES

— The author shares personal stories about the relationships between young adults and churches/church leaders

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 — data archive (national and international), mapping tool to create a religious and demographic profile of a particular community, etc.

— Collections of articles about creativity and innovation on congregations and religious practices

Disrupt Worship Project — This project offers full liturgical resources and diverse experiences and viewpoints, featuring “voices from different denominations, clergy, deacons, lay leaders, and (sometimes) people who don’t do church but do love Jesus.”

How We Gather — One of the most widely-read documents in seminaries and community startups;  a 2015 student-led exploration of how Millennials are finding and building communities of meaning and belonging has morphed into a ground-breaking study of organizations that are effectively unbundling and remixing the functions historically performed by traditional religious institutions.

— Events, research, sightings, and forum

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Wallis is president and founder of Sojourners, a nonprofit, faith-based organization whose mission statement calls for “putting faith into action for social justice.” He has written for major newspapers and authors regular columns for Huffington Post and TIME.com. Wallis teaches at Georgetown University and has taught at Harvard University. He served on President Obama’s first White House Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

Christensen Symposium Convocation Address: 
11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. in Hoversten Chapel, Foss Center

Community Panel- The Bridge Toward More Just Communities: What Needs to Happen
4:30 p.m. – 5:45 p.m. in Hoversten Chapel, Foss Center.
The panel will be moderated by former ELCA Bishop Mark Hanson, and will include:
Pastor Kelly Chatman, Redeemer Lutheran Church, North Minneapolis
Nora Barr: Augsburg Alumna
Devin Wiggs: Augsburg Student
Fardosa Hassan: Muslim Student Advisor to Campus Ministry
Plus, a response from Jim Wallis.

Kick-off address for North Minneapolis Forum on Faith and Race
8:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. at Redeemer Lutheran Church, 1800 Glenwood Ave, Minneapolis, MN  55405
Note: The evening address is preceded by live entertainment from 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

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In addition to viewing one episode of the upcoming National Geographic series, there will be a panel discussion featuring Augsburg leaders of different faith traditions: , Dr. Maheen Zaman, and Julian Kritz (Interfaith Scholar). The panel will be moderated by , the new executive director of the Christensen Center for Vocation.

Event Schedule:
6:30 P.M. Doors Open
7:00 P.M. Screening Starts
8:00 P.M. Interfaith Panel Discussion with Dr. Phil Quanbeck II, Dr. Maheen Zaman, and Julian Kritz
8:30 P.M. Event Concludes with Light Refreshments in the Foss Atrium

The event is free and open to the public. As space is limited, please register online ahead of time to ensure a spot. Seating is first come, first-served.

Parking permits can be requested by e-mailing ccv@augsburg.edu in advance.

Augsburg College’s Christensen Center for Vocation along with Campus Ministry Student Organization, Muslim Student Association, Religion Department, and the Interfaith Scholars are pleased to co-host this event.

The post Advance Screening – Morgan Freeman’s Story of God appeared first on Bernhard Christensen Center for Vocation.

At our recent winter meeting we solicited names of movies and books that come highly recommended by the members of the Board.  Here is the list:

Melissa Pohlman:
Disunity in Christ: Uncovering the Hidden Forces That Keep Us Apart by Christena Cleveland

John Snider:
Eager to Love: The Alternative Way of Francis of Assisi by Richard Rohr

Mark Hanson:
Never Wholly Other: A Muslima Theology of Religious Pluralism  by Jerusha Tanner-Lamptey
A Strange Glory: The Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer by Charles Marsh

Marty Stortz:
(2005) at Kenyon College
Christoph Schwoebel’s article “Talking Over the Fence.  From Toleration to Dialogue” (for John Clayton on his 60th Birthday), in: NZSTh 45 (2003), 115-130.

Sonja Hagander:
The Round House by Louise Erdrich

Diane Jacobson:
The film “— suggested given disagreements about immigration.

Jack Fortin:
Christianity for the Rest of Us by Diana Butler Bass

The post CCV Advisory Book and Movie Recommendations appeared first on Bernhard Christensen Center for Vocation.

Distinguished Fellow in the Christensen Center for Vocation at Augsburg College

Appointed as a Distinguished Fellow in Augsburg’s Christensen Center for Vocation, The Rev. Mark S. Hanson leads national and international initiatives to advance interfaith dialogue, inspire peacemaking, and support the College’s commitment to vocational discernment. In addition, he serves as a major gifts advisor for “Always Being Made New: The Campaign for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.”

Prior to his current appointments, Hanson served as presiding bishop of the ELCA. He was elected to this position by the Churchwide Assembly of the ELCA in August 2001 and was reelected in 2007. In 2003, he was elected to serve, concurrently, as president of the Lutheran World Federation, a position he held until 2010.

Before being elected as ELCA presiding bishop, he served as bishop of the Saint Paul Area Synod (3H). He had been elected to serve a second term in Saint Paul earlier that same year. Prior to being elected synod bishop, he served as pastor of three Minnesota congregations: Prince of Glory Lutheran Church, Minneapolis; Edina (Minnesota) Community Lutheran Church; and University Lutheran Church of Hope in Minneapolis. 

Born in Minneapolis on December 2, 1946, he graduated from Augsburg College with a B.A. in sociology. He was a Rockefeller Fellow at Union Theological Seminary, New York City, and received a Master of Divinity degree there in 1972. He also attended Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota, and was a Merrill Fellow at Harvard Divinity School in 1979.

In his work as president of the Lutheran World Federation and as presiding bishop of the ELCA, Hanson has traveled widely throughout the world, sharing a confident hope in God’s promises and a vision of the joyful freedom in Christian community and mission.

Hanson is widely known as a leader with an evangelical passion and imagination who embraces the Christian tradition, the Christian community, and the world with both generous goodwill and thoughtful insight. He has been an articulate advocate for the renewal of the church’s preaching and public voice, for the strengthening of ecumenical and inter-religious relationships, and for reconciliation and justice in society, with attention especially to those who live with poverty and discrimination.

Hanson has received several honorary degrees, including Doctor of Humane Letters from Augsburg College, Wittenberg University, and Grand View University, Doctor of Humanities from Capital University, Doctor of Divinity from Lenoir-Rhyne College, Wartburg Theological Seminary, Susquehanna University, Wartburg College, and The Academy of Ecumenical Indian Theology and Church Administration.

He is the author of Faithful Yet Changing, the Church in Challenging Times and Faithful and Courageous, Christians in Unsettling Times both from Augsburg Fortress, Publishers.

Married to Ione (Agrimson), they are the parents of Aaron, Alyssa, Rachel, Ezra, Isaac and Elizabeth, and grandparents to Naomi, Kingston, Sam, Danielle and Sophia. Before moving to Chicago, Ione was the director of social work at Minneapolis and St. Paul Children’s Hospitals.

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