A growing number of new faith communities in North America are emerging as part of the Wild Church Network. These outdoor church expressions seek to re-acquaint, re-cover, and re-member their faith communities as loving participants of the larger community of Creation. This paper explores theological foundations and spiritual practices grounding…

The Bible tells keeners to teach lament to a faith community and to the daughters of the community when evil and injustice are rampant. This intriguing demand draws the attention of the faith community to how lament works and how it can become a community practice to deal with suffering. This study specifically challenges the adequacy of the…

"Centering Marginalized Voices" is the second of nine Christian life rhythms explored in the upcoming book tentatively titled Staying Awake: The Gospel for Changemakers (Chalice Press). Author Rev. Tyler Sit explains how his multiethnic, Millennial church plant in South Minneapolis (New City Church, https://GrowNewCity.church), follows…

Most approaches to vocational exploration present challenges to people who have more than one central cultural identity. In this article, we begin with a framework for understanding hybrid cultural identity focused on the real-life experiences of hybrid people. We then identify three predominant approaches to vocation as well as the challenges…

Clergy sexual abuse is happening in faith communities. Particularly, Korean immigrant churches, though playing crucial roles in empowering immigrants' agency and providing support networks, often fail to support survivors because of both a dysfunction of culture and a fragmented educational ministry. Along with the #ChurchToo movement, young women…

Since the publication of Pope Francis' landmark encyclical (2015), "Laudato Si," there has been a robust discussion among religious educators concerning the notion of ecological conversion. Drawing on this rich scholarship, this paper strives to move from the "what" of ecological conversion to the "how"; that is, how…

New models for prison ministry are crucial during the current era of mass incarceration in America--a time when the potential reach of prison ministries can grow as the population of incarcerated individuals grows. In this article, I lift up one prison ministry in New Jersey as an example of how Christian evangelicals who are engaged in…

The Seminary to Early Ministry (SEM) Study is a mixed-method, prospective study designed to provide high-quality empirical data on student formation in theological education. The study will use a series of surveys and in-depth interviews to track three cohorts of divinity school students from matriculation into the early years of their careers. As…

Drawing on research in deliberative pedagogy, this paper will develop in depth one piece of a larger project that envisions peace education as an essential component of youth ministry. The paper proposes a sacred pedagogy that engages theological concepts through deliberative, democratic discussion, teaching young people skills in engaging across…

The way faith is formed depends upon the zeitgeist, the spirit of the age. Faith formation cannot happen in a vacuum. It is shaped and informed by all that is happening. In our time, the COVID-19 pandemic is happening. In this essay I reflect on faith formation amid the zeitgeist of the Coronavirus, considering ways that the pandemic requires…

This paper highlights two emerging models for how religious education is evolving in new venues to reach new audiences today. The first is an online course that equips a new generation of chaplains to accompany community organizers and activists on the front lines of social change by providing spiritual and emotional support. The second is…

Pope Francis incarnates a praxis of encounter in an age of polarization. For Francis, encounter entails displacement, dialog, and discernment. Relational pedagogy illuminates the fecundity of relationships between the teacher and student at the heart of education. Nel Noddings, preeminent proponent of relational pedagogy, grounds an ethics of care…

In 2012, I proposed the apprenticeship model as a promising catechetical model for church communities in which catechists might be hope generators, and the church community becomes a community of hope. This article argues that the original meaning of the apprenticeship model is challenged by an emphasis in youth ministry practices on the…

This article argues that Participatory Action Research (PAR) methodology is both a trinitarian praxis and a helpful pedagogical model for the local, suburban church. The basis of this argument stems from data gathered during a PAR project conducted among suburban Lutheran congregations in 2014. The initial intention of this project was to explore…

This article describes how communal aspects of faith find their way back into the lives of adolescents. The communal aspects of faith within individualized societies need more attention. It seems that with the current emphasis on individual faith, the intrinsic power of communal aspects of faith has been lost. This study shows that informal…