{"id":100,"date":"2019-06-28T00:51:50","date_gmt":"2019-06-28T00:51:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.luthersem.edu\/faculty\/?page_id=100"},"modified":"2026-09-01T20:22:01","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T20:22:01","slug":"dzscheile001","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.luthersem.edu\/faculty\/dzscheile001\/","title":{"rendered":"Dwight Zscheile"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Dwight Zscheile joined the Luther Seminary faculty in 2008 as assistant professor of Congregational Mission and Leadership and was promoted to associate professor in 2014 and full professor in 2022. He also served as vice president of innovation from 2018-2025. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree with distinction from Stanford University, Calif., in 1995, having also attended Oxford University, and a Master of Divinity degree from Yale Divinity School, New Haven, Conn., in 1998. He completed the Doctor of Philosophy degree at Luther Seminary with a focus on congregational mission and leadership in 2008.<\/p>\n<p>Zscheile is the author of <i>Embracing the Mixed Ecology: Inherited and New Forms of Christian Community Flourishing Together<\/i> (with Blair Pogue, Seabury Books 2025), <i>Leading Faithful Innovation: Following God into a Hopeful Future<\/i> (with Michael Binder and Tessa Pinkstaff, Fortress Press, 2023), <i>Participating in God\u2019s Mission: A Theological Missiology for the Church in America<\/i> (with Craig Van Gelder, Eerdmans, 2018), <i>The Agile Church: Spirit-Led Innovation in an Uncertain Age<\/i> (Morehouse Publishing, 2014), <i>People of the Way: Renewing Episcopal Identity<\/i> (Morehouse Publishing, 2012) and <i>The Missional Church in Perspective<\/i> (with Craig Van Gelder; Baker Academic, 2011). He is the editor of <i>Cultivating Sent Communities: Missional Spiritual Formation<\/i> (Eerdmans, 2012) and <i>The Starter\u2019s Way: Leading New Contextual Christian Communities<\/i> (with Ed Olsworth-Peter, Church Publishing, 2025).<\/p>\n<p>His essays and articles include \u201cCultivating the Spirit\u2019s Leadership in Congregational Life\u201d in Edwin Van Driel, ed., <i>What is Jesus Doing? Divine Agency in the Life of the Church and the Work of the Pastor<\/i> (IVP Academic, 2020), \u201cDisruptive Innovations and the Deinstitutionalization of Religion.\u201d <i>Journal of Religious Leadership<\/i>, 14, no. 2 (Fall 2015), \u201cFrom Establishment to Innovation: Rethinking Structure in a New Apostolic Age\u201d in What Shall We Become: The Future and Structure of the Episcopal Church (Church Publishing, 2013), \u201cChristian Biblical Understandings of Leadership\u201d in <i>The Sage Handbook of Religious Leadership<\/i> (Sage, 2013), \u201cA More True \u2018Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society\u2019: Toward a Missional Polity for the Episcopal Church\u201d in <i>The Missional Church and Denominations<\/i> (Eerdmans 2008), \u201cThe Trinity, Leadership, and Power\u201d (<i>Journal of Religious Leadership 6<\/i>, no. 2 (Fall 2007)), \u201cBeyond Benevolence: Toward a Reframing of Mission in the Episcopal Church\u201d (<i>Journal of Anglican Studies 8<\/i>, no. 1, 2010), and \u201cSocial Networking and Church Systems,\u201d <i>Word and World Summer 2010<\/i>. He has also contributed to <a href=\"http:\/\/faithlead.org\">Faith+Lead<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/workingpreacher.org\/?__hstc=203596687.21247f8b7d3c7973e59f282e57181973.1782905469269.1785243942951.1785255212731.15&amp;__hssc=203596687.2.1785255212731&amp;__hsfp=ffa42afa152bf7189f0e417afb907d60\">WorkingPreacher.org<\/a> and Leading Ideas, an online publication of Wesley Theological Seminary. Zscheile\u2019s doctoral thesis, \u201cReframing Mission,\u201d focused on a large-scale action-research intervention into a mainline denominational judicatory that mobilized grassroots members to address challenges of decline, crisis, and renewal.<\/p>\n<p>Zscheile was ordained in The Episcopal Church in 2005. Before coming to Luther, Zscheile was executive pastor at St. David\u2019s Episcopal Church, Ashburn, Va. He served part-time as associate priest at St. Matthew\u2019s Episcopal Church in St. Paul from 2005-2018. Zscheile has been involved in leadership roles in congregations in Connecticut, Virginia, and Minnesota. He has consulted extensively with congregations, judicatory systems, and institutions of higher education on innovation, leadership, and adaptive change.<\/p>\n<p>Zscheile is co-host of the Pivot Podcast from Luther Seminary\u2019s Faith+Lead. He is co-managing editor of the <i>Journal of Religious Leadership<\/i>. He is a past board member of the American Society of Missiology and <i>Word and World<\/i> journal.<\/p>\n<p>He was named a Marquand Scholar at Yale Divinity School (1995-8), a Lewis Fellow at Wesley Theological Seminary (2005-6) and was awarded the David and Martha Tiede Fellowship from Luther Seminary (2006-7).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dwight Zscheile joined the Luther Seminary faculty in 2008 as assistant professor of Congregational Mission and Leadership and was promoted to associate professor in 2014 and full professor in 2022. He also served as vice president of innovation from 2018-2025. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree with distinction from Stanford University, Calif., in 1995, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":901,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"templates\/template.faculty-member.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-100","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Dwight Zscheile - Luther Seminary<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.luthersem.edu\/faculty\/dzscheile001\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dwight Zscheile - Luther Seminary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dwight Zscheile joined the Luther Seminary faculty in 2008 as assistant professor of Congregational Mission and Leadership and was promoted to associate professor in 2014 and full professor in 2022. 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