Watching the news in recent weeks, it is easy to be overwhelmed by the heartache and trauma in our world. From all injustice that seeks to oppress God’s beloved children to violent conflicts spiraling ever deeper, the weight of human suffering in the present can feel unbearably heavy and the future can feel precarious and […]

Jennifer Pietz, assistant professor of New Testament at Luther Seminary, is the author of “Mary Magdalene, La Malinche, and the Ethics of Interpretation,” published by Lexington Books/Fortress Academic in November 2022. By comparing the intersecting histories of interpretation of Mary Magdalene, a first-century disciple of Jesus, and La Malinche, a sixteenth-century Mesoamerican woman enslaved by […]

Cody J. Sanders, associate professor of congregational and community care leadership, and Mikeal C. Parsons are the authors of “Corpse Care: Ethics for Tending the Dead,” published by Fortress Press in January 2023. “What is the revelatory potential of the corpse? Sanders and Parsons boldly confront us with the neglected question of an incarnational theology, […]

Lay people have always filled important leadership roles in the church, from worship to congregational care. This reality is only becoming more pronounced as the landscape shifts toward a “mixed ecology” of inherited and emerging forms of Christian practice and community. From youth ministry to stewardship, passionate lay people answer the Holy Spirit’s call to […]

Season four of the Pivot podcast from Faith+Lead provides lessons and stories from church leaders who are igniting imagination, creating collaborations, launching experiments, and dreaming of new possibilities for God’s church. The podcast focuses on two questions: How might we use the uncertainty and disruption of this time to reimagine church, ministry, and leadership? And […]

I’ve been reflecting recently on the way that Scripture reveals over and over again the boundless creativity of our God. From the very first words of Genesis, God is always doing a new thing, leading God’s people into a future that is beyond our imagining. Of course, we don’t make it easy. Instead of trusting […]