After one of my presentations on Ukraine when I was in the US, a pastor I met for the first time asked me, "Why do you think North American Christians are responsible for helping this situation? Isn't this a European problem? Isn't there a revival among Western European youth?" I answered but he wasn't convinced. … Continue reading Is There Really a Youth Revival in Europe?
Assessing Congregational Readiness
One of my favorite ministry activities here in Estonia is participating in congregational consultations for the churches within our ECB Church Union. The churches our team consults vary in their structural choices, size and situation. We have consulted both rural and urban churches, both traditional and "emerging" churches and both small and moderately sized churches … Continue reading Assessing Congregational Readiness
Discovering the “Victory Hymns”
Last Sunday I visited a congregation in the southern portion of our region to preach and spend time getting to know the church a bit better. Attendance to the service that morning was very small: basically the pastor and his grown children and three other parishioners. I brought along my guitar and had prepared a … Continue reading Discovering the “Victory Hymns”
Proposing Free-Use Chapels
The Nurgakivi Selts proposes a network of simple, free-use chapels across rural Estonia, providing a space for worship, service, and temporary shelter, with a focus on monastic values and Christ-centered spirituality.
Rural Re-evangelization Summer Internship
Purpose The purpose of this internship is to provide a mentored, immersive, cross-cultural ministry experience for young people discerning the shape of their contribution to the re-evangelization of the post-Christian West. Growth focuses Skills for immersive cross-cultural ministry, applicable in any setting Familiarization with a functional language learning model Developing tools for asset-based community development … Continue reading Rural Re-evangelization Summer Internship
Pensively Pastoral: A Reader’s Advisory
I have been struggling to know where to start my next blog series entitled "Pensively Pastoral". The purpose of the series is to outline some of the problems that I see with our conception of the pastorate - at least in the traditions and settings I am familiar with. However, I fear this series will … Continue reading Pensively Pastoral: A Reader’s Advisory