Luther has crafted a very focussed set of courses.  There are no selectives to choose from apart from a book each course and of course the subject matter of the upcoming dissertation/thesis. Each of the courses build upon and layer upon one another and take you on a journey which provides you opportunity to develop one’s theological framework and equip you with greater skill for congregational leadership and mission. As for me, the “first bona fide evangelical,” as one professor commented, the theology work has not been overwhelmingly lutheran.  They can’t help be lutheran but despite it they have created an outstanding context that allows sufficient freedom to develop in one’s own traditional heritage–at least in my mind they have.

In this course we focus more directly on the church and its particular local mission. For me and Pacific Community Church this is great timing as Pacific is in a season of discerning more clearly its mission. For what it’s worth the DMin courses have corresponded remarkably well with the developments of Pacific’s life in the last few years. Once again this course seems to target a needed a bulls eye. By virtue of this course I will be immersed into a statistical sea of numbers and research as I research the demographics of our local church,  Cloverdale, Surrey at large along with Langley City and Langley Township.  What will be the hope? To discern what God is up to in our own community and to understand more intimately what is happening in our own community around us.  If we believe that the church should be an incarnational presence of Christ what does that mean for us and our extended community.  Thus the goal is to help us as a community of leaders and congregation to discern well the mission of God for us here (and even abroad).  As a start, I have put together a preliminary ethnographic study of Pacific Community Church.  It is preliminary (thus needing much more work) but it already begins to suggest some key realities and also some interpretive insights. Ultimately this works requires the efforts of more than one to interpret properly. But someone usually has to start.  Please read and comment. Hopefully you join in on the process as we unfold it more clearly in the upcoming months (January-March 2010)

Ethnographic Study of Pacific Community: This is a preliminary study.  It is more like a house just framed in contrast to house trimmed up and finished.  But it will serve to get the conversation going.  In my previous course I wrote about the existing partnerships at Pacific. That paper provides a lot of information about some of the values that are shaping us.  I think it is a helpful read as we seek to understand what God is up to at Pacific.

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