Blog - Page 6 of 29 - Bernhard Christensen Center for Vocation

Launch of RIH Thriving Congregations Partnership Application!

Posted on February 15, 2023March 30, 2023

Augsburg University’s Riverside Innovation Hub (RIH) was awarded a Thriving Congregations grant through the Lilly Endowment to support work with area congregations. RIH has been convening learning communities of congregations since 2018. This next opportunity to partner will be our third RIH learning community exploring the call to BE neighbor, rooted in our faith and curious about God’s invitation to be in relationship with the neighborhood.

Churches who become a learning partner will journey together with 10-12 congregations over two years shaped by these characteristics. This time will include gathering for large group learning events 3-4 times a year, gathering with cohorts of several congregations and an RIH facilitator to support and share wisdom with one another, work done individually by congregational teams supported by an RIH facilitator, and opportunities for team leaders from congregations to connect around leading this work in our congregations.

Project Description & Eligibility

Riverside Innovation Hub

Augsburg University’s Riverside Innovation Hub is an incubator for people and communities exploring the public church in the neighborhood. These congregations learn a process for discerning how God is inviting them to become more engaged in their neighborhoods.

Learn More about Riverside Innovation Hub

Application Process

Step 1: Submit Letter of Intent

Accepted on a rolling basis

Congregations interested in pursuing the application process are asked to have their senior pastor submit a letter of intent to apply, via a google form. Letters of intent will be accepted on a rolling basis, until the end of the application period.

Submission of your letter of intent will:

Allow congregations to indicate why they are applying for the project.
Help RIH staff streamline communications as the application process moves forward by adding you to direct mailings about the process and being available to you for further conversation.
Help your congregational leaders move through the application process in a timely and thoughtful way.

Form to Submit a Letter of Intent

Step 2: Learn more: Informational Sessions

Informational sessions will be offered in March via zoom.

Thursday, March 9th from 1:30pm – 2:30pm

Monday, March 13th from 7:00pm – 8:00pm

If you missed our information sessions, here is the recording from March 13th.

Step 3: Submit Application

Submit on or before April 20, 2023

The application is a google form, but please see the questions in a pdf below.

Recruit your senior pastor and one lay leader to complete the application and involve others from your congregation in the process as relevant for your context (ie council leadership, staff, lay leaders). You are welcome to complete the application sections as a group or have one person submit it all after your group has worked on it.

You may submit the application the following ways:

Option 1: Written application (written by one or multiple people) submitted via google form below
Option 2: Video submission with cover letter with the information of first section of the application. If you are sending us a video, you can break it up into videos for each section (10 minutes or less) or one video (around 30 minutes or less). You can submit the videos in each section below if they are broken up or one video in the last section.
Option 3: Hybrid submission. You are welcome to submit a mixture of videos and written answers. In each section, but the first, is a place to upload a video if you would like.
Option 4: If there is a barrier to submit written or video submissions for your congregations, please reach out to Ellen Weber (weber3@augsburg.edu) about additional possibilities.

PDF Copy of the Application

Official Google Form to Submit Applications

Step 4: Invitation Process

RIH will review applications and extend invitations to selected congregations the week of May 16th. Congregations will have until June 8th to accept the invitation.

Augsburg’s learning community begins September 2023 and runs through September 2025.

Contact us:

Additional questions? You can reach out to Kristina Fruge (frugek@augsburg.edu) or Ellen Weber (weber3@augsburg.edu).

“Learning My Calling of Storytelling” at Augsburg: Jaelyn Arndt’s Vocation Story

Posted on February 9, 2023February 9, 2023

Written by Ellen Weber

Have you ever left a meeting and the minute you sign off or walk away you just smile as a wave of gratitude washes over you? That happened to me after meeting with Jaelyn Arndt, an Augsburg alum and current Assistant Director of Communications at the NCAA.

We at the Christensen Center for Vocation (CCV) were intrigued to hear Jaelyn’s story after a tweet last summer where she answered the question “What is your calling?” She credits the Auggie support system for helping her find her dream. We, at CCV are curious to know the various ways we see vocation lived out on a daily basis in the lives and work of our Augsburg colleagues, students, alums, and our neighbors in the Cedar-Riverside and Seward neighborhoods.

By vocation we mean the ways we are compelled, empowered, challenged, freed, and responsible to show up (individually and collectively) in ways that help our neighbors and neighborhoods thrive. We believe every individual and every institution experiences a vocational tug.

This is a story about how an Augsburg alum became an engaged neighbor through learning about her own vocation.

Jaelyn graciously agreed to meet with me (Ellen Weber) via Zoom from Indiana and share her story.

When Jaelyn came to Augsburg to tour, she was guided by our Volleyball Head Coach, Jane Becker and Assistant Coach, Jennifer Jacobs. She walked away from that tour years ago thinking, “These are my people!” So after her senior year at Washburn, she started at Augsburg and was part of the volleyball team.

Throughout her time at Augsburg, Jaelyn leaned on her volleyball teammates and staff like family. “Because it is a D3 school, people actually cared about me and my wellbeing.” The volleyball team was a place where Jaelyn learned who people are. “Before the season started, our coach would give us working packets about our teammates. We had workshops where we learned each other’s love languages, how we like to be approached, and how we give feedback. We started our practices sharing what we were grateful for or sharing how our day was. It mattered who we are and that we knew who actually was on the court with us.” Continue reading ““Learning My Calling of Storytelling” at Augsburg: Jaelyn Arndt’s Vocation Story” →

Uncovering Vocation – “Spanked: The Sanctioned Violence”

Posted on February 4, 2023February 14, 2023

Dr. Christina Erickson, Social Work on January 24th, 2023

Reading: By Anne LaMott

My coming to this vocation did not start with a leap but rather a series of staggers from what seemed like one safe place to another. Like lily pads, round and green, these places summoned and then held me up while I grew. Each prepared me for the next leaf on which I would land, and in this way I moved. I can see how flimsy and indirect a path they made. Yet each step brought me closer to the verdant pad on which I stay afloat today.

Good morning – I have been a social worker for 30 years and I felt like that gave me an easy out on this vocation stuff –easy, it was my work – which I described as making the world a better place. Becoming a social work professor was a natural evolution of that original vocational path. I was set. No more discoveries to be made. What I never expected, was a mid-life vocation that would grip me for more than 10 years. Like Ann Lamott describes, I can look back and see how I leapt from lily pad to lily pad through the course of my life, never knowing that those experiences would become so important to a mid-life vocation I couldn’t have imagined.

Lily pad 1…..My mother’s spanking – so futile, so “not into it”, her swings and misses. My own wriggling away. My father’s spanking – so scary, so shaming, having to stop himself because he was big and strong. My 3 older brothers spankings, – so harsh, so much anger in both directions.

My family of origin, the family I grew up in, was happy, I felt loved, we were loud, we laughed, 5 children and 2 parents who were high school sweethearts, pregnant before they were married despite strict Catholic upbringings, we were fine and good and my parents spanked us. My parents hit us. They never hit each other, they never hit the dog, but spanking a child on the butt….that was acceptable, anytime, parental decision alone, no child input needed. In spanking, the perpetrator is always right and the victim is always wrong.

Lily pad 2….my high school boyfriend. We met in the tennis module of gym class. We were separated by gender (this was 1984) through the whole unit until the end when the ranked boys played the ranked girls. He was ranked first in his gender and I in mine. We had to battle it out, and while I lost handily, it was love, love. We started dating. 2 years into our high school romance I punched him in the stomach in my parent’s basement family room. I have no memory of why, but I remember the event vividly. My anger, my punching, the look on his face.

Lily pad 3 – I go to graduate school in social work and begin my field experience at The Initial Intervention Unit in child and family services. We were the first social workers to visit a home or school with a child abuse investigation. I see the effects of hitting on little bodies. I see the pain and shame of parents who have to talk to us. I feel their struggle, I see their love for their children.

Lily pad 4 – I’ll read a section from my book – I suddenly saw that if I hit my kids, it was the same as hitting my high school boyfriend, back in 1986 (the other parent of my children by the way). If I hit them too, I would be the face of modern domestic violence. Continue reading “Uncovering Vocation – “Spanked: The Sanctioned Violence”” →

Introducing THE CONFLUENCE!

Posted on January 27, 2023January 27, 2023

Written by Adrienne Kuchler Eldridge, Institute Program Director

Since 2005, Augsburg University has been gathering high school students from all over the country for an annual weeklong on-campus experience focused on theological exploration and vocational discernment. This gathering is one of 90+ Youth Theology Network programs across the country. This program is a collaborative effort sponsored by Augsburg University’s Christensen Center for Vocation and supported by Lilly Endowment, Inc. What an incredible gift to be able to do this work with young people.

UNCERTAINTY AND HOPE

These last three years, young people have navigated online schooling, virtual meetings, programs ending and not returning, friends graduating and not returning, the staff that supported them being laid off or leaving positions. This has been difficult. We know that.

The impact of the pandemic has confirmed what we have known all along about young people, they want a place to belong and make sense of how to use the gifts God has given them for a more loving and just world. The places and spaces where they could co-create that beautiful world were shut down and in some cases never returned. Coming back from that feels like starting over. And that is hard. Yet, the youth theology institute at Augsburg has continued to be a place that offers hope and community for high school participants and college mentors. Read one story here from a former Augsburg student, institute mentor, and past participant.

THIS YEAR

We have always known that attending our program is an additional opportunity for young people. High school students are competing for for multiple activities demanding their time. We offer a place where they can authentically be themselves and the experience of belonging. No matter who they are, where they come from, how they identify, who they love – God has created them in God’s image and their story matters here. Continue reading “Introducing THE CONFLUENCE!” →

Letter of Intent for Third Learning Community is Open!

Posted on January 24, 2023January 31, 2023

The Riverside Innovation Hub (RIH) will be launching its third congregational learning community in September of 2023. This opportunity is part of the Thriving Congregations project, through the Lilly Endowment. This work is also made possible through the support of individual donors and congregational sponsors.

Congregations interested in pursuing the application process with the RIH project are asked to have their senior pastor submit a letter of intent to apply, via this google form. Letters of intent will be accepted on a rolling basis starting January 24th, 2023.

Submission of your letter of intent will:

1) Allow congregations to indicate why the are considering to join the project.

2) Help RIH staff streamline communications as the application process moves forward by adding you to direct mailings about the process and being available to you for further conversation.

3) Help your congregational leaders move through the application process in a timely and thoughtful way.

The application and more detailed information will be made available FEBRUARY 15, 2023 and the application deadline is APRIL 20th, 2023.

Facilitator Geoffrey Gill having a conversation standing with 4 others. — *Participants gathered at our RIH Learning Event in Summer 2022.*

Project Overview

RIH will continue helping congregations live into “placed-based vocational discernment in the public square for the common good” through two-year learning communities of twelve congregations. The first learning community runs July 2021 – July 2023 and the second learning community runs September 2023 – September 2025.

APPLICATION PROCESS

Letter of Intent Opens: January 24th, 2023.
Application Opens: February 15th, 2023.
Application Closes: April 20th, 2023.
Invitations sent out to accepted congregations: Week of May 16th, 2023
Congregations accept invitations: June 8th, 2023.
Community starts: September 2023

Congregations who are a part of this learning community will develop and deepen the knowledge, skills, habits, and values to engage in this work of place-based vocational discernment in the public square for the common good through a method we call the Public Church Framework. Continue reading “Letter of Intent for Third Learning Community is Open!” →

Steve Peacock is Leading Augsburg into the Public Square for the Sake of our Neighbors

Posted on January 20, 2023January 10, 2024

Written by Jeremy Myers

This blog post is the first of many that will showcase the various ways we see vocation lived out on a daily basis in the lives and work of our Augsburg colleagues and our neighbors in the Cedar-Riverside and Seward neighborhoods.

Augsburg University – as an institution – is committed to being an engaged neighbor with the Cedar-Riverside, Seward, and Phillips neighborhoods. Many would say this has always been central to Augsburg’s mission and identity, but our practices and frameworks for showing up as a compassionate and helpful neighbor have changed over time. This change is a necessity if one is truly committed to working towards the common good with their neighbors.

This is a story about how Augsburg does the work of becoming and being an engaged neighbor.

Steve Peacock joined Augsburg University in 2008 as the University’s Community Relations Director. Steve had spent the previous 17 years working for the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) helping people and neighborhoods thrive by creating partnerships to “close systemic gaps in health, wealth, and opportunity.” Steve feels a strong call to do work that supports people at the neighborhood level. He has formal training in urban planning through the Humphrey School of Public Affairs and the University of Minnesota.

This call, though, was shaped early on as the son of a campus pastor in central Illinois. Steve saw his father consistently working at the intersections of the university, the church, and the neighborhood. He learned first-hand about the positive impact local institutions can have on the lives of the people who share their neighborhood. Steve’s own personal call to do this bridging work has helped Augsburg University live more fully into our own call to be an engaged neighbor.

Augsburg University president, Paul Pribbenow, claims Augsburg’s identity as an anchor institution in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood and we now play a key role in convening the Central Corridor Anchor Partnership. “Anchor institutions are enduring organizations that are rooted in their localities. It is difficult for them to leave their surroundings even in the midst of substantial capital flight.” (Marga, Inc). Augsburg is deeply committed to the location and neighborhood where we find ourselves and we believe we have a responsibility to function in a certain way as an institution so that our neighbors and our neighborhood might thrive. Steve’s work puts this commitment into practice.

Through this work, Steve convenes the Cedar-Riverside Neighborhood Leadership Forum which is a community of business owners and leaders from the neighborhood who meet regularly to learn about one another’s work, discuss shared hopes and concerns, and create opportunities for collaboration. Steve sees his primary work as convener. These are gifts and committed leaders who don’t need Steve or Augsburg to lead for them, but they do need someone who is willing and able to convene other potential stakeholders and partners.

Continue reading “Steve Peacock is Leading Augsburg into the Public Square for the Sake of our Neighbors” →

Public Leader Scholars Program Applications Open!

Posted on January 13, 2023January 13, 2023

Our Christensen Scholars initiative is part of the Public Leader Scholars programs which offer students a unique opportunity to explore how their worldview/faith(s) shapes them as leaders, as well as build their leadership skills.

There are two Public Leader Scholars opportunities being offered this coming academic year: Christensen Scholars and Interfaith Scholars that students can apply for!

Christensen Scholars BENEFITS:

Unique opportunities to explore Christian theology & vocation more deeply as a cohort
Earn upper division credit (4 credits) in religion
Seminar setting that is small and supportive
$2,000 scholarship, $1,500 stipend
Opportunities to develop skills related to theological reflection & vocational discernment

Interfaith Scholars BENEFITS:

Unique opportunities to explore interfaith study and learn about diverse religious/spiritual/worldview identities as a cohort
Earn upper division credit (4 credits) in religion
Seminar setting that is small and supportive
$2,000 scholarship
Opportunities to formally develop interfaith leadership skills

If you will be a sophomore, junior, or senior in 2023-2024 you are eligible to apply.

Application are due: FRIDAY FEBRUARY 17TH

If you have questions about the Christensen Scholars program, email Jeremy: myers@augsburg.edu

If you have questions about the Interfaith Scholars program, email Jane: ulringj@augsburg.edu

End of 2022: Our Key Insights and What We Are Leaving Behind

Posted on December 29, 2022January 17, 2023

It has been a year full of laughter, sorrow, change, hope, pain and so much more. We are grateful we are in this work together alongside such a wonderful staff and partners inside and outside of the Augsburg community. We asked our CCV staff to reflect on this last year asking what key insights are you carrying with you into 2023 and what are you leaving behind.

Adrienne

KEY INSIGHTS

Oh so many insights. One particularly is that boundaries help ground me and show people where I stand. They are actually a gift rather than a limitation.

LEAVING BEHIND

Unrealistic expectations of people, relationships, communities.

Amanda

KEY INSIGHTS

This year I tried some new things, from sports to needle crafts. I learned that it’s important to keep practicing being a novice and it’s perfectly fine to be bad at things.

LEAVING BEHIND

I am leaving behind the pressure of “should” and instead continuing to cultivate practices of patience and grace for myself.

Ellen

KEY INSIGHTS

Boundaries, boundaries, boundaries. This year has been a year of returning back to my roots and what grounds me. What has allowed me to show up more fully and embodied has been setting and keeping boundaries.

LEAVING BEHIND

I am leaving behind the pressure to say yes to more. If it isn’t a hell yes, then it’s a no for me right now.

Continue reading “End of 2022: Our Key Insights and What We Are Leaving Behind” →

The Story Remembered: Advent Vespers Reflection

Posted on December 17, 2022January 25, 2023

Saturday, December 17th

Advent Vespers Reflection by Kristina Frugé

Isaiah 7:13-15

Then Isaiah said: ‘Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel. He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good.

Isaiah’s words are to King Ahaz in Jerusalem. Ahaz is a ruler who neglects God and makes idolatrous choices that gravely endanger his people. Isaiah utters these words to him from within the context of an unstable time – the powerful take as they desire, the poor become pawns of the wealthy, threats of violence persist from outside nations, there is a loss of faith in God and distrust of one another, injustice rules the day. Sound familiar?

Despite the dire circumstances…the seed of God’s promise is given. In our Christian story this seed is fulfilled in the birth of Jesus. Immanuel. God With Us. It is a bold promise to speak into corrupt and oppressive realities. Jesus’ time, like Isaiah’s, and like ours, was deeply troubled. Yet none of this deters the promise of God from entering the world. Not in Isaiah’s time, not in Jesus’ time, and not in ours either.

The promise is for Immanuel. God with us. All of us.

May this seed take root in our bodies, our neighborhoods and all of creation.

May we embrace and participate in the new life this promise offers.

The Story Remembered: Advent Vespers

Posted on December 15, 2022January 18, 2023

Thursday, December 15

Advent Vespers Reflection by Sarah Runck ’24

Romans 15:3-6 [MSG]

Jesus didn’t make it easy for himself by avoiding people’s troubles, but waded right in and helped out. “I took on the troubles of the troubled,” is the way Scripture puts it. Even if it was written in Scripture long ago, you can be sure it’s written for us. God wants the combination of his steady, constant calling and warm, personal counsel in Scripture to come to characterize us, keeping us alert for whatever he will do next. May our dependably steady and warmly personal God develop maturity in you so that you get along with each other as well as Jesus gets along with us all. Then we’ll be a choir—not our voices only, but our very lives singing in harmony in a stunning anthem to the God and Father of our Master Jesus!

This translation of Romans comes from the Message bible. I love how it dives into a deeper explanation of this text. It prompted me to reflect on things in my life that correspond with this verse.

First – the therapeutic nature of music. I am a third year music therapy major which means that I am building my life around the virtue of placing myself near the troubles of others. My profession is built around caring for others more than myself, in a healthy manner. With that being said I will “take on the troubles of the troubled.”

Second – the calling and the waiting. We never know what God is going to do next, but all we can do is have hope. Hope has always had a very special meaning to me. Whenever I hear that word, it reminds me of something I once read: “H.O.P.E. Hold On, Pain Ends.” No matter how long we wait, everything will be okay in the end.

Regardless of what God calls us to do, we will sing in harmony with not only our voices but our lives as well. Our song can be one of hope because God promises to be with us in our professions, our joys and our troubles.