Dwight Friesen, DMin
Dr. Friesen brings decades of missional pastoral experience to The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology. He was the community-curate of an Eastside emerging simple church for more than 11 years. Formerly ordained by the Christian & Missionary Alliance, Dr. Friesen surrendered those credentials in solidarity with women seeking ordination. He is a liturgical Anabaptist with progressively Evangelical and emergent sensibilities actively seeking to root his faith practice within place while linking globally with others who are seeking to live into their contexts.
Dwight earned his Doctor of Ministry degree at George Fox University, where his dissertation research focused on the development of a relational hermeneutic toward connective church leadership and ecclesial structure. He earned his master’s degree from Trinity International University in Deerfield, Illinois and his undergraduate degree from Ambrose University College in Calgary, Alberta. Dwight is active locally and internationally with contextual missional church movements, served for a number of years on the “Faith & Order Commission” of the National Council of Churches. He is co-founder of the Inhabit Conference.
Dwight, his wife Lynette, their son Pascal, and their dog Jack live in the Lake Hills neighborhood of Bellevue, Washington. Dwight blogs irregularly at dwightfriesen.com.
Courses
- Leadership in the New Parish Certificate
- Introduction to the Hermeneutical Task: The Art of Reading Beyond the Page
- Mission in a Global Context
- Theories of Culture
- Essential Community: On Earth as it is in Heaven
- Life Together 1: Ancient Future Church & Worship
- Life Together 2: Relational Leadership & Pastoral Ethics
- Integrative Project: Exploring the Future
- Advanced Seminar (themes change each year)
Books
- The New Parish: How Neighborhood Churches are Transforming Mission, Discipleship and Community, co-authored with Paul Sparks and Tim Soerens
- Routes & Radishes: And Other Things to Talk About at the Evangelical Crossroads, co-authored with Mark Russell, Allen Yeh, Michelle Sanchez, and Chelle Stearns
- Thy Kingdom Connected: What the Church can learn from Facebook, the Internet, and Other Networks
Published Chapters in Edited Books
- “What’s Going on Here? Trusting God’s Story in Your Own” in Signs of the Times: Pastoral Translations of Ministry & Culture in Honor of Leonard I. Sweet
- “Formation in the Post-Christendom Era: Exilic Practices and Missional Identity” in The Gospel after Christendom: New Voices, New Cultures, New Expressions
- “Orthoparadoxy: Emerging Hope for Embracing Difference” in An Emergent Manifesto of Hope
Dwight has also published articles, book reviews, and interviews in The Other Journal, Views from the Edge, aLife, Leadership Journal, Homebrewed Christianity, Mustard Seed Newsletter, Soulerized, National Council of Churches, Next-Wave