Dwight Friesen, DMin

Dr. Friesen is passionate about reimagining how people imagine and practice following in the way of Jesus the Christ, personally and collectively. His scholarly work centers on how people convene together in local communities which fosters greater imagination, practices, postures, and narratives for experiencing G-d’s Shalom; the centering of G-d’s Shalom within real places with real neighbors subverts the values, practices, and narratives of classism, sexism, racism, naturism, and all systems that seek to oppress. Dwight describes his professional calling as: “searching for, learning with, and training leaders for the ‘church’ emerging after Western whiteness Christianity.”

Known for beginning his classes by sounding a singing bowl and lighting a peace candle, Dwight brings many years of contextual pastoral leadership experience to The Seattle School. Recently, he served as the part-time Pastor of Bellevue’s St Luke’s Lutheran Church. He was the community curate of an Eastside emerging simple church for more than eleven years; he was ordained by the Christian & Missionary Alliance until surrendering those credentials in solidarity with women seeking ordination. He is a liturgical Anabaptist with progressive and emergent sensibilities, actively seeking to root his faith practice within place while linking globally with others who are seeking to live within their contexts. Dwight aims to free apophatic and cataphatic theologic traditions to dance together in his everyday life.

Dr. Friesen earned his Doctor of Ministry degree at George Fox University, where his dissertation research focused on the development of a relational hermeneutic toward connective leadership and ecclesial structures. He earned his master’s degree from Trinity International University in Deerfield, Illinois where his thesis explored biblical images and metaphors of community, and his undergraduate degree from Ambrose University College in Calgary, Alberta.

In addition to his leadership development work at our seminary, Dwight is a consultant for local faith communities and missional organizations seeking an even more faithful presence within their contexts, and has a focus on helping neighborhood churches – from a wide array of traditions – flip the script on funding ministry through reimagining asset management. He is a co-founder of the Inhabit Conference, a founding board member of Parish Collective, and engages internationally with the Urban Shalom Society, and Faith for Cities in service of United Nations-Habitat. His personal calling & realms of professional expertise make meaningful contact in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) eleven & sixteen… “Cities” & “Peace.” He has served on the National Council of Churches’ “Faith & Order Commission,” and occasionally serves as an adjunct professor at undergraduate, masters, and doctoral levels at seminaries and Bible colleges in both Canada and the USA, and regularly speaks at conferences both nationally and internationally

Dwight and his partner Lynette live in the Lake Hills neighborhood of Bellevue, Washington, where they are adjusting to life as empty nesters. His personal blog is www.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