HomeGrown Faith is about ministry and mission in an ever changing landscape and world. A vision for HomeGrown Faith includes:
- Engaging, equipping and empowering all generations for serving one another, like Jesus.
- Creating a seamless journey for faith formation that connects each generation, age and stage of life.
- Equipping households to speak the language of faith and practice the heart of faith — at home and away from home.
- Knowing and treasuring, “like an old family recipe,” the faith stories of our ancestors — those recorded in holy scriptures and those belonging to the generations who came before me.
- Becoming “living stones” — story tellers of Creation’s unfolding story in your life and her story in mine.
“HomeGrown Faith” is my trade-mark. The phrase HomeGrown Faith reflects not only my ministry, but my rural roots in Iowa.
What is the origin of the phrase, HomeGrown Faith? As a Christian Educator, I have unabashedly borrowed, re-purposed and utilized other people’s imaginative concepts and resources. But the phrase, HomeGrown Faith, was the result of my own “hav’n a g-o-o-d idea,” as my two young sons use to regularly declare. In 2004, in my role as Assistant to the Bishop for Faith Formation in the Grand Canyon Synod- ELCA, we began an 18-month initiative to work intensively with a dozen congregations to connect church and home for nurturing faith. One restless night I awoke, alert, with this phrase clearly planted in my heart and mind; a middle of the night revelation and answer to the wondering, “What to call the initiative?”
Similar to the exchanges at a farmers market, my hope is that HomeGrown Faith will become a space and a relationship where we share fresh ideas and support one another across all ages and generations in the nurturing of an organic faith in Jesus Christ, deeply rooted, generative, and sustainable for a lifetime. A place, where like a farmer’s market, the variety and practices of our neighbors’ faith are welcomed and honored.
Whether you are a congregation, institution, household or individual, I look forward to partnering with you as together in Christ, and with the guidance of the Spirit, we tend our faith into fullness and maturity for existing generations and the next.
My life, work and relationships are all viewed through the lens of progressive Christianity, with respect and honoring of all faiths.
So welcome! I am eager to interact with you through social media and in person. To network with the HomeGrown Faith community, join the Facebook Fan Page.
Linda 