The North/West Lower Michigan Synod is excited to announce a new series of theological education courses! For five semesters beginning in Winter 2023, the North/West Lower Michigan Synod will offer six-week Zoom courses led by seminary professors. These courses are open to all adults, both laypeople and rostered ministers, and are free of charge.
Fall 2024 – Witnessing to Christ and Love for Neighbor in an Election Year
Recordings of these sessions are available to watch on our YouTube channel.
Resources from the sessions are available on our resource page.
Winter 2025 – Jesus and the Little Children
Join The Rev. Dr. Amy Lindeman Allen, Indiana Christian Church Associate Professor of New Testament at Christian Theological Seminary (Disciples of Christ) in Indianapolis, Indiana, for a six-week course titled, “Jesus and the Little Children”! Based on Dr. Allen’s book, The Gifts They Bring: How Children in the Gospels Can Shape Inclusive Ministry (WJK, 2023), sessions will include presentations on the following topics:
- The Gift of Participation: Little Children as Proprietors of the Realm of God
- The Gift of Proclamation: The Bethlehem Shepherds
- The Gift of Advocacy: James and John, Fisherfolk
- The Gift of Listening: Mary at the Feet of Jesus
- The Gift of Sharing: The Child with the Fish and Loaves
- The Gift of Partnership: A Son and His Mother at Nain
The class will meet on six consecutive Tuesday evenings: January 14, 21, 28; February 4, 11, 18, 2025 from 7:00 – 8:15pm ET via Zoom. Registration for this event has closed. Zoom links and additional information will be sent to those registered on January 8.
Amy Lindeman Allen is Indiana Christian Church Associate Professor of New Testament at Christian Theological Seminary (Disciples of Christ) in Indianapolis, Indiana. She is an ordained minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and has served three ELCA and one Episcopal congregation. She and her husband J. Erik Allen, also an ELCA pastor, were married in the Northwest Lower Michigan Synod at Trinity Lutheran Church in Kalamazoo, MI. They now reside in Brownsburg, IN with their three children: Becca (17), Joanna (13), and William (9) and their two dogs: Nala (French Bulldog) and Max (Lhasa Apso Mix). Dr. Allen’s research interests center around the Synoptic Gospels, especially the Gospel of Luke, and its intersections with people on the margins. She is especially interested in the presence of children in the gospels and how reading with attention to children both in the biblical times and today can inspire more inclusive ministry. To this end, she also serves as the director for a new Lily funded grant entitled Growing in God’s Word, a part of the Nurturing Children through Worship and Prayer Initiative intended to implement child-centered storytelling in parishes. This is also the topic of her two books: For Theirs is the Kingdom: Inclusion and Participation of Children in the Gospel According to Luke (Lexington/Fortress, 2019) and The Gifts They Bring: How Children in the Gospels Can Shape Inclusive Ministry (Westminster John Knox, 2023).
We encourage participants to read Dr. Lindeman Allen’s book, The Gifts They Bring: How Children in the Gospels Can Shape Inclusive Ministry, which the course is based upon. The book is available to purchase online.
Dr. Lindeman Allen also shares her article from Living Lutheran, which reflects upon the value of including children in all aspects of the life of the church. Read now.
Session Pre-Work and Handouts
Dr. Lindeman Allen requests participants read the following Bible passages prior to each session:
January 14, 2025 Matthew 18:1–11; Mark 9:33–37; Luke 9:46–48
January 21, 2025 Luke 2:1–20; Matthew 2:1-23; Genesis 29:1-11; 1 Sam. 16:11; 17:12-16
January 28, 2025 Matthew 4:18–22; Mark 1:16–34; Luke 5:1–11
February 4, 2025 Luke 10:38–42
February 11, 2025 Matthew 14:13–21; Mark 6:30–44; Luke 9:10–17; John 6:1–14
February 18, 2025 Luke 7:11–17