January 21-23, 2025
Trinity Lutheran Seminary at Capital University
​Facilitator: Andrew Root, PhD

We are asking all participants to park in lot S2 on the east side of campus. We will provide shuttle service to and from the seminary at the beginning and end of each day.
Registration - $150
Housing arrangements are on your own. 
​Registration is now closed.
Trinity/Capital Students, Faculty, Staff are welcome to attend learning sessions and worship at no cost (meals not included).
​Registration is not required.

The Rostered Minister and Congregation in A Secular Age

Being a rostered minister is no easy task in our time.  Institutions are weaker, budgets are in decline, people are uninterested, and commitment is wavering.  But these are only symptoms of a bigger issue.  During this gathering, we will seek to peer beneath the symptoms and explore why many pastors and deacons find themselves in an identity crisis.  As we engage with the presenter and colleagues, we will examine what living in a secular age does to ministerial identity and how rostered ministers can find new footing within it.

Session 1: Why are They Leaving? Mis-Diagnosing Our Challenges in a Secular Age
Session 2: Ministry Inside the Immanent Frame: The Task of Speaking of God in a Secular Age
Session 3: Exploring Open Takes and Closed Spins: Forming a Congregation for a Secular Age
Session 4: Pulling it Together and Moving Forward

About Dr. Andrew Root:

Andrew Root, PhD (Princeton Theological Seminary) is the Carrie Olson Baalson Professor of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary.

He is most recently the author of the four volume Ministry in a Secular Age series (Churches and the Crisis of Decline, The Congregation in a Secular Age, The Pastor in a Secular Age, and Faith Formation in a Secular Age), and The End of Youth Ministry?. He has also authored Christopraxis: A Practical Theology of the Cross (Fortress, 2014) and Bonhoeffer as Youth Worker (Baker, 2014).  

Root puts together theology and storytelling to explore how ministry leads us into encounter with divine action. His book The Relational Pastor (IVP, 2013) as well as a four book series with Zondervan called A Theological Journey Through Youth Ministry (titles include Taking Theology to Youth Ministry, Taking the Cross to Youth Ministry, Unpacking Scripture in Youth Ministry, and Unlocking Mission and Eschatology in Youth Ministry) break new ground in this direction.  

In 2012, his book The Theological Turn in Youth Ministry (with Kenda Creasy Dean, IVP, 2011) was Christianity Today Book of Merit. He has written a number of other books on ministry and theology such as The Children of Divorce: The Loss of Family as the Loss of Being (Baker Academic, 2010), The Promise of Despair (Abingdon, 2010), Revisiting Relational Youth Ministry: From a Strategy of Influence to a Theology of Incarnation (IVP, 2007) and Relationships Unfiltered (Zondervan/YS, 2009).  

​Andy has worked in congregations, parachurch ministries, and social service programs. He lives in St. Paul with his wife Kara, two children, Owen and Maisy, and their dog. When not reading, writing, or teaching, Andy spends far too much time watching TV and movies.