Eric E. Peterson - Letters to a Young Congregation: Nurturing the Growth of a Faithful Church

A master of show, dont tell, Pastor Eric Peterson invites his congregation to attend to God through the liturgies of daily life. Transparent about his own struggles while inviting people into deeper faith, Pastor Eric is a fellow pilgrim on the journey, pointing us all toward the God who holds us. Warm, invitational, and rich, this is a book to be savored.

MARY S. HULST, chaplain at Calvin College

Grace and peace is Erics consistent complementary close for each letter contained in this pastoral epistle, and its also a great summary of his writing herein. Eric believes that the congregation is the anchor point from which we live out the dynamics of a baptized life, sending us out as salt and light into all the world. Kudos to Eric, and congratulations for receiving the story and metaphor baton so faithfully from his beloved father and mentor.

STEPHEN A. MACCHIA, founder and president of Leadership Transformations; author of fifteen books, including Becoming a Healthy Church, Crafting a Rule of Life, and Broken and Whole

In a series of letters to his congregation, Eric Peterson explores with great insight the issues we all face as humans and as believers who live together in community. His memorable turns of phrase and apt metaphors are just what we need in our current culture of divisiveness to remember and embrace the transcendent unity to which Christ calls us.

KELLYE FABIAN, author of Sacred Questions: A Transformative Journey through the Bible

In these remarkable letters, I heard both Psalms and Epistles, both Oswald Chambers and Thomas Merton, both anguish and praise, both sacramental hope and nagging doubt. With humility and humanity and honesty, Eric invites his congregants to remember their baptisms, to know that the Lord is good, to do what Christ followers must do. He is a finder, and he invites his congregation and us to find. He finds doxology in earth and sky, in joy and anguish, in all the places we seldom see cause for praise. I read these letters along with my morning prayers. Their poetic tones followed the Lectionary Collects seamlessly. At first, I read four letters each morning. As I neared the books end, I found myself slowing and savoring, almost dreading the word Epilogue. I will read them again... and again. Without question, the hearts and minds of every pastor and every congregation who gets in on the savoring will benefit immensely from the warm light of these beautiful letters.

BILL ROBINSON, president emeritus of Whitworth University

In a world mass-producing books spacious in rhetorical rhinestones but spare and scarce in true gemstones, Eric Peterson has gifted us with a rarity: a diadem book of gems, each stone highly refractive of Christ. There are ruby-red chapters, brilliantly colored and translucent with truth; sapphire-blue chapters, lustrous and gleaming with beauty; ancient-demantoid missives, dazzling color bursts of love with hidden horsetail occlusions that only reveal themselves when you read slowly and open yourself to the mysteries of woundedness. You cannot help but experience new dimensions of the divine when you adorn your life with this diadem book.

LEONARD SWEET, author of Rings of Fire; professor (Drew, George Fox, Tabor, Evangelical); founder/chief contributor to preachthestory.com

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Letters to a Young Congregation: Nurturing the Growth of a Faithful Church

Copyright 2020 by Eric E. Peterson. All rights reserved.

A NavPress resource published in alliance with Tyndale House Publishers

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Don Pape, Publisher; David Zimmerman, Acquisitions Editor; Elizabeth Schroll, Copy Editor; Ron C. Kaufmann, Designer

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Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Scripture quotations marked AMPC are taken from the Amplified Bible, copyright 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.Lockman.org. Scripture quotations marked EHV are from the Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV) 2017 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the Holy Bible, King James Version. Scripture quotations marked MEV are from the Modern English Version. Copyright 2014 by Military Bible Association. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers. Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible, copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

The song At the Cross 1993 MERCY/VINEYARD PUBLISHING (ASCAP) ADMIN. IN NORTH AMERICA BY MUSIC SERVICES o/b/o VINEYARD MUSIC USA. Used by permission.

Some of the anecdotal illustrations in this book are true to life and are included with the permission of the persons involved. All other illustrations are composites of real situations, and any resemblance to people living or dead is purely coincidental.

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ISBN 978-1-64158-115-8

ISBN 978-1-64158-117-2 (ePub); ISBN 978-1-64158-118-9 (Kindle); ISBN 978-1-64158-116-5 (Apple)

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For
Eugene Hoiland Peterson

19322018

As an eagle stirs up its nest, and hovers over its young...

DEUTERONOMY 32:11

T HEY DONT KNOW IT at the time, but eagles are born to fly. When the time is right after ten to twelve weeks, on average mother eagles begin to dismantle the nest around the eaglets. Sometimes the mother will even nudge the eaglets out of the nest, although the nest gradually becomes uncomfortable enough that the eaglets will leave on their own. Thats when they begin to fly. Its an instinct they have that kicks in the moment they start free-falling.