Lutheran Theological Seminary Saskatoon

"Brave Changes, Shared Hope"

Dr. Harrison had a marvellous time with a great group from the Northern Area of ABT Synod, ELCIC, on May 9th, working with his book, Leadership in a Shrinking Church. Thanks to everyone who attended and to the wonderful hosts at Grace Lutheran! On June 6th, he will be at First Lutheran Church in Calgary.

ABT people: don't forget to sign up!
https://albertasynod.ca/our-ministries/fulfilling-our-mission/education/area-gatherings

Join us for Convocation celebrations Friday, May 29, 2026.

Whether you gather with us in person or join online, we would be grateful to have you share in this day of worship, celebration, and thanksgiving.

10:00 am
Conclusio Eucharist Worship
St. Andrew’s Chapel
Livestream: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82963758924

7:00 pm
Convocation Ceremony
Augustana Lutheran
Livestream: https://www.youtube.com/live/0fS57-FSlUc

Convocation is a time to give thanks to God for our graduates, for the communities that have formed and supported them, and for the work to which they are being called.

At LTS, we celebrate this work as part of our shared life with the churches and communities of Western Canada. Our classroom is Western Canada, and our graduates carry their learning into ministry, leadership, and service across this wider landscape.

We hope you can join us.

"Professors often receive e-mails from publishers promoting new books, and one that recently caught my eye was E.K. Strawser’s You Were Never Meant to Lead Alone: The Power of Shared Leadership, published last year by InterVarsity Press.

Strawser is a co-vocational lead pastor at a non-denominational church in Honolulu, as well as a physician, and writes about how leadership in ministry is done as a community. The book offers a well-balanced combination of scholarly research and practical experience, including a critical analysis of her early days in a male-dominated megachurch leadership structure.

I have found this book to be a good conversation partner with Kristina Lizardy-Hajbi’s Unraveling Religious Leadership: Power, Authority, and Decoloniality (Fortress Press, 2024), which I currently use in my Leading Missional Communities course. Lizardy-Hajbi and I are both members of the Academy of Religious Leadership.

Together, these books set forward a healthy approach to leadership that challenges dominant models built around titles, gatekeeping, and hierarchy. Some of Strawser’s theological foundations do not align with my own approach, which does not surprise me with an IVP book, so I would recommend it as long as readers bring it into dialogue with their own theological traditions." Rev. Dr. Kyle Schiefelbein-Guerrero

Rev. Dr. Bill Harrison is working with the ABT Synod to help congregations think carefully about declining participation and the future of church life.

These workshops will explore how broader social changes are affecting churches and other voluntary organizations. Participants will have space for small group conversation about the impact of these shifts in their own contexts.

Rev. Dr. Harrison will also introduce a different way of thinking about the good news and the church, shaped around four kinds of transformation. He will share “A Gospel Vision Statement,” a tool that helps church organizations assess their real capacities and possibilities as they reimagine their future.

All denominations are welcome to attend.

Register here:
https://form.jotform.com/260976366160261