Published on
August 26, 2019
These video excerpts come from a conversation between Douglas J. Brouwer and John D. Witvliet at the annual Calvin Institute of Christian Worship— CICW—grants colloquium in June 2019.

Douglas J. Brouwer served nearly forty years as a Presbyterian pastor. He retired in 2018 from the International Protestant Church in Zurich, Switzerland, and now lives near Holland, Michigan. This conversation at the CICW annual grants event in 2019 marked the end of his eighteen-year service on the Vital Worship Grants Advisory Board.

The entire fifty-minute conversation covered pastoral ministry, learning to listen well, insights from Brouwer’s many books, vocation in retirement, and more.

Witvliet and Brouwer talked most about how “pastoral imagination” influences pastors, mentors, congregations, and grant projects. Theologian Craig Dykstra coined the term during his years as senior vice president at the Lilly Endowment Inc. Vital Worship Grants are made possible through the generous support of Lilly Endowment Inc.

Pastoral imagination

To learn more about pastoral imagination, read Dykstra’s essay “Pastoral and Ecclesial Imagination” in For Life Abundant: Practical Theology, Theological Education, and Christian Ministry, eds. Dorothy C. Bass and Craig Dykstra, pp. 41–61.

Pastoral imagination in grant proposals

Mentoring and pastoral imagination

The vocation of writing while pastoring

Related books: Beyond “I Do”: What Christians Believe about Marriage and How to Become a Multicultural Church, reviewed here.

Learning to love listening

The importance of blessing people

How to lead healthy change well

Vocation in retirement

Recent Media Resources

Preaching and Peacemaking

What is the role of preaching in situations of deep conflict and division? How can preaching participate in the Christian call to peacemaking? This panel will explore the connections between gospel preaching and peacemaking efforts.

June 30, 2024
Receptive Ecumenism in Neighborhoods, Soccer Fields, and Workplaces

This session will explore how to talk about differences in Catholic and Protestant worship. Every time we talk with a neighbor, teammate, or coworker from a different Christian tradition about what we do in worship and why, we are practicing liturgical theology. 

June 30, 2024