Faithwalking English

In this episode, Ken Shuman reflects on a passage from a book by an Old Testament scholar, Walter Brueggemann as well as on Mt. 15:1-9. In the passage Brueggemann discusses the difficult relationship between faith and politics - and further, chaos versus order and justice versus injustice. The kings were the agents of order in the history of the people of Israel, and the prophets were the agents o...

Check out the latest episode of our Keep Calm podcast! In this episode, Ken Shuman unpacks the story of Jesus turning over the tables in the gospels, beginning by asking the question, "Was Jesus reacting out of anxiety or was Jesus acting based on his best thinking?" Ken postulates that the latter is true. Jesus was not thoughtless but thoughtful. He was courageous and intentionally chos...

In this episode, Ken Shuman circles back to three characteristics of shalom he had shared with the group previously - that where shalom is, everyone has enough, no one is afraid, and there is inclusive, loving community - and responds to a group member's question about how to actually live out these things in real life and real time. His practical, powerful, and wholehearted suggestions point...

In this episode Lou Huesmann talks about one of the sources of our anxiety as human beings - the feeling that we should do more and be more. We face limitations - we are creatures created to be dependent on God, other people, and the earth. In our culture dependence is viewed negatively, yet God created us this way and declared it good - and Jesus took on our humanity and our finitude! God endorse...

In this episode, Ken Shuman interviews Scott Hescht, a Faithwalking coach and facilitator and a bivocational pastor, about the impact Faithwalking has had on his life and his ministry. Scott shares that one way Faithwalking has had a major impact on his life is by helping him learn how to manage his anxiety, particularly by teaching him to slow down and reflect. As someone who is constantly thinki...

In this episode, Ken Shuman continues his series on shalom, inviting us to shift our focus away from our present reality—all the problems and everything that looks bleak and hopeless—and toward the vision of shalom. He encourages us to trust that God is still at work faithfully fulfilling his vision, and to live as people full of faith, hope, joy, grace, and love. Two thousand years ago, people we...

In this episode, Ken Shuman expands on his belief that the Old Testament idea of shalom is the same as the New Testament concept of the Kingdom of God. He notes, “Jesus came preaching the gospel of the Kingdom; he didn’t come preaching the plan of salvation.” He quotes John Franke, who says, “The Kingdom of God is a community of love where everyone has enough and no one needs to be afraid....The g...

In this episode Ken continues his series on the Old Testament concept of shalom and what he argues is God's intended design for the world, further unpacking this beautiful vision. He talks about the idea of sin as shalom breaking (ref. Cornelius Plantinga) and explores a different way of thinking about sin - as corporate versus individual. Imagine a world that is safe, free, whole, secure, pro...

In this episode Ken Shuman launches a series on the biblical vision of shalom , which reflects God’s intended design for the whole world. Shalom means wholeness, justice, and well-being for everyone, and this dream of shalom is filled with hope for a better future. When we get discouraged or depressed, we are reminded to return to this vision and have hope that God is at work; that we are invited...

In this episode Ken speaks with Willemina Zwart about her Faithwalking journey. Willemina is a pastor, ministry leader, and long-time Faithwalking Circle leader, facilitator, and coach who lives in Ontario, Canada. Willemina highlights two Faithwalking tools that have particularly impacted her - addressing integrity gaps and the powerful work we do with vows. Speaking about integrity gaps she rema...

In this episode, Lou Huesmann unpacks a Substack post by Kathleen Smith called "Turning Off Your Anxious Scanner." In it Smith talks about the anxious habit of "scanning" - the emotionally driven monitoring of others - where, she states, the boundaries between our responsibility and others' blur. Lou connects scanning with overfunctioning - looking for something to fix in s...

In this episode, Ken spends some time with the group in Luke. He points out that in spite of the threats posed to him by the religious leaders and by living under Roman occupation, Jesus was a consistently non-anxious presence. Moreover, he did not let himself get sucked into theological or political debates of the day. Rather, he regularly and consistently defined himself and the way of the Kingd...

In this episode Ken Shuman speaks with Chris Jacobsen, a pastor of a congregation in Columbus, OH and a Faithwalking graduate who is also walking alongside members of his congregation and team as they engage in the Faithwalking process. Chris shares that Faithwalking has impacted him in many ways - and perhaps most profoundly in his ministry. The Faithwalking process helped him become aware that h...

In this episode, Ken Shuman continues his teaching on loving our enemies from Matthew 23, and specifically on what it means to speak blessing over those who curse us. He explains that "speaking blessing" means speaking good words about a person, words of praise or blessing. At the same time - in a way that could be considered a contradiction if you don't look more closely - Christ de...

In this episode, Ken speaks on Luke 6:27-38, which he believes is at the heart of the message of Jesus and what life in the Kingdom is like - and perhaps the most challenging section of Scripture. In this passage, Ken states, "Jesus invites us to love our enemies... and it's not so our enemies will change! " Christ expands on this by urging us to: - Keep doing good to those who hate...

In this episode, Ken Shuman speaks with Tammy DeRuyter about her Faithwalking journey. Tammy is a Faithwalking facilitator, coach, and former board member and Circle leader who is a middle school and high school teacher on the island of St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands. Tammy credits Faithwalking with giving her the tools to manage anxiety in much healthier ways. She speaks of how anxiety affect...

In this episode, Ken discusses Mark chapter 11 and the "triumphal entry" of Christ and relates it to what is going on in America today. There were two very different Jesuses Christians were choosing to follow - then and now. The people were crying out for a political king, a gladiator, a hero - and what they got instead was a humble servant on a donkey. They wanted a king of power, not t...

In this episode, Ken Shuman speaks with Josh Kuipers, a Faithwalking graduate from Sioux Center, IA who is Director of Worship at Northwestern College. Josh credits Faithwalking with helping him understand himself more and more deeply so that he can live in integrity with who he is and who he wants to be. He shared that he has been in a really difficult season in recent years, with both the politi...

In this episode, Ken Shuman asks us what kind of person we want to be in the midst of the polarized, highly anxious, reactive culture we are in. He then spends time unpacking James 3:13-18 and the two distinct kinds of wisdom James talks about - earthly, "natural" wisdom and the wisdom that comes from God. Are we aligning ourselves with wordly wisdom or with the wisdom from above during...

In this episode, Ken Shuman speaks of how easy it is to throw diverse groups of people into one category, which results in polarization. You hear people in the US say or imply that "ALL conservatives are evil" or "ALL liberals are evil," and so forth. Lumping people together and labeling them comes too easily in our world. It is far too easy to get sucked into the anxiety out t...

In this episode, Ken Shuman speaks with Sherri Meyer-Veen, a pastor and long-time Faithwalking facilitator, coach, and Circle leader who lives in upstate New York, about her Faithwalking journey. In it Sherri reflects that Faithwalking was a "coming home" to her - coming home "to a committed community of people seeking to truly live our their faith." Faithwalking, for her, is a...

In this episode, guest speaker, FW board member, and member of the Keep Calm community Lou Huesmann explains that self-differentiation requires clarity about what really matters to us. If we are not really clear on our values, we will be influenced and pressured by the values of everyone around us. According to Edwin Friedman, self-differentiation is the ability to claim your goals and values in t...

In this episode, Ken Shuman digs deeper into the concept of differentiation in relationships by speaking of what we mean when we say we are "close" to someone. "Typically," he states, "people define closeness as sameness." Ken unpacks this notion and asks the group how they behave when they discover someone they feel close to is different, or when that person disappoi...

In this episode, Ken Shuman speaks with Ryan Ashley, a pastor, chaplain, and long-time Faithwalker who lives in Arvada, CO, in the greater Denver area. For Ryan, Faithwalking is an opportunity to "take discipleship deep." "Faithwalking," he says, "took me on a real deep dive to understand the truth about myself and why I show up the way I show up in different situations, a...

In this episode, Ken Shuman states that he believes self-differentiation is the last and biggest hurdle in growing in emotional maturity, and it is a really challenging one. He shares a personal story about his own growth in differentiation and then puts forward seven characteristics of highly differentiated people, as growth goals for our journey toward emotional maturity. This episode was record...