Have you ever sensed that something is slipping away? Connections that once held us together now feel thin, scattered, or fragile?
I’ve lived with that feeling for several years. When I retired in 2021; both from my work as an elementary school custodian and from three decades of pastoral ministry, I didn’t step away from caring about people or the Church. I stepped into a strange space: the world doesn’t feel like it used to, and the ways we once formed Christian faith, identity, and community no longer seem to hold.
Some say “older ministers don’t retire—they’re just put out to pasture.” Hence the title, “Pastor From the Pasture.” But the pasture hasn’t made me passive. If anything, the quiet has sharpened a deep question:
How do we rebuild genuine human connection in a world shaped by isolation, acceleration, and fragmentation?
In 2004, I planted a new church community focused on young adults unfamiliar with church culture. It became a surprisingly intergenerational mix—an early glimpse of what I now see as essential. When the pandemic arrived, restrictions dissolved our ability to gather, and like many communities, we drifted into new patterns of life that changed us more than we realized.
The pandemic didn’t create our isolation; it identified it.
I see signs of it everywhere now:
Families fractured by distrust and dividing beliefs
Neighbours rarely meet
Young people searching for wisdom
Older adults carry wisdom with fewer places to offer it
Technology promises connection but quietly produces loneliness
And across generations, people are losing (or not learning) the ability to think critically, talk patiently, and wrestle with questions without retreating into their own echo chambers.
Still, I won’t accept this is the end of the story.
I imagine a community – small, grounded, honest, and hopeful where:
Children through elders learn to listen to one another
People admit their struggles without fear of being shamed or “fixed”
Friendship grows naturally, not through programs or performances
Hope is grounded, not sentimental
Faith is shaped slowly, thoughtfully, and in real life
Not another institution.
Not a reboot of the church-growth era.
Not a nostalgic return to the good ‘ol days.
Instead I look to a formational learning community – a place where ancient biblical wisdom meets the realities of modern life, where we relearn what it means to desire well, live well, trust well, and belong well. A space where we shape one another’s imaginations toward a life aligned with God’s good purposes.
Over the years, walking with people in both joy and deep grief has taught me that biblical formation can’t be mass-produced. It happens relationally, patiently, across all ages through shared experience. Every person carries a unique story, and every relationship takes time.
If you’re sensing what I’m sensing; a desire for:
deeper relationships
a more grounded and dynamic Christian faith
an intergenerational space where learning is honest and hope is realistic
a recognition that our world is changing faster than we know how to respond
– then you may already be part of this journey.
This blog is my attempt to explore what such a community might look like.
A place of slow formation in a accelerated age.
A place of shared wisdom in a fragmented world.
A place of intergenerational learning when much of society sorts us into isolated age cohorts.
If you want to explore this with me, welcome.
We’ll relearn life and faith together.