Eat Local has become a philosophy of dining where one’s local community reaps the benefits of consumer dollars as they feast on fresher delights not shipped thousands of miles. Interestingly, the global/local melding produces palates that long for some sort of Asian-Cuban fusion dish. Even well rooted dishes to a particular region are expected to maintain global sensibilities.
This local/global tug is in the Shop Local philosophy, where by patronizing the small business, dollars are kept in one’s community, enhancing an entrepreneurial mindset and encouraging more choice. Still, we all long for the latest technology designed, manufactured and marketed on at least three continents.
NXTGEN Pastors sees the benefits of such a tension, of loving the local culture in which pastors are called to serve all the while embracing the cross pollination that takes place with a global mindset. While Learn Local may not be recognized as a trend, there is benefit when a Christian leader is identified, discipled, and sent to serve the saints in his own geographic locale.
The confluence of training that makes the best of both one’s immediate context while wrestling with biblical truths in a broader venue enhances one’s ability to discern culture and serve where he is rooted.
NXTGEN Pastors is designed to help the next generation of leaders to learn local, to serve local, and to change the world.
“Two things: On the one hand, I could not afford to uproot my life and family and, on the other, I didn’t want to do any kind of studying in an isolated, 100% online format. On Wisconsin (one presbytery’s expression of NXTGEN) has allowed me to stay rooted in my community while still experiencing a kind of student camaraderie and the building of life-long friendships that anyone would hope to get from attending a conventional school.”
Jason Viljoen
Green Bay, Wisconsin
“Two things: On the one hand, I could not afford to uproot my life and family and, on the other, I didn’t want to do any kind of studying in an isolated, 100% online format. On Wisconsin (one presbytery’s expression of NXTGEN) has allowed me to stay rooted in my community while still experiencing a kind of student camaraderie and the building of life-long friendships that anyone would hope to get from attending a conventional school.”
Jason Viljoen
Green Bay, Wisconsin