Author: Janet Peterman

Janet S. Peterman is an inner-city ELCA pastor living with her family in the Germantown section of Philadelphia. She has served the last 15 years of her ministry in seven (7) intentional ministry settings in 3 synods. She has reached the Professional Transition Specialist level of accreditation through the Interim Ministry Network (IMN), an interfaith community of transitional ministry practitioners developed to provide support and training for leaders who are leading during a time of transition. When not in active ministry, she gardens, bikes, hikes and takes joy in friends, family and photography.

How Do We Start Again?:  Reconsidering Pastoral Ethics in the ELCA from the Vantage Point of Interim Ministry

[1] As a pastor in the LCA ordained in 1981 now serving in the ELCA, I experienced the embodied pastoral ethics of Vison and Expectations as being too weighted in scope and emphasis on sexual ethics so that all other ethical considerations were overwhelmed.  Today, with the demise of Vision and Expectations, there remains a […]

Congregational Discussion Questions — Seeing Ourselves as Parts of One Body: An Exercise in Exploring Racism from a Place of Privilege

Conversation Questions to Use in an Adult Education or Forum Setting If your setting allows it, break into small groups of 3-5 participants made up of people with similar racial/ethnic experience for the first set of questions. If separate racial/ethnic groups are not possible, break into small groups by going around the room, counting off […]

Seeing Ourselves as Parts of One Body: An Exercise in Exploring Racism from a Place of Privilege

This piece offers a unique perspective on white privilege and the internalization of racism. Read about how Rev. Peterman adjusted to living in and serving an African American community and how that experience has impacted her life and theology