RJ Grunewald
RJ Grunewald is a NextGen Pastor at Faith Lutheran Church in Troy, Michigan. He’s the author of “The Art of Law & Gospel” and believes that theology isn’t meant for the academics, but it’s meant for everyday life. RJ’s writing can be found at rjgrune.com. RJ has been married to his wife Jessica since 2007 and they have 3 kids.
4 Ways to Win the Week Between Christmas and New Year’s
Friday December 27, 2019 | RJ GrunewaldAs you return to work, don’t miss your opportunity to do something this week that you couldn’t do in the weeks leading up to Christmas and you won’t be able to do once the New Year hits. Read more
An Experiment in Creating Parent Small Groups
Monday November 19, 2018 | RJ GrunewaldThis fall, we launched an experiment as a NextGen team. We’ve been wrestling with what it looks like for us to better partner with parents—to move beyond handouts and to work together. For us this has resulted in a small group experiment. For the past several months, our NextGen staff has been working on a […] Read more
What I’ve Learned About Being a NextGen Pastor
Monday November 12, 2018 | RJ GrunewaldA year and half ago I transitioned from middle school ministry into a role as NextGen Pastor. I immediately began asking, “What does this look like?” Since that time, I’ve asked that question and have heard it asked countless times. Just a few days ago, I was talking with another Family Pastor before Orange Tour […] Read more
What We Get Wrong About Partnering With Parents
Wednesday September 19, 2018 | RJ GrunewaldWe are really good at talking about the importance of partnering with parents without actually doing it. Maybe that’s a bit harsh, but every church leader that I’ve ever met who works with kids or teenagers is “partnering with parents.” But they’re not really. Partnering with parents is the spoken value of a lot of […] Read more
What Facebook Knows that Churches Don’t
Wednesday March 21, 2018 | RJ GrunewaldIn early January, Mark Zuckerburg made an important announcement regarding changes to the Facebook Newsfeed: “We’re making a major change to how we build Facebook. I’m changing the goal I give our product teams from focusing on helping you find relevant content to helping you have more meaningful social interactions.” According to Zuckerburg and the […] Read more
How to Help Kids Remember What Matters
Monday January 29, 2018 | RJ GrunewaldThere’s a retired lab technician named EP, who in the book Moonwalking with Einstein, is referred to as “the most forgetful man in the world.” EP suffered from one of the most severe cases of amnesia ever documented; his memory extended back only as far as his most recent thought. Questions like, “What did you […] Read more
