Rev. Dr. David W. Anderson
danderson@tyfi.org
(952) 405-7305

Dr. David W. Anderson is the Director of Home and Congregational Renewal at The Youth & Family Institute in Bloomington, MN. He has been one of the key individuals in developing a new paradigm for youth and family ministry, The Child In Our Hands Initiative, and resources to accompany it. He is also the co-developer of the Hand in Hand and Four Key Congregational Training events that tailor the Child In Our Hands Initiative to individual congregations. Dr. Anderson is an ecumenically and internationally recognized leader in faith and family life enrichment. In addition to working with numerous denominations across the United States, his ministry has also taken him to Canada, Australia, Norway, and Sweden. He has worked with church leaders from Columbia, England, Ghana, and Latvia. He has also served as a consultant and educator with the Lutheran World Federation, national church judicatories, continuing education programs for clergy and lay leaders, and individual congregations. He has taught pastoral theology at Luther Seminary (St. Paul, MN) and St. Thomas Divinity School (St. Paul, MN). He is adjunct faculty at the Center for Youth Ministries of Wartburg Seminary (Dubuque, IA), Augsburg College (Minneapolis, MN), and Concordia University, (St. Paul MN). Dr. Anderson has been an editor of adult Christian curriculum at Augsburg Fortress Publishers, parish pastor, and hospital chaplain. He has written extensively on partnering home and congregation in faith formation. Dr. Anderson is the author of Frogs without Legs Can’t Hear: Nurturing Disciples in Home and Congregation (Augsburg Fortress Publishers, 2003) and The Child In Our Hands Leadership Manual (published by the Youth & Family Institute of Augsburg College, 1998).

David W. Anderson received his Doctor of Theology degree in Pastoral Care and Counseling from Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1990. His doctoral thesis is entitled, Luther's View of the Christian Home: A Family Theory Critique. He also has a Master's degree in New Testament with the thesis, A New Testament Spirituality via the Lucan Lord's Prayer. His seminars and retreats reflect his concern for elevating the home as a primary environment for the development of the life of faith. Dr. Anderson brings both pastoral experience and scholarship to his ministry.

Dr. Anderson conducts numerous conferences, workshops and trainings for The Youth & Family Institute, including:

Child In Our Hands conferences
The Hand in Hand Covenant
Four Key Congregational training
The Family Factor in Faith Nurture
Milestones Ministry for Home & Congregation
Making Disciples through Worship and Preaching: Jesus Makes the Difference

Books

The Child In Our Hands Leadership Manual, with contributions from Roland D. Martinson (Minneapolis: Youth & Family Institute of Augsburg College, 1998).

Frogs without Legs Can’t Hear: Nurturing Disciples in Home and Congregation, by David W. Anderson and Paul Hill (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2003).

Books and Resource Chapters

“ Planning Cross-Generational Ministry at Home,” in Across the Generations—Incorporating All Ages in Ministry: The Why and How (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2001).

“ Foundations for Ministry with Children,” by David W. Anderson and Oddbjørn Evenshaug in Planning for Effective Programs for Children (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1994).

“ Vital Connections in Learning: Home and Congregation in Partnership,” in Teach! Reaching families in your community—1996-1997 Parish Education Planner (Chicago: Division for Congregational Ministries, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, 1996).

Periodical Articles

“ Changing Family Structures and Congregational Ministries,” in Word & World: Theology for Christian Ministry, vol. 17, no. 4, fall, 1997. Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN.

“ Nurturing Faith at Home” seven-part series in The Lutheran, vol. 6, no. 7, February through August, 1993, the magazine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Chicago, IL.

“ Vital Connections in Learning: Home and Congregation in Partnership,” David W. Anderson and Erling J. Pettersen, in Lutheran W