About

Terri Martinson Elton

I love the outdoors. My parents introduced me to the wilderness as a child. You see camping was a cheap way for a family of six to explore the world and southern California was the perfect playground. On any given weekend we could drive to the beach, mountains, and/or deserts to escape city life. Road trips to visit grandma and grandpa in the Midwest were another opportunity to be outdoors. Hiking in the Rocky Mountains or “Oohing and Aahing” at the beauty of the Grand Canyon entertained energetic children and expanded our view of the world. When we moved to Minnesota, summers included time at the lake or camping “up north.” Exploring nature taught me practices that allowed me to navigate diverse environments and conditions, taught me resiliency, and opened my imagination. I did not always appreciate the outdoor experiences we had as a family, at least at the time, but these experiences instilled in me an appreciation for the beauty of God’s creation and a respect for its unpredictable forces. It was’t until I was an adult, that I realized the unique gift it was to have these experiences woven throughout my life.

I also love God. My parents also introduced me to the one who created, redeemed, and sustains the outdoors. They did it in formal ways, like bringing me to worship and taking me to Sunday school, and informal ways, like teaching me to pray and instilling in my a love for my neighbor. Sometimes we talked about it, others times we just lived it. While I never doubted God’s existence or love, I had lots of questions about church. In their wisdom, they welcomed my curiosity and let me find my own way, as they modeled it by remaining faithful and present. Society today is nothing like it was when my parents grew up. While they didn’t know what lie ahead, they chose not to panic about my faith and instead witnessed to a life where God was the foundation. This experience, along with a disciplined way to investigate my questions, provided me with a GPS for living abundantly today.

This book is born out of reflecting on my own life and formal and informal conversation with many dialog partners. It has an eye to the future, as I think about my own witness and the role the church plays. And serves as a guide for others who care about the future witness to the Christian faith.

Journeying in the Wilderness recognizes a life of faith is always contextual, and today’s context is highly dynamic with many forces coming together to create seismic shifts at record speeds. Offering a practice-centered approach to faith formation, it is a resource for people to accompany each other in discovering a Christian way of life today. It has lessons from wilderness stories in the Bible, learnings from theology and theory, discussion questions and practices to accompany individuals and/or communities in their own discovery process.

To find out more, see https://www.fortresspress.com/store/productgroup/1394/Journeying-in-the-Wilderness