What The Davenant Institute Means to Me

And why you should support it

The Davenant Institute has meant a lot to me over the years. It gave me words to understand my faith, a place to cultivate wisdom alongside friends, and a deep hope for the future of the church.

You may not have heard of this organization, but let me tell you what it is and why it is so near to my heart.

At its core, The Davenant Institute is made up of an army of friends who are bound together by their common love of Christ. By a long obedience in the same direction (to use a phrase by Eugene Peterson, who himself found it in Nietzsche), The Davenant Institute seeks wisdom where it may be found to renew the church of Christ.

It does so through its Press, its classes and programs at Davenant Hall, its journal Ad Fontes, and its in-person convivia (events). It also equips pastors and churches to grasp the changing landscape of congregational life in the digital age.

The Davenant Institute’s President Emeritus Brad Littlejohn used to tell people that Davenant’s mission was “show what it means to be faithful Christians and good citizens in a world where those are no longer the same thing.”

I love that turn of phrase. We live in a strange and secular age. It has become increasingly hard to understand how we can be good citizens and Christians today. We inhabit the world of Ecclesiastes and Proverbs, a world that requires wisdom to navigate through it.

The Davenant Institute is one place that cultivates such wisdom as it looks to past wisdom to renew today’s church.

You need to support this organization.

Christians often support crisis centres. And they do well do so. I would suggest that The Davenant Institute functions as a crisis centre in our rootless and secular age. It provides the medicine of wisdom to cure the malaise of our age.

As the year draws to a close, please consider donating to The Davenant Institute.