New Book Refutes Balanced Life Approach - February 2006
(Feb. 1, ST. PAUL, Minn.) – Refuting the idea that one can achieve the “balanced life” touted by Stephen Covey and other time management experts, “The Centered Life” (Augsburg Fortress Publishing, $9.99 at www.centeredlife.org), a new book by Jack Fortin, outlines a process that readers can follow to live a centered life. Fortin is executive director of the Center for Lifelong Learning at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minn.
According to Fortin, who also leads the seminary’s ecumenical Centered Life® initiative, the answer to overcoming a life that feels fragmented, isolated and overwhelming is not about living a different life; it’s about living life differently. “We long for a more centered life, a sense of wholeness, a more peaceful, confident life,” writes Fortin. He invites readers to focus on what is at the center of their lives and to live out their calling. Fortin proposes that living out one’s calling in life is the key to living a centered life – a life that draws together all aspects of life, including faith in God, family and work. He believes that one’s calling is in the work one does every day, whether as a parent, child, neighbor, caregiver, volunteer or worker.
“Jack Fortin leads us away from the myth of ‘the balanced life’ to one that is centered in faithfulness,” said Dr. Richard Bliese, president of Luther Seminary. “Fortin provides a pathway that people can follow to pursue ministry in daily life and make the important connection between Sunday and Monday.”
Fortin’s Centered Life initiative confirms a nationwide trend in which people are bringing an increased sense of spirituality to the workplace. According to Patricia Aburdene, one of the foremost trend trackers in the United States, author of “Megatrends 2010” and co-author with John Naisbett of the first “Megatrends” book, the focus on spirituality has become so pervasive that it is “seeping into the workplace and creating a moral transformation of capitalism.”
Working with individuals and churches through its Centered Life initiative, Fortin reports that when people embrace the centered life approach, melding their work and faith lives, he sees a cultural shift. “People find themselves equipped for the real world, for their daily ordinary lives,” he said. “Although we live in many communities and have many roles, people want to bring their many selves together around one identity,” he said. “The centered life approach provides a method that allows people to do that.”
Fortin reports that many individuals who embrace the centered life approach find that God is already present in the many places they live their lives, including work. “They often learn that others have shared their sense of isolation and their desire to incorporate faith into their work,” he said.
Fortin encourages those who do not attend church and want to embrace the centered life approach to find a community of faith that will support them – a place where they can bring their entire selves and find resources to live hopeful, healthy lives.
About Centered Life
Centered Life® (www.centeredlife.org) is an ecumenical initiative that helps Christians connect their faith to their daily lives. Luther Seminary, which educates leaders for Christian communities across the country and around the world, introduced the initiative in 2001 through its Center for Lifelong Learning. Fortin helped develop the Centered Life initiative and leads the program. Luther Seminary is the largest of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) seminaries.
Author Refutes Balanced Life, Proposes Centered Life as Realistic Alternative
Jack Fortin, author of “The Centered Life,” (Augsburg Fortress Publishers, $9.99, available at www.centeredlife.org) refutes the idea proposed by Stephen Covey and others that we can live balanced lives in today’s rapidly changing, fragmented world. “The idea of a balanced life is a myth,” says Fortin. “Elements of our lives rarely stay in balance. That leads to frustration and self absorption.”
According to Fortin, who is executive director of the Center for Lifelong Learning at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minn., and leads the seminary’s ecumenical Centered Life® initiative, the answer to overcoming a life that feels fragmented, isolated and overwhelming is not about living a different life, it is about living life differently. Fortin proposes that living out your calling in life is the key to living a centered life that draws together all aspects of your life, including faith in God, family and work. It is a lifelong process, but here are four questions to begin:
1. What are you passionate about? (God is already at work through our gifts and talents.) 2. How do you see God working in the world? 3. Do you see places where what God is doing converges with your gifts and talents? 4. Do you have a community of faith that will nurture and support you as you explore what it means to live a centered life?
Centered Life® is an ecumenical initiative that helps Christians connect their faith to their daily lives. Led by Jack Fortin, who also helped develop and introduce it in 2001, Centered Life refutes the idea of a balanced life and is a process for helping people discover their strengths and callings. Fortin is executive director of the Center for Lifelong Learning at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minn. The center provides a variety of ecumenical educational opportunities for clergy and laypeople.
What's Centered Life all about?
Centered Life is an initiative for those who believe that the mission of the church is to nurture, equip, and send members to live their faith in their day-to-day lives. Those members in turn see their whole lives as ministry. The initiative helps people:
• Discover their strengths and their calling. • Use their strengths to live out their calling in their homes, communities, work and congregations. • Discover meaning, purpose and identity as faith becomes relevant to all aspects of their lives. • Participate in worship and congregational life as the primary source of nurture, sustenance and growth in faith and life.
Luther Seminary
Luther Seminary educates leaders for Christian communities across the country and around the world. The seminary’s graduates represent a third of the nation’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) pastors and a growing number of ecumenical church leaders. It is the largest of the eight seminaries in the ELCA. More than 800 students are currently enrolled at Luther Seminary. The school’s 134 ecumenical students comprise 16 percent of the student body and represent 27 denominations other than the ELCA.
Author, “The Centered Life” Executive Director, Center for Lifelong Learning Leads Centered Life® Initiative Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn.
Jack Fortin, author of “The Centered Life,” (Augsburg Fortress Publishing, $9.99, available at www.centeredlife.org) was named executive director of the Center for Lifelong Learning at Luther Seminary in 2000. Fortin also leads the seminary’s Centered Life initiative. The initiative, which he helped develop and introduce in 2001, is an ecumenical tool for creating sustainable change in congregations and people’s lives.
Prior to joining Luther Seminary, Fortin served on the Luther Seminary board of directors while serving from 1995 to 2000 as director of Wilder Forest, Amherst H. Wilder Foundation’s experiential education center in Marine on St. Croix, Minn. He concurrently served as teaching pastor at Christ Lutheran Church in Marine on St. Croix. From 1991 to 1995, he served World Vision, Inc., in Federal Way, Wash., most recently as senior vice president of operations.
Fortin worked for Young Life, Inc., from 1971 to 1991, most recently as divisional vice president in Colorado Springs, Col. In 1987, Fortin was ordained in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and he served as teaching pastor at Advent Lutheran Church in Madison, Wis., from 1987 to 1991.
In 1971, Fortin graduated with honors from Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minn., with a master’s degree in divinity. A native of Rockford, Ill., Fortin earned a bachelor of arts degree in sociology from Rockford College in Rockford, Ill.
Fortin is a chairman of the board of World Servants. He is on the board of the National Youth Leadership Council Emeritus Advisory Council, he is a member of the national and regional boards of Seeing Things Whole, Inc., and he is a board member of Lutheran Orient Mission Society. He also serves as a managing associate and senior consultant for Human Technologies International.
"Hooray for Jack Fortin, who busts open the myth of a 'balanced' life. A better goal is a 'centered' life, one which is faithful to God, moment to moment, in everything we do — at work, at home, in our communities, and in our congregations. Full of engaging stories and practical suggestions, this little book can help show us the way." —Kelly Fryer, Author of No Experience Necessary: Everybody's Welcome and coauthor, with Rolf Jacobson, of No Experience Necessary: The Bible Study
"With this exposition of 'the centered life,' Jack Fortin contributes a theologically solid guide for the congregation that takes the ministry of the laity seriously. He translates the biblical doctrine of vocation into the language and experience of the lay person without diluting the gospel of grace or reducing the Christian life to simplistic 'how-to's.' The book is written in a lively, readable way, enriched by truly relevant illustrations and the judicious use of an impressive range of resources." — Darrell L. Guder, Ph.D., Henry Winters Luce Professor of Missional and Ecumenical Theology, Dean of Academic Affairs, Princeton Theological Seminary
"Through richly described stories and theological insight, Jack Fortin provides for us a compelling and accessible case for a centered life — a life not just of being in 'balance,' but a life that begins to see the profound richness of our faith in the concrete particulars of our work, home, congregation, and community." — Michael J. Naughton, Executive Director, John A. Ryan Institute for Catholic Social Thought, University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota
