{"id":8353,"date":"2004-12-17T18:10:23","date_gmt":"2004-12-17T23:10:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/?p=8353"},"modified":"2011-07-06T08:28:47","modified_gmt":"2011-07-06T13:28:47","slug":"4010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2004\/12\/17\/4010\/","title":{"rendered":"Freedholm: His Passion for Justice Runs Deep"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Don Meyer<\/p>\n

CHICAGO, IL (December 17, 2004)\u00a0 – Don’t let his quiet and composed demeanor\u00a0 fool you. Beneath the surface lies a passion for God and for the mission\u00a0 of the Evangelical Covenant Church that runs very deep.<\/p>\n
That comes as no surprise to those who know retiring Central Conference\u00a0 Supt. Herbert M. Freedholm, who concludes his conference service at the\u00a0 end of December. He comes from a long line of Covenant pastors and\u00a0 relationships that have helped shape his life and ministry over the\u00a0 years \u2013 the first half of his four decades as a parish pastor and the\u00a0 last half as a superintendent.<\/p>\n
His father grew up in Ravenswood Covenant Church in Chicago and was a\u00a0 pastor for more than 50 years. His father was a friend of T.W. Anderson\u00a0 while at Bethlehem Covenant in Minneapolis, where Herb was baptized by\u00a0 pastor Nathaniel Franklin.<\/p>\n
\"\"<\/a>“I’ve long roots and a deep love for the Covenant,” Herb says. “If I\u00a0 have a concern for the future, it is that the Covenant could someday\u00a0 lose the genius of that balance between our Pietistic revival roots –\u00a0 we’re not fundamentalists, but rather evangelical – and our churchly\u00a0 side. That balance makes us distinctive among denominations. That’s what\u00a0 drew people early on \u2013 they couldn’t find that kind of balance in either\u00a0 a mainline or fundamentalist church group. The Covenant found that balance.”<\/p>\n
Going into the ministry was not a difficult decision for Herb, who grew\u00a0 up in the faith both at home and as part of a church family. “It\u00a0 (ministry) has been part of my faith journey, both in the church and in\u00a0 my dad’s modeling of what ministry is,” he notes. “I am first of all a\u00a0 son of parents who modeled faith and ministry, but also a church that\u00a0 modeled who we are \u2013 open to disagreement, but not rigid fundamentalism\u00a0 that boxes you in.”<\/p>\n
Herb’s father and a few of his friends were the first to earn\u00a0 undergraduate degrees “and grasp the essence of bringing together the\u00a0 churchly and the revival sides of our faith,” he observes. “Sunday\u00a0 mornings was high church. Sunday evenings were revival services, where\u00a0 they talked about coming to faith in Christ.”<\/p>\n
It was one specific incident during his youth that may have planted the\u00a0 seed of passion that would eventually drive the roots of passion deep\u00a0 into his soul. Herb recalled the time when noted newspaper columnist\u00a0 Carl Rowen and his family moved into the neighborhood \u2013 the first black\u00a0 family to do so. “I remember the evening my dad went to their home. A\u00a0 group was outside, protesting that a black family was moving into the\u00a0 neighborhood. My dad went to stand with the Rowen family. That\u00a0 profoundly influenced my sense of social justice issues.”<\/p>\n
He also was touched by the experience of Ezra Oberg, who taught at\u00a0 Minnehaha Academy in Minneapolis, and the way in which the church family\u00a0 gathered to encourage him. Oberg lost his sight and in order to support\u00a0 his family, began selling greeting cards and brooms door-to-door in the\u00a0 neighborhood. It was the church family that nurtured and encouraged him\u00a0 during that time.<\/p>\n
Freedholm served 21 years in local Covenant pastorates (a list of those\u00a0 churches appears at the end of this story). He loved local parish\u00a0 ministry and may have remained in that arena were it not for a tragic\u00a0 event that would eventually reshape his focus \u2013 the death of the\u00a0 couple’s 11-year-old son, Peter, who died 25 years ago of Reyes\u00a0 Syndrome. One who had counseled countless numbers of others over the\u00a0 years would have to face the same piercing question from a very personal\u00a0 perspective: Where is God at times like this?<\/p>\n
Referring to the book When Bad Things Happen to Good People<\/em> by\u00a0 Harold Kushner, Herb believes the author faces the question squarely.\u00a0 “In a fallen world, God doesn’t will or want bad things to happen,” Herb\u00a0 says in paraphrasing the author. He also cites author Leslie Weatherland\u00a0 who draws a distinction between God’s “perfect will” and God’s\u00a0 “allowable will” in describing the influences that have helped shape his\u00a0 own theology. He believes this transforming time may have influenced his\u00a0 decision to leave parish ministry for his administrative leadership role\u00a0 as superintendent of the Central Conference, a position he has fulfilled\u00a0 for more than two decades.<\/p>\n
“It’s been wonderful,” he says of conference life, noting that “you\u00a0 don’t always love what you have to work with (in reference to clergy\u00a0 failures or the divided congregations he has counseled over the years).\u00a0 “But, I didn’t leave ministry – I’m still a pastor, one who has enjoyed\u00a0 nurturing and mentoring other pastors over the years.”<\/p>\n
There are two areas about which Herb is particularly passionate –\u00a0 encouraging women in pastoral and leadership roles at all levels, and\u00a0 supporting and promoting ever-expanding ethnic diversity in all areas of\u00a0 church life.<\/p>\n
“We’re nowhere where we need to be with respect to encouraging women\u00a0 pastors and encouraging an openness to their pastoral leadership,” Herb\u00a0 says of the Covenant as a denomination, quickly noting that his\u00a0 assessment is not intended as criticism. He points to the Covenant’s\u00a0 leadership in 1976 to approve the ordination of women \u2013 he was part of\u00a0 the initial effort. “We’ve made progress, but I still hear the pain of\u00a0 women who do not see more doors opening \u2013 not so much because they’re\u00a0 women, but because they are gifted.<\/p>\n
“And then, the diversity in our conference,” Freedholm continues. “It\u00a0 was there when I came, but it’s grown. Craig Anderson (retired associate\u00a0 superintendent) and I decided years ago that our conference staff needed\u00a0 to look like the conference itself with respect to ethnic and gender\u00a0 diversity,” Herb recalls. “We called Jerome Nelson, not because he is an\u00a0 African American, but because he is gifted – he just happened to be\u00a0 ethnic. I am pleased with his selection to assume my position when I\u00a0 retire at the end of December \u2013 and the fact that he becomes the first\u00a0 African American superintendent in the history of the conference and the\u00a0 denomination.”<\/p>\n
Freedholm finds the growth in ethnic diversity in the Covenant to be\u00a0 both wonderful and scary \u2013 “scary in the sense that we do not want to\u00a0 simply be another group that fails to live up to its commitments,” he\u00a0 stresses.<\/p>\n
Looking ahead, Herb sees engaging young adults in the faith as a\u00a0 continuing challenge. He sees an excellent model in churches like Fourth\u00a0 Presbyterian in Chicago and many other Covenant churches, reflecting a\u00a0 blend of good worship and ministry outreach to the surrounding\u00a0 community. “That’s what attracts the young today – a commitment to\u00a0 justice issues, but also the churchly side of our faith,” he believes.\u00a0 He contends that the young generation of the future is more interested\u00a0 “in the mystery of our faith \u2013 in the liturgy and sacraments – while\u00a0 maintaining an interest in worship styles that are more blended in\u00a0 nature. It’s a continuation of the key to understanding the Covenant’s\u00a0 historical success \u2013 that blend of the churchly side (reflecting our\u00a0 Lutheran\/liturgical heritage) and our Pietistic\/revival roots.”<\/p>\n
And what does he recommend as key areas of Covenant focus in the future?<\/p>\n