Our Mission & Beliefs
Peterson House is a place for people to slow down, sit with Scripture, listen to it and each other, and have it shape our lives.
Our mission is to help people engage with the Bible in transformative ways.
We gather diverse groups of people to be formed by our sacred biblical text. We are a place where Scripture comes alive in new ways to impact individuals, our churches, and our communities.
Peterson House is for people who want to go deeper with Scripture in community with others.
At Peterson House, we read Scripture:
in unhurried delight
for transformation
in committed, diverse community
facilitated by teachers and pastors who know and love Scripture
in a welcoming, contemplative setting
We know that Jesus grew up in a textually immersed culture. Looking at the history of the Bible, especially for ancient Israel and the Hebrew Scriptures, the Torah was read aloud. The Bible needs to be heard… read aloud together.
We take the Bible seriously and look to it for inspiration, direction, and transformation. Why? Because Jesus did.
Jesus taught from the ancient text and made it accessible. Through him, those ancient texts felt fresh and life-changing. From his childhood Jesus honored the importance of the Scriptures. He unrolled the scroll and inspired his elders. When he spoke the Scriptures to remind God’s people who they were, their eyes were opened and people hungered to hear more. The Bible isn’t just a book about someone else. It is about us and what God is at work accomplishing through us and God’s creation. How are we joining Jesus in this reliance on God’s word?
The Bible is an active text that invites us to read, interact with, and see ourselves as part of God’s creative and redemptive story.
He came to Nazareth where he had been reared. As he always did on the Sabbath, he went to the meeting place. When he stood up to read, he was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written,
God’s Spirit is on me;
he’s chosen me to preach the Message of good news to the poor,
Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and
recovery of sight to the blind,
To set the burdened and battered free,
to announce, “This is God’s year to act!”
He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the assistant, and sat down. Every eye in the place was on him, intent. Then he started in, “You’ve just heard Scripture make history. It came true just now in this place.”
Luke 4:17-21 The Message
