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Andrew S dungan, edD |
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Rev. Dr. Andrew Dungan serves as pastor of Summit Street Church in Beatrice, Nebraska, where he is helping cultivate a neighborhood-centered expression of the church rooted in the life and Way of Jesus. A Beatrice native, Andrew returned home after nearly twenty years away, having lived in Kansas City, Minneapolis, and Omaha. He holds a Master of Arts in Christian Education from Bethel Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, and a Doctor of Education in Leadership from Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska.
Looking back, Andrew can point to several formative seasons that shaped both his faith and his calling. Shortly after graduating from seminary, he accepted a position as Pastor of Ministry Development at a non-denominational church in Omaha. The experience ended painfully, and he left not only pastoral ministry but the church itself, uncertain whether he would ever return. In hindsight, that season became one of God's greatest gifts. The grief and disappointment he experienced reshaped the kind of pastor he would become—one who leads with humility, listens carefully, and believes that God's work is often born in places of weakness rather than success.
During his years away from congregational ministry, Andrew served in several community-based organizations throughout Omaha. He worked with a nonprofit that recruited and supported volunteers in long-term care facilities before joining Ted E. Bear Hollow, now The Collective for Hope, where he helped support children and families navigating grief. It was in these organizations that he developed a deep appreciation for community development, organizational capacity-building, and the complex human relationships that enable communities to flourish. While serving at Ted E. Bear Hollow, he completed his doctoral studies at Creighton University, where the Jesuit ideal of forming "people for and with others" further reinforced a conviction that Christian leadership is ultimately measured by faithful presence, service, and the flourishing of one's neighbors.
These experiences fundamentally shaped Andrew's understanding of the church. He believes the church is at its best not as an institution to be maintained, but as a Spirit-led movement that equips ordinary people to participate in God's work within their neighborhoods. His ministry draws deeply from principles of community development—shared ownership, collaboration, local leadership, and empowering people to discover their vocation in God's kingdom. Rather than asking how people can become more involved in church programs, Andrew is passionate about helping churches ask how they might become more deeply involved in the lives of their neighbors.
Andrew describes himself as a voice for the Neighborhood Church—a vision of the church that exists not for itself, but for the flourishing of the communities God has placed around it. He loves Jesus, loves the Church, and believes the Holy Spirit is continually inviting God's people beyond institutional maintenance and into faithful participation in God's renewing work. His passion is helping churches recover their identity as communities of witness, hospitality, and hope.
Whether someone has "done church" for decades, has never stepped inside a church building, or has concluded they are finished with church altogether, Andrew hopes they will discover in Jesus—and in the Neighborhood Church—a community where they are welcomed, known, and invited into the life God is already bringing forth in the world.
Andrew also writes Wired for Urgency, a Substack exploring the future of the Church, the Way of Jesus, Spirit-led leadership, and the practice of becoming a Neighborhood Church. Readers interested in these conversations are invited to subscribe at Wired for Urgency. Feel free to reach out to Andrew at any time.
Andrew and his wife, Alicyn, live in Beatrice with their two children, Beckett and Emberly.
Looking back, Andrew can point to several formative seasons that shaped both his faith and his calling. Shortly after graduating from seminary, he accepted a position as Pastor of Ministry Development at a non-denominational church in Omaha. The experience ended painfully, and he left not only pastoral ministry but the church itself, uncertain whether he would ever return. In hindsight, that season became one of God's greatest gifts. The grief and disappointment he experienced reshaped the kind of pastor he would become—one who leads with humility, listens carefully, and believes that God's work is often born in places of weakness rather than success.
During his years away from congregational ministry, Andrew served in several community-based organizations throughout Omaha. He worked with a nonprofit that recruited and supported volunteers in long-term care facilities before joining Ted E. Bear Hollow, now The Collective for Hope, where he helped support children and families navigating grief. It was in these organizations that he developed a deep appreciation for community development, organizational capacity-building, and the complex human relationships that enable communities to flourish. While serving at Ted E. Bear Hollow, he completed his doctoral studies at Creighton University, where the Jesuit ideal of forming "people for and with others" further reinforced a conviction that Christian leadership is ultimately measured by faithful presence, service, and the flourishing of one's neighbors.
These experiences fundamentally shaped Andrew's understanding of the church. He believes the church is at its best not as an institution to be maintained, but as a Spirit-led movement that equips ordinary people to participate in God's work within their neighborhoods. His ministry draws deeply from principles of community development—shared ownership, collaboration, local leadership, and empowering people to discover their vocation in God's kingdom. Rather than asking how people can become more involved in church programs, Andrew is passionate about helping churches ask how they might become more deeply involved in the lives of their neighbors.
Andrew describes himself as a voice for the Neighborhood Church—a vision of the church that exists not for itself, but for the flourishing of the communities God has placed around it. He loves Jesus, loves the Church, and believes the Holy Spirit is continually inviting God's people beyond institutional maintenance and into faithful participation in God's renewing work. His passion is helping churches recover their identity as communities of witness, hospitality, and hope.
Whether someone has "done church" for decades, has never stepped inside a church building, or has concluded they are finished with church altogether, Andrew hopes they will discover in Jesus—and in the Neighborhood Church—a community where they are welcomed, known, and invited into the life God is already bringing forth in the world.
Andrew also writes Wired for Urgency, a Substack exploring the future of the Church, the Way of Jesus, Spirit-led leadership, and the practice of becoming a Neighborhood Church. Readers interested in these conversations are invited to subscribe at Wired for Urgency. Feel free to reach out to Andrew at any time.
Andrew and his wife, Alicyn, live in Beatrice with their two children, Beckett and Emberly.