COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (October 30, 2018)—NavPress announces the November release of Janice Peterson’s debut book, Becoming Gertrude: How Our Friendships Shape Our Faith, detailing the important role of spiritual friendship in faith formation.
Every person who visited Eugene and Jan Peterson at their cabin on Flathead Lake in Montana arrived eager to talk with Eugene—and returned talking about the warm kindness and feisty wisdom of Jan. Living a quiet life of service and hospitality behind the scenes, Jan Peterson has spent her years showing spiritual friendship and gospel love to the people around her. In Becoming Gertrude, she shares her story for the first time, offering insights into friendship, service, and hospitality.
Becoming Gertrude has emerged from years of Jan’s writing and life experiences and is a winsome, thoughtful reflection on how to live out faith in relationship. The title is an homage to a neighbor from her childhood, an older woman who opened her home to Jan and became a sounding board and proving ground for Jan’s thinking and spiritual health. As Eugene wrote in the book’s afterword, “[Jan] has practiced the art of spiritual friendship, ‘always present, always caring.’ She is the most practical theologian I know. Through the deeply personal friendships she has invested herself in over the course of a lifetime, she has become more her God-created self in the company of others. As I have in hers.”
NavPress publisher Don Pape says, “I’ll never forget the gathering of pastors in the Petersons’ home and Jan’s very quick response to one of them when asked if she had written a book. She assured the group that Gene was the writer in the family. And then as we left she presented me with a tattered old brown binder with her writings. What a surprise. What a gift. This book is a treasure trove of practical life skills that comes from a faithful life, a life committed to her Lord and her family. She really is a good friend to have!”
For media inquiries, please contact Katie Dodillet at Tyndale House Publishers, katiedodillet@tyndale.com.
The NavPress mission is to advance the calling of The Navigators by bringing biblically rooted, culturally relevant, and highly practical products to people who want to know and love Christ more deeply. Through The Message Bible and other insightful resources, NavPress seeks to bring positive spiritual movement to people’s lives. In January 2014, NavPress entered into an alliance with Tyndale House Publishers to strengthen and better position NavPress and its rich content for the future. NavPress provides books and other content that bring spiritual impact and life transformation and help lead in the mission of making disciples.
