< Meet Our Members

About Lee Van Ham

Childhood -- I was born into a Dutch-English speaking household on a farm near Pella, IA.  Grew up loving the land.

Education -- Began in a rural one-room school.  Degrees from Wheaton College, B.A.; McCormick Seminary (1967) after two years at Princeton. 

Work -- Pastored 3 Presbyterian Churches (Elmhust, IL, Lincoln, NE, Wheaton, IL) over 32 years.  Offered spiritual direction; taught adults on a wide range of subjects in institutes, conferences, and churches.  Retired at age 58 to join with others in forming Jubilee Economics Ministries (JEM), an NGO committed to learning, teaching, and practicing the alternative economics of the biblical sabbath-jubilee. For more information on my current work please visit the JEM website, www.jubilee4justice.org

Writings and publications -- articles in The Christian Century, Faith @ Work, Prairie Light Review (poetry), and Sacred Journey.  Many unpublished designs for group processes and booklets on the economics of sabbath-jubilee, including...

•  Sabbath-Jubilee Economics in Brief: A Grassroots, Global-Local Alternative to Neoliberal, Corporate Globalization
• Portfolio Prophets: Investing in a Jubilee Economy
• The Rich-Poor Gap: How the Plight and Salvation of Rich and Poor People Are Linked
• Circles of Abundance (group process for changing our economic practices into the sabbath-economics of abundance)
• A Jubilee of Actions: 50 Ways into the Practice of Sabbath-Jubilee

Family -- My spouse, Juanita, and I have a grandson, two step-children and two children each.

Play -- Hiking in mountains, writing poetry, bicycling, dancing, playing dominoes

• Lifestyles for a Sustainable World
  Date: 04/16/2005



• Third World Opportunities "Seminary Class"
  Sponsoring Organization: Third World Opportunities
  Date: 01/11/2006



• Earth Summit Regional conference
  Date: 10/08/2005



• Organizing a Fair Trade Network in San Diego
  Date: 10/27/2005