Ron Ruthruff

Background

About Ron Ruthruff

Currently Ron serves as associate professor of theology and culture at The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology. Ron is core faculty, currently teaching courses such as, “Love in Public: What Does the Bible Say about Injustice?”; “Developing Cultural Competency: Being the Word on the Street” and “Care of the Soul in the Call of Sacred Activism.” Ron is ordained clergy with the Street Psalms Community and a Senior Fellow with Street Psalms Resource Center, providing training, and support for grassroots urban leaders who serve youth and families in hard places around the world. Ron’s education is an eclectic blend of social work, counseling, and theological studies. Ron holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Western Washington University, a Master of Science degree from Pepperdine University, and a doctor of ministry in complex urban settings degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Boston. His dissertation title, Welcoming Kids to the Table of Community: New Horizons Ministries as a Model of Service to Homeless Runaway Adolescents, addresses the psychosocial and spiritual issues surrounding homeless adolescents and describes a relationally based and theologically supported service delivery strategy to serve these marginalized young people. For 30 years Ron, with his wife Linda, served marginalized communities and street involved youth. He has provided case management services, designed programs, and educated the community on the issues that impact this vulnerable population. Ron completed has two books released by New Hope publishers, The Least of These: Lessons Learned from Kids on the Street, in 2010 and in 2015, Closer to the Edge: Walking with Jesus for the Worlds Sake. Ron has been invited around the world to discuss community building, justice and mission in diverse urban settings. In Guatemala, he supervised a doctoral project that was creating chaplaincy services for gang-involved street youth; in Hanoi, Vietnam, he presented lectures to the leaders of the communist government regarding faith-based approaches to urban problems; and in Nairobi, Kenya, and Mumbai, India, he taught philosophy of service and theology courses to urban pastors and youth workers. Ron continues to lecture and teach both internationally and nationally. Closer to home, Ron is on a regular preaching schedule at several churches and serves his community as a pastoral presence.