John-Otto Liljenstolpe

John-Otto Liljenstolpe is an ordained minister of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). He began his justice and peace ministry by traveling to Selma , Alabama in 1965 to march with Dr. Martin Luther King. During the latter part of the 60ies he worked as the Chicago Field Secretary for the Fellowship of Reconciliation and in that capacity also evangelized on behalf of the Catholic Peace Fellowship. 

Following completion of his divinity degree, he worked as a mental health specialist in various capacities for the State of Illinois. In 1976 he moved with his family to Anchorage, Alaska and worked there as a Teamster on the Alaska Pipeline eventually becoming a chaplain at the Sisters of Providence Medical Center in Anchorage. In 1983 he moved to Sweden where he worked as a parish priest and factory chaplain for the Church of Sweden .

Returning to the United States in 1990 he served as director of Operation Nightwatch, a street ministry in Seattle , and also served as interim pastor for a number of ELCA congregations. Besides working as an organizer for the Rauschenbusch Center , John-Otto, or "Joshua" as he is know by many, also does organizing on behalf of the Seattle based Investing for Peace in the Holy Land project and the Northwest Region of Pax Christi. John-Otto graduated from Pomona College with a degree in philosophy and received his Master of Divinity degree from the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago.

Return to Contacts