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Rhoda Schuler

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Salem Lutheran: Blessings, Belonging, and a Holy Moment

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It started in May 2024 with an email from Pastor Adam Gless, a former student of Kent’s, inviting us “to come and visit Salem,” in order to provide “material for your research and presentation.” Pastors Gless and Martin, who serve at a bilingual congregation, had heard that Kent and I were giving a plenary address at the Multi-Ethnic Symposium at Concordia Seminary. And so, we came; we traveled to Springdale, Arkansas in February 2025, and as I wrote in a previous post, “During our four-day visit we worshipped with the congregation; broke bread with congregational members; attended Bible studies and faith formation gatherings for adults and for youth and their parents; and interviewed a variety of members” and heard from everyone about their wonderful “Festival of Nations” event. We incorporated this rich material into our presentation at the Symposium.

Two weeks ago, we returned to Salem Lutheran congregation, and wearing the hats of “church consultants,” we reported to various groups in the congregation about their strengths and areas for growth: to the congregational leaders and Anglo people we had interviewed; to the Sunday morning Bible class; and to Hispanic congregational members (with Pastor Brandon serving as translator). Because only the summary of our full report was translated into Spanish, we asked Pastor Brandon to translate the conclusion from the report. Here’s what he read:

 Each interview closed with the question, “Is there anything else you’d like us to know?” One woman responded, “Thank you for coming and helping us to be a better church.” We are confident that, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Salem congregation can become “a better church,” by building on the solid foundation you currently have. A long-time member who has served in a leadership role in the last decade said of past challenges, “We prayed our way through it all; God has blessed us.” And like Abraham, who was blessed by God to be a blessing to “all the families of the earth” (Gen 12:3), Salem congregation is a blessing to the strangers and sojourners in your community. This excerpt from Pastor Martin’s sermon from November 17, 2024, testifies to the blessing you are to your Hispanic members.

Since the election, I have met with many of our Hispanic members.  And you should know, many of these brothers and sisters in Christ are struggling!  Some are overwhelmed with fear. Others live with a heavy anxiety about the increased hatred in our nation. Our president-elect has vowed to deport them, or their hard-working family members, on his first day in office. His rhetoric implies most immigrants are criminals and incites suspicion and hatred toward them. This has only increased the fear, anxiety, and suffering of our own church members.

But one couple told me this: “When we are tempted to believe that all North Americans hate us, and when fear begins to overwhelm us . . . we remember our church.  Here is our family of faith!  Here are people that love us, even though we don’t speak English that well.  Here is a place we belong, where we feel welcome and safe.  Here we are given new strength to trust in Jesus.  We don’t know what the future holds for our family, but we know we can get through it with the support of our church.”

What a blessing Salem congregation is for all its members! Your generous spirit, your faith in Christ, your desire to serve others and be a witness of God’s love shines through in every person we interviewed. 

As Pastor Martin translated his own words from the November 2024 sermon he had preached in English to the Anglo members of Salem, tears welled up in the eyes of two women in the front row; their children, who had been playing quietly in another part of the room, suddenly appeared at their mother’s side, hearing the words and sensing their mothers’ emotional response. After he finished translating, the adults spoke in Spanish to Brandon. When asked by us to translate, he said these or similar words, “They are saying that they had no idea I shared their fears and anxiety with the Anglo members of the congregation; they are grateful that I have done so. To hear the words from this sermon is another way that Salem is for them a place where they feel welcomed and safe.” What a holy moment we shared with these faithful followers of Christ and their beloved pastor! Thanks be to God!

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On Sunday afternoon Kent and I enjoyed the food, fellowship, and festive dancing by a Colombian woman and a couple from Chile at the Festival of Nations. Here, too, we experienced holy moments as people from a myriad of cultures shared with all gathered that day culinary delights from their homelands. Gloria, one of the woman who had attended at the presentation to the Hispanic congregation the previous day, made sure Kent and I each left with a sample of her pupusas.

Photos by Rhoda Schuler, September 2025

To see more photos from the weekend, click here.

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With Gratitude to St. John Lutheran Church, Wheaton, Illinois

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St. John Lutheran Church is one of the four congregations that we researched for our book Journey to Jesus; chapter 2 features the story of the adult catechumenate at St. John. One couple I interviewed described the weekly catechumenal sessions as “Ted Talks for Lutherans,” their way of emphasizing the vast knowledge and polished delivery of the catechetical teachings by Pastor Scott Bruzek (pictured with me in the banner photo). On Holy Cross Day the people of St. John welcomed me as I promoted Journey to Jesus in their gathering space all Sunday morning.

As I signed books that members had purchased, I chatted briefly with each person; many spoke of the special ethos of St. John. In Pastor Bruzek’s words, “The primary virtue is love” at this congregation. I was delighted when one member purchased two copies, one for herself and another for her son, who is a pastor. To have the book in the hands of pastors (and other church professionals) is our goal.

But I was also thrilled (and amazed) when a young man, a student at Wheaton College, came to the table with cash in hand to purchase a copy. We had a brief conversation about the trend of his generation: discovering the beauty and grace of the historic liturgy and the powerful way it can communicate the Gospel message.

St. John Lutheran Church
Altar area of St. John
Book signing
Pastor Nelson chatting with members
The people of God in the Divine Service
Conversing with member of St. John
Pastor Bruzek chatting with members

Thanks to be God for the people of St. John, their faithful pastoral staff, and their witness to the love of Christ in their community.

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Photos by Mark and Rhoda Schuler

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A Catechumenal Vision for Compact Congregations: How and Where to Celebrate the Rituals

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Many congregations with an adult catechumenate include rituals that mark the transitions from one stage of the catechumenate to the next. Our regular readers know that Kent and I are strong proponents of ritual for a variety of reasons. These are suggestions for how and where the traditional rituals might be celebrated throughout a catechumenal process conducted jointly by several congregations. Titles for rites and quotations are from Welcome to Christ: Lutheran Rites for the Catechumenate (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1997).

Rite of Welcome of Inquirers to the Catechumenate

The opening rubric states “This welcome of those inquiring into the Christian faith and life may be used whenever there are people who desire to begin a more public relationship with a Christian congregation” (9). We suggest that this ritual could be included in a jointly sponsored Reformation service that involves all the congregations in the catechumenal process; this is a fitting date, since fall is also the preferred time to begin the process. The core ritual moment is “Signing with the Cross” on various parts of the body: forehead, ears, eyes, lips, heart, shoulders, hands, and feet. Each has a specific blessing spoken as the signing is done (11). Here are two examples.

Receive the cross on your ears,
that you may hear the gospel of Christ, the word of life.

Receive the cross on your heart,
that God may dwell there by faith.

The action of signing will make a deeper impression on the recipient than a plethora of words spoken without gesture and touch would.

Rite of Enrollment of Candidates for Baptism

This rite can also be adapted for a rite of remembrance and renewal for those already baptized but who are seeking to reconnect to the church or those preparing for confirmation in the Lutheran church. It marks the transition from an inquirer to one who is has heard God’s call to follow Christ in a life of discipleship; the weekly gatherings can take on a more intense time of instruction and faith formation. The recommended day for this ritual is the First Sunday of Lent (19). We recommend that this ritual take place in the congregation where the “inquirers” will become formal members. Thus, participating pastors will need to have individual conversations with participants to determine which congregation each will join. Such decisions might be easily made. For example, if a person has friends or relatives in a congregation; or in a rural area, the closest congregation to the person would be the logical choice; or if the person was drawn into the catechumenate because of a relationship with one of the pastors who provided pastoral care in a major crisis, this would be the obvious choice.

Vigil of Easter

If one participating congregation has a tradition of celebrating the Vigil of Easter, it would be appropriate to hold the service at that congregation and encourage members of all the participating congregations to attend as well. If no congregation has this tradition, we suggest starting a tradition of a joint Vigil of Easter. To encourage participation among the membership of the congregations, good musicians from the various congregations could be recruited to chant the opening Service of Light; strong lay readers could be recruited for the Service of Readings; all the pastors could participate in the Service of Holy Baptism (which would include the Rite of Confirmation, if appropriate). The rite in Welcome to Christ includes a thanksgiving for baptism (45) full of rich biblical imagery of water as source of death (the flood) and life (deliverance at the Red Sea), and language from Romans 6; the whole assembly participates in the renunciations and confession of faith. For those baptized and/or confirmed, this is also their first partaking of Holy Communion; what rich meaning would be conveyed as those participating for the first time would do so with people of faith from several congregations!

Affirmation of the Vocation of the Baptized in the World

This ritual marks the end of the post-baptism teaching, called mystagogy in the early church, because it included teachings about the “mysteries,” that is, the sacraments of baptism and Eucharist, which the neophytes had experienced for the first time at the Vigil. Ideally, this ritual would take place on or near the Feast of Pentecost, the end of the Easter Season. We suggest a potluck meal hosted by one participating congregation, at which the ritual could be done prior to the meal in the church sanctuary as part of brief service of preaching and prayer. The ritual also marks the end of the catechumenal process of weekly gatherings.

Has this series piqued your interest in exploring a joint catechumenal process? Do you still have questions about next steps to implement such a venture? We would love to hear from you! Scroll to the bottom of the web page for our contact information.

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Photo: Baptismal font, St. John’s Abbey, Collegeville, Minnesota
Photo by Rhoda Schuler

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Hark, the Voice of Jesus Calling: Collaborative Staffing for a Joint Adult Catechumenate

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This week’s blog expands on two points Kent made last week:

  • the need for two or more pastors from different congregations to band together to envision a joint adult catechumenate; and
  • the need for lay volunteers to move such a joint venture from vision to reality.

I make one assumption, namely, that most “compact congregations” have one pastor and no “second chair” paid staff (in LCMS jargon, no commissioned minister on staff). As I mulled over this topic, the words of the hymn, Hark, the Voice of Jesus Calling (Lutheran Worship, #318) kept floating through my head. Click here if you’d like an instrumental version of the tune playing as your read the rest of the post.

Stanza One: A group of pastors in the visioning process

The grammar of stanza one implies my assumption: that pastors of compact congregations have harkened to “the voice of Jesus calling, ‘Who will go and work today?’ Field are white and harvest waiting, Who will bear the sheaves away?” And each has answered “gladly saying, ‘Here am I. Send me, send me.’” (Note use of first person single in the response). These faithful servants toil as the sole pastor of a congregation. To explore starting a joint adult faith formation process with neighboring pastors can be both daunting, yet has “rich reward [that Christ] offers free.”

As a pastor’s wife, I can vividly recall the burdens my husband shouldered when he was a solo pastor in rural Iowa; and I remember well the joy he discovered in a local lectionary group that met weekly. The task of textual study brought them together, but the mutual support they all experienced was also a “rich reward.” To come together with pastoral colleagues to envision ways of beginning an adult catechumenate has similar potential to provide support for one another and to think creatively about collaborate ministry in smaller congregations—there are rich rewards to be discovered. Such an endeavor calls for intentional prayer by the group as they engage in a visioning process over several weeks or months. Resources about adult faith formation might be divided among the members, with each person providing a summary and review to the group for discussion and brainstorming.

Stanza Two and Three: Identifying lay volunteers

Both these stanza begin “If you cannot …” and continue later with “You can tell/say/lead/do …” Last week Kent wrote, “It would be beneficial to have one pastor, ministerial, and/or lay coordinator [to] plan and organize the catechumenate across the congregations.” The planning (after the visioning process is done) ought be done by the pastoral leaders; but once there’s agreement on a schedule and timeline for the four stages and structure for the weekly gatherings, the identification of lay leaders begins. These are some roles to which Jesus may be calling lay people from your congregations:

  • Logistical Coordinator for the adult formation process: Think about that person with excellent organizational skills who knows how to attend to planning details and who is comfortable with basic tech skills (emails, texting, etc.) to keep others informed with regular updates and reminders. Ideally this person would also be a skilled writer to handle informational materials for bulletins, websites, etc. Or the writing and logistics duties could be split into two positions.
  • Hospitality teams: Two or three people from each congregation would be ideal to share the responsibilities. These folks would be in charge of the meal or light refreshments served at the weekly catechumenal gatherings; each team would decide on the menu and purchase, prepare, and serve the food on their scheduled week. Each host church would have a person designated to open the building, help in the kitchen, and oversee the clean-up.
  • Catechists and mentors for the “seekers” going through the catechumenal process: These folks need to be people of mature faith with good people skills, able to listen with empathy, not be quick to judge, and be comfortable praying with and for others. Much more could be said about these roles, but there are many resources available that describe the qualities needed.

In each of these roles, the laity function in a supporting role, using God-given gifts to serve “like faithful Aaron, holding up the prophet’s hands.” I, too, as Kent wrote last week, believe that such collaborative efforts are needed to develop catechumenates among compact congregations. We’d love to hear your ideas by contacting us at Kent@FormingLutherans.org or Rhoda@FormingLutherans.org. 

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Photo by Evelyn Simak
Barley harvest at Tower Farm, Norfolk, England
July 2008 https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13577723

St Michel relief croppede

Mount Saint Michel (Again)

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This week we are taking a break from our series on “Compact Congregations,” as both of us have been traveling. I’m recently returned from Pewaukee, Wisconsin where I attended the annual gathering of the Lutheran Deaconess Conference, whose membership is deaconesses trained by the Lutheran Diaconal Association, founded in 1919. One of the highlights of our annual gathering is hearing the stories of diaconal ministry by those celebrating a major anniversary of their consecration as deaconesses. It’s always inspiring to hear how God has been at work, often leading us to unexpected places and serving the church and the world in ways we could not have imagined.

Kent has been in a more exciting location, Paris, attending the 2025 Congress of Societas Liturgica, where he presented a paper, “Lectern, Pulpit, and East Axis: Liturgical Developments in American Lutheran Churches in the 20th Century.” Societas Liturgica, founded in 1965, is “an association for the promotion of ecumenical dialogue on worship, based on solid research, with the perspective of renewal and unity.” Since he was in the neighborhood (and perhaps inspired by my post from last year), Kent is making a pilgrimage to St. Michel after the congress was over.

Today’s banner photo is from within the monastery complex and depicts the legend surrounding the establishment of this location as a pilgrimage site in a stone-carved relief. The Archangel St. Michael (identifiable by is his armor and wings) appeared to an eighth-century bishop in a dream and instructed him to build a chapel in his (St. Michael’s) honor on this rocky outcrop off the coast of Normandy (on the left side of the carving).

Like my deaconess sisters, Bishop Aubert and, later in its history, Benedictine monastics were called to an unexpected mission, serving God in a unique place and in unimagined ways.

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To read last year’s post, click here.
Photos by Rhoda Schuler (June 2024)

Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hinkley, IL

Compact Congregations: Challenges (Part 2)

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Last week Kent outlined some of the challenges that face “compact” (aka, small) congregations: lethargy that impedes change; the small number of adult catechumens; congregational isolation and American individualism; and conflict within a congregation.

Today’s post considers a compact congregation’s challenges with regard to the staffing, time, and energy required to introduce a robust catechumenal process in a congregation. Kent’s reminder to “begin with prayer” holds true for addressing the barriers within the congregation as well as the challenges of staffing and time for a small congregation. We encourage pastors to begin with their own daily prayer—that God would guide both pastors and congregations to new ways of thinking and open the hearts of members to respond to God’s call to spread the Good News in a hurting world. Consider also including such specific prayers for a missional habitus in the congregation whenever the church council and board meet; and finally, find ways to include Christ’s call in the Great Commission within the Sunday intercessions. It’s important that such prayers invite and encourage (rather than demand or shame) church members to be witnesses to Jesus in daily life.

Most small congregations have one full-time staff person (the pastor) and one or more part-time employees (secretary, custodian, church musician). I offer here one model for this common situation, based the case study of a smaller congregation in our book, Journey to Jesus (chapter 4, St. Mary’s), at which the pastor partnered with a volunteer lay person to initiate an adult catechumenate process. Begin by looking for a trusted key member (or couple) in your congregation with these skills and gifts:

  • Spiritual maturity (consider those who are regularly in church; who have an active prayer life; who live in service to others as a response to what Christ has done for them)
  • Good listening skills, both with an individual and in a group setting
  • A good facilitator in a small group setting—one who does not need to be the center of attention and who can gently draw the quieter group members into a discussion.
  • A person or couple well respected in the congregation

Provide training for this person or couple to serve as catechist(s) along side of you, the pastor, with you as the primary teacher of the content of the faith and the catechist as the primary mentor for participants to explore and deepen their personal faith lives in a group setting.

I recommend testing this model within your congregation; this “pilot project” has a dual role: to create “buy in” with the core membership of the congregation and to deepen the faith of participants. Start with an existing small group in the congregation or as a new approach to midweek Advent and Lenten gatherings. In the latter case, the evening could be structured in this manner:

  • Gathering for a light supper
  • Brief (10 to 15 minutes) teaching/preaching on a Gospel text by the pastor
  • Small group discussion on the text, led by lay catechist
  • Closing with Compline or one of the forms of Response Prayer in Lutheran Service Book

There are various options for small group Scripture study widely used in adult catechumenal faith formation, which we’ve discussed in earlier blog posts:

For the African method, click here and here.

For Luther’s four-strand garland method, click here and here.

For the visualization method, click here and here.

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July 7: Registration Deadline for Kent’s Workshop on Adult Faith Formation

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Dr. Kent Burreson’s workshop on the adult catechumenate, part of Concordia Seminary’s Prof Insights Series, will be in Vesper, Wisconsin. Located in central Wisconsin, Vesper is 30 miles west of Stevens Point. The workshop is hosted by Trinity Lutheran Church.

Deadline: MONDAY, JULY 7
Dates of the workshop:
Starts Monday, July 21at noon; ends at noon on Wednesday, July 23
Cost: $150.00

To register for the workshop, click here.

To learn more about the workshop, click on the video link.

Jackie and staff with book

Our Book IS Now Available!

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On June 9, one of my former students from Concordia University, St. Paul, DCE Jackie Druckhammer, texted me today’s banner photo. Her pastor had pre-ordered copies of our book for the church staff at St. John Lutheran Church, Vancouver, Washington. Pictured from left to right are DCE David Schrampfer, Pastor Brian Larson, and Office Administrator Erin White.

Kent and I are thrilled not only to have the book published but also to see it in the hands of church professionals, for they are the primary audience of our book. Part I of the book describes the adult faith formation process at four Lutheran congregations. As we wrote in the introduction, “We tell these inspiring individual stores of faith formation and present the missional mindset of congregations in the hope that the creative power of the Spirit will spark imaginative thinking among pastors and other church professionals, and lay leaders” (10).

Our own “author” copies arrived a few days later, as the photos, below, show.

Prof Insights

Workshop by Kent: July 21 – 23

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We’re pleased to announce that Kent will be leading a workshop on the adult catechumenate next month in Vesper, Wisconsin, as part of Concordia Seminary’s Prof Insights Series. Located in central Wisconsin, Vesper is 30 miles west of Stevens Point. The workshop is hosted by Trinity Lutheran Church.

Cost: $150.00

Dates: Noon, Monday, July 21 through noon on Wednesday, July 23

Registration deadline: July 7

Treasures Old and New: A Workshop on Adult Faith Formation

This workshop addresses the missional challenges pastors and leaders in the LCMS face in a “post-Christian” context. It introduces a model of adult faith formation based on early church catechumenal practices. Participants will explore new ways to form disciples, shape Christian identity through the Bible and sacraments, and foster hospitality in congregational life. Focused on a broader approach to adult faith formation, this workshop emphasizes faith formation as a flexible process rather than a “new program.” Stories from three exemplary parishes will show how faith formation practices can revitalize parish life and engage the entire congregation in shaping the faith of new Christians.

For more information, click here.

To register, click here.

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A Theology of Christian Initiation

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We move on to chapter 4 in A Pastoral and Theological Commentary on the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults titled “A Theology of Christian Initiation” by Dr. Kimberly Hope Belcher (who is on the faculty at Notre Dame). Belcher introduces this chapter by noting that in the ancient world, where participation “convey[ed] a share in the reality one participated in” meant “that by participation in Christian initiation, the Christian has come to be another Christ.” Such a theological claim is more difficult in our current context, where many people, by equating “real” with “physical,” miss the import “of the symbolic nature of the sacraments” (43-44). Belcher claims that theologians speak of this symbolic nature

… because they [the sacraments] address human beings, who come to know by symbols truths that cannot be empirically proved or stated as a proposition. The liturgical symbols express mysteries: our deepest loves, hopes, and commitments. They change us because they speak to a human level that is deeper than the material world (44).

She offers five themes expressed through the Christian initiation, giving greatest weight and attention to the first, the paschal mystery. Like Luther’s baptismal theology, this concept is anchored in Roman 6, “the symbolic act of death in baptism” through which the initiate is joined with Christ’s death and resurrection; his death “is the revelation of the eternal love of God for creation and also the source of the forgiveness of sins” (44). The implication of this joining is true freedom. Belcher writes that “Christians after baptism have been liberated from worldly values, preparing for the death they have already begun to experience” (47).

The remaining themes flow from this first. The Trinity (second theme) is revealed through the person of Jesus, whose passion, death, and resurrection “is a manifestation of an endless cycle of self-giving and selfless love that is characteristic of the Trinity” (48). The moral life (fourth theme) has a trinitarian framework informed by the initiation rituals, which reveals the love the Father, joins one to Christ, and in which the Christian life, expressed in love of neighbor, is supported by the Holy Spirit (52). Of eschatology and cosmology, the final theme, she writes: “The blessing of the baptismal water points toward the heavenly consummation … The catechumenal journey should be celebrated within a community that undertakes to be a foretaste of that heavenly life, despite their human frailties” (53).

I close with her third theme, ecclesiology, to which she gives significant attention regarding those enrolled in OCIA who “have been validly baptized.” Yes, participating in the OCIA process for these baptized people is “initiation into full communion with the Catholic Church,” but she stresses that through baptism a person enters into “the universal Christian church, which is fragmented into various communities not in communion with one another” (50). She continues, “The OCIA balances two complementary theological principles: respect and pastoral care for the person who presents herself or himself for inquiry, and respect for our ecumenical partners, other churches or ecclesial communities who believe in the Trinity and baptize.” To keep that balance “candidates’ baptism in and formation by other churches or ecclesial communions deserves honor from the Catholic communities where they are finding a new home” (51). This language not only resonates with me, as a member of an “ecclesial community,” but it also reflects the sacramental theology with which she began: “The liturgical symbols express mysteries: our deepest loves, hopes, and commitments. They change us because they speak to a human level that is deeper than the material world” (44).  But most of all, her sacramental theology comes close my own; to her words “that by participation in Christian initiation, the Christian has come to be another Christ” (43), I would add these: that in baptism one is joined to Christ and, by daily dying to sin, “it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20).

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Banner photo
Laxfield, UK; All Saints Church: 15th-century Seven Sacraments font. Photograph by Michael Garlick
© Copyright Michael Garlick and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Laxfield,_All_Saints_Church,_c15th_Seven_Sacraments_font_-_geograph.org.uk_-_6554421.jpg

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