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Luther’s Contemporary Worship: Worship that is Always of, by, and for Faith

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On Thursday at the Best Practices in Ministry Conference in Phoenix, Arizona, Kent’s breakout session room was full of pastors, musicians, and other church professionals to hear his presentation—I counted 70 people. Everyone was engaged as he presented, and the questions and discussion were lively.

I had the joy of reconnecting with a number of CSP alum and former students. I’m pictured here with Pastor Ryan Barnett. I was his third favorite CSP theology professor, after Dr. David Lumpp and “the other” Dr. [Mark] Schuler. But he did purchase a couple of our book, Journey to Jesus, which will be signed by both Kent and me!

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Best Practices in Ministry Conference

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Kent and Rhoda will both be presenting at Best Practices in Ministry, “a conference hosted by Christ Church Lutheran [in Phoenix, Arizona]. For over 10 years we have offered this FREE conference to remind professional and lay church workers that you are loved, you are not alone, and you matter. And when we say free, we truly mean that: free meals, free shuttling, free speakers, free snacks, free activities, free registration.” For any of our readers who will be with us in Phoenix next week, here are the details about our respective breakout sessions.

Luther’s Contemporary Worship: Worship that is Always of, by, and for Faith, by Kent Burreson, will explore how Luther’s vision of the church’s worship life was always contemporary: oriented toward birthing, strengthening, and nurturing the baptismal life of faithful trust in God the Father here and now. For Luther, worship’s contemporaneity always entailed freedom and responsibility, freedom to create new rituals that nurtured faith and responsibility to the church’s ritual tradition, filled with elements that continued to nurture faith. Through Luther’s own words we will construct a dialogue that seeks to bridge the various approaches to worship within the LCMS and the church at-large.
Thursday, February 12, 3:00 – 4:30 pm

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Searching the Scriptures, Discovering Jesus: Small group Scripture reflection tools for both seekers and disciples, by Rhoda Schuler, begins with a presentation on the four stages of an adult catechumenal process and the central role of small group reflection on Scripture (especially the four Gospels) in that process, before moving into experiential learning for participants. Attendees at the session will be placed into small groups and put into practice three distinctive Scripture reflection tools: 1) the aural or African method; 2) Luther’s four-strand garland; 3) the visualization method. Participants will reflect on their small group experiences with whole group; discussion will focus on the three Scripture reflection tools in relation to the stages of the adult catechumenate and on assessing each one’s potential use in participants’ ministry contexts.
Friday, February 13, 2:00 – 3:30 pm

We look forward to connecting with new people and reconnecting with friends and colleagues at this conference, and we pray that our presentations with inspire others to faithful service to Christ, church, and the world.

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Quotation and banner image from https://cclphoenix.org/bpm/

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Professor Schuler in the Library with the Book

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Earlier this week Concordia University, St. Paul hosted a book event to celebrate the publication of Journey to Jesus as a resource for the church. I had the “opportunity to thank publicly a host of people who helped bring this book to birth,” from my co-author, Kent Burreson—who had a vision for conducting research on the adult catechumenate and who invited me to join him in this project—to the student worker, Madi Patrow (now a DCE graduate serving in a congregation in the Twin Cities area) who “transformed my scribbled, chaotic [handwritten] interview notes into pages of order and beauty” (the quotations are from my comments at the event).

In addition to my public thanks to many, I also shared a bit about the book itself and our goals. Here’s what Kent and I submitted as our goal for the grant from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, which funded our initial research: “… to identify, implement and disseminate our findings about successful catechumenate practices in order to reshape and renew congregational life for American Lutherans” (emphasis added). We were a bit more modest in Journey to Jesus, closing chapter 1 with these words:

We make no claims of a magic bullet to save declining congregations,

nor do we offer a step-by-step “program” to implement

an adult catechumenate in congregations.

Instead, our research has led us to be descriptive, not prescriptive;

we narrate stories of individual lives changed

and of congregations with an ethos of outreach

in order to inspire pastors

and other church professionals committed to making disciples

to think in new ways (10).

It is our hope that people who read the book envision how they might structure an adult faith formation process that both “makes disciples” and imbues the entire congregation with a missional ethos, eager to be a winsome witness in the world.

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It was wonderful to have many friends and colleagues attend this event at CSP. And yes, I sold and signed more books!

I spoke briefly, thanking lots of folks.
Book signing for my colleague Dr. Suzanne Hequet!
The Q & A time included many thoughtful questions.
It was a good crowd for a Tuesday afternoon.

Photos by Kristi Bauer, 2025