Church Workers Are Formed in Community

Editor’s Note: Articles from Set Apart to Serve, the LCMS’ church work recruitment initiative, are hosted here on The Lutheran Witness site. Visit the “Ministry Features” page for regular content on church work recruitment and formation.

By James Baneck

Martin Luther wrote, “A pastor and schoolteacher plant and raise young trees and saplings in the garden. Oh, they have a precious office and work and are the finest jewels of the church; they preserve the church.”[1] These young trees and saplings are our children, as the church raises them up in the saving faith of Christ Jesus, who we pray may grow up to be full-time church workers or fulfill another godly vocation.

Luther insisted that pastors and teachers play a crucial role in shaping our youth and preparing them for their vocations. Luther, along with his pastor Johannes Bugenhagen and his colleague at the University of Wittenberg Philip Melanchthon, built a Lutheran education model upon the foundation of former educators like Plato, Aristotle, Quintilian and Augustine. They built a foundation of Lutheran education that continues to be our strength today.

Their goal was “to produce a virtuous man capable of engaging in thoughtful deliberations of philosophy and politics.”[2] Luther himself grew up in this education system of grammar, logic and rhetoric, which is called the trivium. Luther learned the fundamentals of language in grammar, how to construct a sound argument in logic, and how to present his arguments in a winsome and persuasive manner in rhetoric. Luther also learned geometry, arithmetic, astronomy and music. This education laid the foundation for his work as pastor, theologian and teacher.

Luther and his companions likewise used this trivium model to form and educate children in the Christian faith. As Thomas Korcok writes, “In order for the Reformation to take root, two things were needed: a new relationship between theology and education, and a recovery of eloquence through the teaching of the arts.”[3]

I often muse that I am a product of public education in the 1960s and 70s. With a focus on imagination and curiosity, rather than memorization and old learning methods, I believe this education left something to be desired.

My education at Concordia St. Paul and Concordia Theological Seminary in Ft. Wayne, alongside work with educator mentors and continuing education, have helped me backfill what was lacking for me to be a preacher, teacher and writer in the LCMS. Korcok writes, “Grammar and logic enabled the Christian to properly understand Scripture, and rhetoric facilitated the effective proclamation of Scripture.”[4]

It is desirable — indeed, necessary — for our pastors and commissioned church workers[5] to be well educated. These are the people who preach, teach and share the eternal Gospel of Jesus Christ to God’s people with right doctrine and sound teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness (2 Tim. 3:16–4:5). It is necessary that communicators of God’s Word are formed and taught to be virtuous, to be teachers who rightly understand and interpret Scripture and preach and teach effectively and with skill.

The church, by nature, is community. She receives God’s gifts together in the Divine Service, studies God’s Word together, and serves God and world together. Educating and forming our LCMS church workers also takes place in community.

There are several primary learning communities in which our church workers are educated and formed:

1. The Congregation — Scripture describes the post-ascension church gathering in a community to hear God’s Word, receive His blessed Sacraments, and serve each other and their neighbor (Acts 2:42–47; Acts 20:7–12; Heb. 10:19–25). Foundational and necessary for the formation of all Christians is the receiving of Christ’s gifts of Word and Sacrament. The formation of a church worker begins with a youth in the presence of the Word of Christ (2 Tim. 3:14–15).

St. Paul writes, “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17). Through preaching and teaching of these Holy Scriptures, the Holy Spirit creates, nourishes and sustains saving faith in His people.

In a Set Apart to Serve survey, current church workers overwhelmingly stated that the one thing that most formed them for full-time church work was the Divine Service and the study of Scriptures in the community of their congregation. Here God formed their faith and life, God’s Word was planted in them for salvation, and their zeal to live and speak the Word of Christ in their church work vocation was born.

2. The Family — The primary responsibility of Christian fathers and mothers is to bring their children up in the Christian faith through the Word of God (Deut. 6:4–9; Eph. 6:4). This includes the reading and discussion of God’s Word, the memorization of Luther’s Small Catechism, praying together out loud, learning the hymns of the faith, and regular attendance at church. There is nothing more important for our children than their eternal salvation (1 Tim. 2:3–6). Raising up church workers begins by immersing our children in the Word of God.

3. The Lutheran School — Lutheran schoolteachers take a solemn vow to provide an education rooted in God’s Word to the children in their care. They support pastors by working to assist and strengthen Christian fathers and mothers in their God-given responsibility to bring up their children in the nurture and instruction of the Lord. Why are Lutheran schools so important? Dr. Alan Freeman, director of LCMS School Ministry, said, “Daily devotions, service-learning projects, and the integration of the faith in all aspects of education contribute to the spiritual development of students. The faith-based supportive environment of Lutheran schools encourages students to reflect on their values, purpose and potential to serve within the church.” It is a commitment and an investment to have our children taught and nurtured in the community of a Lutheran school, but an investment that has eternal benefits!

Of course, not every family has access to a Lutheran school. If there is not a Lutheran school near you, look into online options such as Wittenberg Academy, a Recognized Service Organization (RSO) of the LCMS, accredited by LCMS National Lutheran School Accreditation. Jocelyn Benson, headmaster of the academy writes, “As scholars engage in all content areas, looking always through the lens of Scripture, they see that faith and life are not two separate things, but one inseparable thing. At Wittenberg Academy, each live class begins with the appointed Collect of the week, review of a portion of the Catechism, confession of the Creed, and praying of the Lord’s Prayer.  These words that have been on the lips of God’s people for millennia give voice and affirmation to the faith given these scholars in their Baptism and remind them, as Luther said, that we never outgrow these things.”

4. Concordia Universities — There are six Concordia universities in the LCMS — in Michigan, Chicago, California, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Nebraska. Each of these offers a pre-seminary program. Concordia Chicago offers undergraduate deaconess certification. Various Concordias also offer programs in the other full-time LCMS church work vocations.

At our Concordias, future church workers are formed through daily chapel in the Word, liturgy and hymnody. They are also formed by LCMS-approved, confessional and excellent theological professors in the Word, the Lutheran Confessions, apologetics, church history, and all aspects of faith and life. Concordia students are also formed by the community in which they live, day in and day out — church worker student groups, conversation at mealtimes and in the dorm halls, daily interaction with their professors, student teaching and internships, professor- and student-led Bible studies, and a Lutheran culture that builds lifelong relationships that benefit our congregations, schools, conferences, conventions and the like.

5. LCMS Seminaries — The LCMS has two world-renowned, fully accredited seminaries — in St. Louis, Mo., and Fort Wayne, Ind. Seminary presidents Dr. Lawrence Rast and Dr. Thomas Egger presented at the 2023 LCMS convention. They wrote, “Even prior to [the foundation of the LCMS in 1847] the founders had established two institutions [CSL in 1839 and CTSFW in 1846] dedicated to forming servants of the Word.” They described pastors formed in community:

The investment of time needed for the formation of our students is important for the life of the church. This includes the discipline of daily chapel, the deep study of Christ’s Word in classrooms, and the ongoing conversations and relationships outside the classroom. These form a certain habitus and character and become a foundation for a lifetime of pastoral ministry in Christ’s church.

6. Continuing Education in Community — Our LCMS church workers are committed to continuing education and formation as they grow in knowledge, skill and wisdom. Over 70% of our new pastors participate in the Post-Seminary Applied Learning and Support (PALS) program. This continuing education helps the pastor and his wife transition from seminary to the first three years of his pastoral ministry. PALS involves a community of pastors and wives in worship, a study topic, practical discussions and fellowship.

A Post-Certification Applied Learning and Support (PALS) program is currently being developed for deaconesses. The plan is to group deaconesses across the Synod in their first three years of service into two or three cohorts. Those cohorts will meet via Zoom, led by an experienced deaconess. The meetings will include time in the Word, study of a pertinent topic, reflection on their area of service in the church, and personal sharing of joys and challenges. We are also exploring the possibility of an annual in-person retreat for PALS deaconesses.

Our commissioned and ordained church workers have countless other continuing education opportunities as well. While many church workers meet informally for local study and support, there are also many formal opportunities for church workers to gather in community for continuing education experiences, including:

Biennial National Association of Directors of Christian Education Conference

Annual Concordia Deaconess Conference

Triennial Lutheran Education Association Conference for Lutheran school teachers

District church worker conferences

Pastor Winkels (monthly gathering of circuit pastors for study, information and fellowship)

Semi-annual or annual district pastor conferences, gathering in community for growth in theology and pastoral skills

Preach the Word – An LCMS curriculum designed for a community of pastors to grow in their sermon writing and delivery

Opportunities for continuing education units (CEUs), such as workshops and short-term classes.

Continuing education opportunities for advanced degrees, such as a master’s or a doctoral degree.

Educating church workers — and educating them in community — is not something the Lutheran church invented. There were schools of the prophets in the Old Testament. Jesus taught the twelve, and 72 disciples in community. The early and ante-Nicene church fathers taught church workers in community. The education and formation of church workers, first and foremost, centers around the Word, in the community of the church. In our day, the church equips its workers with knowledge, depth and wisdom to speak God’s Word of Christ to a world which, more and more, promotes and accepts sin and unbelief. The church does not take shortcuts in forming men and women who teach and proclaim the Gospel to God’s people, young and old. Instead, we immerse and form our youth and adults in the depths of God’s Word, in the community of the church, and in the instruction of sound doctrine, holding firm to the trustworthy Word of Christ (Titus 1:9).

You can learn more about Set Apart to Serve here.

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[1] WA 50, 617, 18–21; as quoted in What Luther Says: An Anthology, Vol. III (St. Louis: ConcordiaPublishing House, 1959), 1337.

[2] Thomas Korcok, Lutheran Education: From Wittenberg to the Future (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2011), 10.

[3] Korcok, 22.

[4] Korcok, 12.

[5] Lutheran teachers, directors of Christian education, deaconesses, directors of parish music, directors of church ministries, directors of Christian outreach, and directors of family life ministry.