Orbiting Christ: Belonging, Believing, Behaving

We are delighted to announce the topics and leaders for our upcoming conference on adult faith formation, June 1 – 3, 2021 and are thrilled to have a mix of pastors, commissioned ministers, and laity leading these sessions.

We hope that participants will be able to attend all or most of the conference, but we understand that your ministry duties may prevent you from attending all sessions. You are still welcome to register!

Tuesday, June 1: Belonging through Community & Liturgy

Breakout sessions (2:45 – 5:00 pm CDT) will be presented twice from 2:45 to 3:45 and from 4:00 to 5:00 pm; there will be a 15 break in between.

• From Font to Feast: The “whens,” “whys,” and “hows” of beginning the process
  • Leader: Rev. John M. Bussman, Senior Pastor at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Cullman, Alabama, also blogs for Gottesdienst: The Journal of Lutheran Liturgy.
• Presiding with grace
  • Leader: Rev. James Wetzstein (University Pastor) has been leading worship and training students in worship at Valparaiso University for 18 years. A PhD Candidate at the University of Notre Dame in Liturgical Studies, his research interests focus on the role of the visual arts in theological formation.
• Hospitality as the on-ramp to community
  • Leader: Rev. Dr. Scott Bruzek, Senior Pastor, St. John Lutheran Church, Wheaton, Illinois, has served at St. John for over two decades, fostering an ethos of hospitality shared by the pastoral staff and congregational members.
• Recognizing ritual and its power in everyday life
  • Leader: Dr. Rhoda Schuler, Professor Emerita, Concordia University, St. Paul, Minnesota, taught undergraduates the fundamental structure and power of rituals in interdisciplinary courses.

Wednesday, June 2: Believing through Teaching & Preaching   

Breakout sessions (12:00 – 2:15 pm CDT) will be presented twice from noon to 1:00 and from 1:15 to 2:15 pm; there will be a 15 break in between.

• A learning-centered approach to adult education
  • Leader: Dr. Heath Lewis serves as Assistant Professor of Christian Education & Leadership and DCE Program Director at Concordia University, St. Paul, Minnesota.
• Preaching and the catechumenate: An integrated approach
  • Leader: Rev. Dr. Dien Ashley Taylor, Pastor at Redeemer Evangelical Lutheran Church, The Bronx, New York, champions the integration of liturgy, teaching, and preaching especially as they relate to catechesis since “everything teaches.’
• The one-year lectionary: A guide for the catechumenate
  • Leader: Rev. Timothy Droegemueller, Senior Pastor at Living Faith Lutheran Church, Cumming, Georgia, views the world divided into two groups: those baptized and those yet to be baptized. He serves Jesus with the desire to be the vessel that draws the yet-to-be into the group of those who are baptized.
• The Gospels, the catechumenate, and the three-year lectionary
  • Leader: Rev. Dr. Arthur Just, Professor of Exegetical Theology at Concordia Theological Seminary, Ft. Wayne, Indiana, was chair of the Lectionary Committee in the development of Lutheran Service Book.

Thursday, June 3: Behaving through Witness & Service   

Breakout sessions (12:00 – 2:15 pm CDT) will be presented twice from noon to 1:00 and from 1:15 to 2:15 pm; there will be a 15 break in between.

• Lay involvement in the adult faith formation process: A panel discussion
  • Moderator: Rev. Danny Eggold, Grace Lutheran Church, West Lafayette, Indiana
  • Panelists
    • Don Langenbeck, Living Faith, Cumming, Georgia.
    • Mary & Derek Baars, St. John, Wheaton, Illinois
  • The Church IS you! Shifting from a membership to a discipleship mindset
    • Leader: Rev. Dr. Kent Burreson, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri, has spent the last two decades exploring how liturgy and ritual shape the church to be the church.
  • Walk with me: The role of sponsors in adult faith formation
    • Leaders: Raquel A. Rojas and Ms. Carol T. Sandblom (Redeemer Evangelical Lutheran Church, The Bronx, New York) together bring over six decades of experience in the faith formation of adults in the most diverse city in the United States of America.
  • Lay involvement for a family-friendly Easter vigil
    • Leader: Dr. Rhoda Schuler (Professor Emerita, Concordia University, St. Paul, Minnesota) also serves as pro bono liturgist at her congregation, Jehovah Lutheran Church in St. Paul.

For a pdf with full descriptions of all sessions, click here.

The full conference schedule is available here.

To register for the conference click here.

Please forward this email to ministry colleagues and friends who may be interested in this conference.