October 2021
Contributor, Deaconess Kristin Wassilak
The Concordia Deaconess Program
On October 25, 2021, a celebration service was held at Concordia University Chicago in recognition of forty plus years of the Concordia Deaconess Program which brought together deaconesses from across the LCMS Northern Illinois District. Also present were the students currently enrolled in the program.
Rev. Dr. Jeffrey Leininger, Concordia University Chicago, Pastor, was the Liturgist, with Rev. Dr. Allan R. Bus, President of the LCMS Northern Illinois District preaching. The reading was Acts 9:36-43. Deaconess Kristin Wassilak provided greetings to the guests.
The Deaconess Program was established due to the very hard work of many faithful women who also founded the Concordia Deaconess Conference—a professional community of LCMS deaconesses. Through the first two decades, the two organizations almost functioned as one.
The deaconess ministry in the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod had existed since 1919, through the Lutheran Deaconess Association then housed in Fort Wayne, and later in Valparaiso, it was not until the 1979 Synod convention that the LCMS fully embraced the education of deaconesses. Concordia College River Forest President Paul Zimmerman and the Board of Regents established the Deaconess Program in 1980.
The Deaconess Program at Concordia University Chicago is a set of academic requirements but it is the community of people who make it alive, challenging, and encouraging for the students. The whole community at Concordia University Chicago helps to form students – from Dr. Dawn and the Board of Regents, to Residence Life to Athletics, to professors of every discipline, to and the faithful teaching of theology professors.
The LCMS has three official deaconess training programs — one at Concordia University Chicago, and one at each of the Synod’s two seminaries. Currently, 248 commissioned LCMS deaconesses serve congregations, Recognized Service Organizations (RSO), schools and other organizations across the Synod.
The Deaconess program has grown and flourished over the past 41 years. To God be all the glory!
