July 2017
By Jackie Bussert
Several Chicago congregations are trying an approach that’s new for them to strengthen their motivation and capacity for connecting with and meeting new people in their communities.
Their working title right now is Chicago Walking Together. Rev. Vern Wendt, pastor at Messiah Lutheran Church in Chicago, and a primary force to pull it together, tongue in cheek calls it “circuit done right.”
It’s a renewal of relationships among several smaller, sister congregations in the area, and a combining of members’ talents, skills, ministries and facilities to provide a stronger witness for each of them. It’s an opportunity to have enough critical mass to accomplish outreach that a small church might not be able to do alone. It’s a ministry style Pastor Wendt experienced when he was a mission developer in Los Angeles.
His ministry there helped congregations work together across an area stretching from the high-crime Inglewood, California, neighborhood to downtown Los Angeles. Lutherans worked together through a variety of ministries around art, music and culture to reach out to children and also meet and minister to their families.
When Wendt accepted the call about five years ago to Messiah Lutheran Church, 6201 W. Patterson in northwest Chicago, he began talking with his brother pastors there about the opportunities for partnership. “It wasn’t about territory, it was about a mission field,” he said. “It wasn’t about merger or closure, it was about working together. It was a model I saw work very well in LA and I believed it could work here.”
The circuit went so far as to have a retreat-like event at Walcamp where the pastors explored what each saw as their strengths and how that could help them reach their communities. The idea didn’t take hold right away.
A subsequent weekend with “the 72” at Messiah (Synod’s evangelism and witness team) provided additional insights and also a model for a cooperative approach to outreach by several small churches working together.
Finally, this spring, three circuit churches—Messiah (Pastor Wendt), Our Saviour (Pastor Chris Brown) and Jehovah El Buen Pastor (Pastor Fernando Gomez)—drew in a neighboring English District congregation, Christ English, and decided to get something going together.
They met with an open invitation to the congregation members. “We talked about what we’re each doing,” Pastor Wendt. “Then, we asked what we could do together.”
There was a lot of excitement and a lot of ideas. That meeting led to experiencing worship together in an Ascension Day service in early June. It was well attended with a lot of affirmation for doing more together.
Another open meeting for congregations was held in July to establish some joint upcoming activities. Wendt says it’s going to need more structure going forward—perhaps selecting leaders to represent their congregations and communicate back to them would help with decision making, he added.
In the meantime an event was planned in each of the different neighborhoods for late summer and fall, and people from each of the congregations will come together to help promote it in the community and increase each church’s ability to carry it out.
Christ English chose a Luther film screening to help their neighbors learn more about Protestantism. Messiah will be hosting a Lutheran Hour Ministries witness workshop to train members from each of the congregations. A mass concert will be held at Jehovah utilizing musicians from all of the congregations and children from Jehovah’s already existing music instruction program that is reaching families who are not part of the church. Pastors have met and done a prayer walk in at least one neighborhood.
“We’re looking at doing more things and for the Spirit’s leading,” Wendt added. He also has met with the district’s New Starts…New Believers mission facilitators to seek ideas.
The congregations want to strengthen each other in order to better serve each community. And more nearby LCMS congregations are expressing interest in joining them, he added. If you’d like to know more about Chicago Walking Together, contact Pastor Vern Wendt by email or call Messiah Church at 773-725-8903.