Pastor's Reflection

 

Concordia welcomes two Seminary Field Workers and a High School Intern

Miriam will be our High School Intern from Germany for the first two weeks of October. Miriam lives in Hanau, Germany (outside of Frankfort). Miriam’s parents lived in Chicago when Miriam was a young child and they were active at Concordia; Miriam was enrolled in our Preschool program and asked to return here to do a two week High School internship. She will be participating in teaching children’s classes, attending adult and teen programs and learning about community organizations during her stay. We are delighted to have her with us.

The Field Worker program is a part of Seminary education, where students are placed in congregational settings in their second year. This affords them the opportunity to experience first hand the ministry of another congregation and to become involved in learning how ministry is developed and applied by pastors and members in their unique setting. Field worker assignments begin in September and end in June with students committing time for Sunday worship and a variety of ministry activities over the course of the school year. We have been selected by two seminarians who will begin serving at Concordia in the coming weeks.

Brian is a seminarian at Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago who comes to us from New Joy Lutheran Church in Westfield, Indiana. You may have met Brian and his wife Jane and son Josh who have had the opportunity to worship with us earlier this Spring. Brian has expressed interest learning more about pastoral ministry, worship leadership and youth ministry.

Alison is a seminarian at the University of Chicago Divinity School. She writes, “I am currently in Slovakia on a ministry research grant. My time here has been spent talking with Lutheran pastors in the Bratislava area about their ministry experience in and out of the city. I am primarily interested in hearing about their
experience as rural pastors, and how their work as pastors became intertwined with their work in
community agriculture.” 
Alison wants to learn more about our community ministries through Concordia Place.

We look forward to welcoming Brian and Alison to our congregation—the learning will surely go both ways.

 

Rev. Nicholas J. Zook