Ministry through internship E
By Amy Diller
very year congrega- tions across
the ELCA are giſt ed with interns. Typi- cally seminar- ians preparing for ordained ministry,
interns come into a congregation for
Seminary intern Justin Tigerman helped members of Peace Lutheran Church and St. John’s Lutheran Min- istries in Billings, Mont., deepen their prayer lives.
one year to learn, serve and minister to God’s people. In preparing these
leaders for service in the wider church, the con- gregations bring their
own giſt s and talents to the process. Interns from the Lutheran School of T eology at
Chicago, one of the ELCA’s eight seminaries, complete a ministry project within the congrega- tion they serve. At Faith Lutheran in Glen Ellyn, Ill., intern Sally Hanson saw a church fi lled with faith stories that could be shared in a fresh way. “A number of congregations look at
Sally Hanson
what youth can do in creative ways,” Hanson said. “[Our] objective was to do that with an older generation.”
Hanson invited the congregation’s “older, wiser
Lutherans” to attend four midweek forums focused on visual storytelling. T e members shared their most sig- nifi cant faith moments through conversation as well as artworks that were displayed at the church during Lent. People viewed the art on their way in to worship, asking questions and learning more about the faith of people they already knew. Ron Guastaferri, a professional illustrator, said Faith’s
visual storytelling project helped people become more comfortable expressing their faith. He was struck by what he learned about other members “who [sit] down the pew from me,” he said.
24
www.thelutheran.org Marie Sager At Prairie Faith Shared Ministry,
a cooperative of six congregations in the Wakeeney, Kan., area, intern Marie Sager saw a way for multiple churches to address local hunger and poverty, while deepening their sense of com- munity. She organized a 1-mile ecu- menical hunger walk with members of Prairie Faith, St. Mary’s Roman Catho-
lic Church in Ellis and First United Methodist Church in Wakeeney. T ey raised nearly $2,000 for Helping Hands of Ellis and the Trego County Food Pantry. Eva Rumpel, a longtime member of Immanuel
Lutheran Church in Wakeeney, said this “worthwhile” eff ort was a good step toward “[making] more people aware of how they can help.” At Peace Lutheran Church and St. John’s Lutheran
Ministries in Billings, Mont., intern Justin Tigerman saw a need for more conversations around prayer and enriching one’s prayer life. He developed and taught multiple adult education sessions on the topic. At St. John’s participants deepened their personal
prayer lives, while at Peace praying as a community and leading prayer in a congregation became the focus. Peace member and St. John’s resident Mary Mosdal,
who attended sessions at each location, said Tigerman created a safe and open environment for people to pray. She enjoyed adding “wow” prayers, where saying “wow” to God is an authentic response to God’s work in the world. Tigerman helped participants put together a booklet
with prayers they’d written, as well as four of his refl ec- tions on prayer. So far 140 copies of the booklet have been distributed. Countless moments of ministry occur for seminary
interns and congregations during this year of formation and service. To learn more about how your congrega- tion could benefi t from an ELCA seminary intern, contact the contex- tual director at an ELCA seminary near you. For a list of the schools, visit
www.elca.org/ seminaries.
Author bio: Diller is a master of divinity student at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52