lay leaders, farmers, storekeepers,” said Barbara Lundblad, who in 1980 was the 21st person and first woman from the parish to be ordained. Today the author, preacher and professor at Union Theological Seminary, New York, attributes her early faith devel- opment to growing up at Zion. “The church was a place where we loved to be,” she said.
Lundblad described Luther
League as the social venue, and a feeling of welcome and respect from the adults. People didn’t have nega- tive feelings toward the church, she said. And even in this rural Midwest community, there was an awareness that Zion wasn’t in isolation. “We also had a sense of the larger church,” she said. “We knew where the mis- sionaries were serving. I remember the pin tacks on the maps. We [kids] thought maybe one day we would be [missionaries].” Today, Zion is a leader in develop- ing an ecumenical consortium of area rural churches called Countryside Ministry that will share resources and outreach.
City church
In the soul of Brooklyn, N.Y., sits a massive brick church on a bustling corner adjacent to the subway sta- tion. Latino pop music charges the neighborhood as does the energy of humanity on the move—going to work, returning home, visiting friends. Trinity Lutheran Church’s building is a stunning tribute to Norwegian masonry. A giant stained- glass window, with colorful symbols of fertility and new life, overlooks gritty, grimy Fourth Avenue, a four- lane traffic artery that runs through a portion of the borough. When the congregation first formed in the late 1800s, worship was conducted in Norwegian only. An English liturgy was added in 1915; Spanish services started in
1976. As generations moved forward, the languages mattered less and the relationships mattered more. Today, Trinity boasts 70 members who have moved on to full-time ministry. The names are listed on the entryway wall, in calligraphy, framed. One person listed is Martha Maakestad, a longtime member and retired senior vice president for patient care services at Lutheran Medical Center, the neighborhood hospital that Trinity helped support. Maakestad, who served as a nurse
in Ethiopia in the 1960s with an American Lutheran Church mission exchange, said Trinity’s founding principle of strong laity is a factor in raising so many leaders. The people who started the church, she said, reacted strongly to the pomposity of the church at that time in Norway, from where they emigrated. So Trini- ty’s leadership structure was based on Martin Luther’s belief in the priest- hood of all believers, giving laity as much authority as the clergy. There “was a culture of encourag- ers [who] would say ‘Oh, you’d make a really good pastor,’ ” she said. Today, Trinity continues to be a
beacon of hope to vulnerable immi- grants and residents. And Lutheran Medical Center, now with primary care clinics in all five boroughs, has established the annual Maakestad Award for Distinguished Nursing Leadership, its highest nursing honor.
Campus church Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church hugs the campus of North Carolina State University in Raleigh, where its ministry has centered on a student population for years. The congregation is housed in a contem- porary square building with a tradi- tional spire pointing to the heavens. Over the years Holy Trinity has
built up a following with students at North Carolina State and at Meredith
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College, Wake Technical Community College and Peace College. A sus- tained and serious campus ministry program, one that has been around for decades and isn’t afraid to invite students into leadership roles, is counted as one reason that 25 sons and daughters of this congregation have moved on to full-time ministry. How do they know? Research, of
course. Holy Trinity archivist Ken- neth Marks conducted a yearlong process of identifying, contacting and interviewing 25 people who went into the ministry. When asked what influenced their vocational decisions, 28 mentioned pastors who encour- aged them, 20 said biblically based preaching and 16 cited Scriptural- based education. Respondents also highlighted the importance of the congregation’s social ministry out- reach, such as resettling refugees and providing emergency assistance to local families. “It’s a multifaceted picture. It’s pastors, it’s laypeople, it’s social ministry, it’s worship, it’s word and sacrament,” said Marks, who emphasizes a structure where all are involved in the life and the leadership of the congregation. Today, Holy Trinity engages more than 50 college students in its campus ministry.
It takes a congregation ... Or a campus ministry. Or a camp. Or a community where people “are immersed in a context that promotes a sense of call to the pastoral voca- tion,” said Patricia Lull, who has served as a parish pastor, as director of campus ministry in the ELCA, and as dean of students at Luther Semi- nary, St. Paul, Minn. Lull said the context isn’t limited to congregations. “It’s campus min-
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