Seminary Interview
Philadelphia Seminary Magazine
Ministry in Today’s CONTEXT
-Fall 2010 www.ltsp.edu
HARDSHIP, CONFLICT, AND ECONOMIC CHALLENGES are familiar realities in today's congregational contexts. These realities are hardly new, as seen in the translations of Lutheran Patriarch Henry Melchior Muhlenberg's letters from the 1750s by The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia’s (LTSP) professor Timothy Wengert. But these realities nonetheless create deep challenges for today's church professional leaders and those they care about.
Do congregations focus more on preservation or mission? Do they replace the roof, add a coat of paint? Or do they instead do patchwork maintenance as they stretch themselves to serve people in need in new ways? The choices facing today's congregations can be wrenching, and they can also lead to new-found life in Jesus Christ.
PS magazine staff took a summertime journey to congregations and a college chaplaincy led by LTSP alumni in rural, suburban, and urban settings to hear their perspectives. Interviews with alumni revealed gratitude for the seminary training they received in Bible, theology, and more practical matters, helping them to think "out of the box:' This story and others on these pages will afford faith-filled glimpses into what we found.
"Generation Xers don't have the same spiritual priorities as those of us who are older have for the church:' reflected The Rev. Keith Rohrbach, MDiv'84, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Kutztown, Pennsylvania. He also leads a campus ministry initiative at Kutztown University, just blocks from the church, and so he rubs elbows every week with college believers and non-believers alike. "Younger people are more concerned about serving people beyond the walls of a church building than caring for the building itself." He speculates this perspective could lead to a different looking church decades from now.
We have churches from all over the region doing their share to tend the harvest, and we tell them that they can take the potatoes they pick back home and distribute them to folks in need in their own communities. – Rev. Keith Rohrbach
Rohrbach, a 1984 LTSP graduate who recently returned from a youth mission trip to Pittsburgh, gets excited when he thinks about how once reluctant youth were transformed by a project to fix-up the homes of older people without the resources to make such repairs. But most of all he likes to talk about potatoes.
When we met with him he had just finished harvesting and bagging a bunch of potatoes. Trinity has parishioners without jobs. Moreover, Kutztown University has had to make employment cuts. So the community has its share of individuals who are hurting economically. And many are hungry.
"Last year we had a couple in the church who told us they had an acre of land behind the house that was just sitting there. Why not do something with it?" Rohrbach said. The idea that emerged was "The Potato Project." The congregation planted 750 pounds of potatoes during the 2009 growing season and harvested 8,250 pounds. They gave the spuds to food pantries and shelters in the area. This year. Rohrbach explained, someone else in the community donated another five acres to the project. The estimated potato yield this year will be 28,000 pounds. "I can't believe all that has happened,” Rohrbach said. "This year the project has turned ecumenical. We have churches from all over the region doing their share to and distribute them to folks in need in their own communities. I think that is part of the challenge for today's church - finding ways to keep people - especially youth - excited about ministry and making a difference. It calls for churches to partner together across denominational lines in new ways. Sometimes that means deciding to be leading with ideas others have, and it can change the church and change people's lives!