My Church Is Featured in "The Lutheran"!

My church, Trinity Lutheran Church in Pembroke Pines, Florida, is featured in this month's The Lutheran.  The issue's cover story is about transforming Sunday School, and our Worship Together service is one of the features of the article.

Tomorrow's post will give more information about our approach, including some of the things we tried before we came up with the strategy that's working now.  I think it's important to stress that the failed attempts taught us a lot as we moved towards the intergenerational, participatory approach that we have now.

Here are some quotes from the article to whet your appetite:

“'The success of Sunday school happened at a time when people were satisfied relegating religious things off to experts — pastors or Sunday school teachers,' he said. 'The expert model doesn’t satisfy people the way it used to. Fortunately for us Lutherans we have this concept called the priesthood of all believers. We can help people identify their spiritual gifts and help them participate in ways they couldn’t before because [the experts] took over those responsibilities.'”

“'Instead of faith being just another something we do for an hour every week, it becomes a shared experience,' Kippen said. “'Parents come to see the church as their partner in raising faithful kids, and kids learn that church is not just what we do, but who we are.'"

"Despite the challenges, Shallue remains optimistic: 'I am not dispirited about the statistics at all. We have great opportunities to start thinking about new ways to do faith formation, rather than trying to do the same old [programs] harder and better.'”

And a quote from my pastor:  "'It’s a relational experience, unlike traditional worship, which can be passive and unengaging,' Spencer said."

The whole article is online, and well worth your time.  Go here to read it.