WELS Church Growth Hero

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Dec 25, 2006 by TOM HEINEN
Martin Luther wrote the lyrics centuries ago, but the eighth- note rock rhythms that pulsated through St. Marcus Lutheran Church on Christmas Eve clearly proclaimed that this was new terrain for "From Heaven Above to Earth I Come."

Such sounds would have been verboten in the distant past within the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, known for staunch theological conservatism.

But new ways to deliver God's message have been evolving.

Exploration of modern musical forms and instrumentation also has been happening for years in other branches of Lutheranism, and in other denominations, sometimes sparking what have been termed "worship wars" as contemporary and traditional approaches to music and worship vie within congregations.

At St. Marcus, 2215 N. Palmer St., traditional hymn lyrics are retained for its alternative service at 6:30 p.m. Sundays. Even the familiar tunes usually are there - just with a blues, pop, folk or rock 'n' roll setting, all played by the "house" band Koin.

Pete Reese, 32, a string bass player from Milwaukee, describes the music as "bombastic pop, to classic rock, to folk. Even a

Touch of metal, a touch of punk here and there."

"We don't consider ourselves a praise band," said Brian Davison, 28, of Milwaukee, the band's vocalist and the church's youth and music minister. "We call ourselves a worship band or a church band. All our songs come from old hymnal songs from the Lutheran tradition, and others. We are trying to give new life to some of the old hymns that taught so well and had such beautiful words."

'Natural drive'

Take the Luther hymn, for example.

"The song has natural drive to it," said Milwaukeean Benj Lawrenz, 31, the band's creative spark, electric and acoustic guitar player, and grandson of Carl Lawrenz, a theologian and former president of Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in Mequon.

"It's the shepherds explaining to the world what they have just seen with the angels. So there's a lot of energy to the lyrics. And the music has a lot of energy behind it. If you play it in an upbeat tempo, it just pushes you forward, like the shepherds were being pushed."

That hymn was one of several from the synod's 1993 book, "Christian Worship: A Lutheran Hymnal." Adding brief narratives and Scriptural readings, the service told the Old Testament history that led up to Christ, the events around his birth and the sacrificial purpose for which he came.

"A lot of times people leave Jesus in the manger, and it's just really nice and cuddly at Christmas," Lawrenz said. "They forget that this person came to die for the sins of the world and not just to be a ploy to sell Christmas merchandise."

There is theology behind retaining traditional lyrics, which are seen by some as more accurately reflecting Scripture.

"You have to get the difference between the way the evangelicals and Lutherans look at theology," said James Tiefel, dean of chapel and a professor of worship and homiletics at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary. "The evangelicals will say that a human being has to make a decision to become a Christian. And so the way you get him to make that decision becomes very important. You have to find a way to raise his emotions or convince his intellect. Lutherans will say the Holy Spirit works through the word (Scripture) to create a Christian." [GJ - So how are Church Growth WELS/Missouri/ELS/ELCA leaders different from the Reformed?]

There has been some experimentation with full-blown praise bands in WELS churches for at least 10 years, but it is not widespread, Tiefel said.

One of the noteworthy WELS examples nationally is St. Mark Lutheran Church in De Pere. About 80% of the music that its praise band plays comes from top-selling contemporary Christian music. The church, which has a $150,000 audio-visual system with two big video screens, has nearly 2,000 members and needs to expand beyond the new facility it built a few years ago, said Phil Boileau, its minister of music and family.

A growing number of WELS churches nationally are making at least some use of contemporary music and instruments beyond the organ, according to Tiefel and the Rev. Bryan Gerlach, administrator for the WELS Commission on Worship. At least 150 have gotten instruction at Gerlach's School of Worship Enrichment. [GJ - But Wayne Mueller says there is no Church Growth in WELS, not even by another name.]

25% offer alternative service

Wayne Mueller, first vice president of synod mission and ministry for WELS, estimates that 25% of the denomination's 1,263 congregations offer some type of regular alternative worship.

He thinks the push for contemporary music is coming from 35- to 40-year-olds, and that younger people prefer tradition. He also cites a study that correlates membership growth with the percentage of a congregation's people involved in Bible study.

Unlike many other mainline denominations, the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod has had stable membership instead of losses. There were about 317,000 baptized and confirmed members 16 and older in 1990, a majority in Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota. Now there are about 315,000, Mueller said. [GJ - Say what? WELS has lost members steadily for decades, under the watchful eye of Wayne Mueller.]
Formed in 1993, Koin, the St. Marcus band, took its name from an ancient Greek term for the language of the common people. With Seth Koch, 25, of East Troy as a newly added replacement on drums, and Seth Bauer, 26, of Waukesha on piano, the band recently released its second CD. Koin has played at more than 70 churches in the region.