Benjamin Wink asked that this be published with his name on it:
I must raise a question with
the worship conferences that are being held by the WELS. The last conference was held at Gustavus
Adolphus, an ELCA affiliated college, in St. Peter, MN which is literally
spitting distance from Martin Luther College in New Ulm. Despite millions being spent on the new
Chapel of the Christ, it turns out that the chapel is just too small for major
events, according to the official byline.
That’s right, too small. Also I
was told that as there is no air conditioning in the MLC dorms, the conference
couldn’t be based there out of concern for the attendees. However, last time I checked, New Ulm and
Mankato have plenty of hotels that I’m sure would’ve loved the off season business,
but never mind that.
I also heard the excuse that
food service wouldn’t be available at MLC during the conference time. This is understandable if you don’t plan
ahead to inform the food service that they will be paid and will be needed
during those dates. You could even set
it up in their contract, which is novel, I know. (As a former student, I could bring up that
there wasn’t food service even when school was in session, but I digress.)
So the 2014 Worship
Conference was upon us and where did the WELS decide to hold the event? Why at Carthage College in Kenosha, WI, which
is yet another ELCA affiliated college!
Oh but even better per this website http://www.wels.net/worship/2014-national-worship-conference which states that this is the 4th time the
conference has been held there. The
fourth time?
I just have to ask this: why is
a conference on worship held on a campus affiliated with ELCA, a synod that the
WELS says they are not in fellowship with?
Are not worship services held during the conference? After all this is a worship conference. Given the boast that this is “the largest Lutheran worship
conference in North America”, how in
blazes does one get around the fellowship conflict? And this is the 4th time? So if I include Gustavus that is at least 5
of these conferences that have been held on an ELCA campus. Well, that’s just great and lovely.
Now let’s say that I condoned
the excuse that the synod didn’t have a worship facility large enough for
conferences of this sort in the past.
Fine, I can grudgingly grant that.
But now, there’s this multimillion dollar extravaganza in New Ulm that
sat vacant this summer. Why is the synod
not using this location as their premier worship conference location? After all, they own it, do they not? Why not use it? Why continually brag about this amazing
edifice if you’re just going to let it get dusty during the summer months? Why avoid using this centerpiece attraction
when given this opportunity?
The bottom line is that the
synod doesn’t have to pay another church body in order to rent out
facilities. Yet the synod would rather
support the ministry of ELCA by paying to use their facilities? How can one rectify this nonsense? “Oh but the Chapel of the Christ is far too
small!” I would suggest scheduling your
“sessions” accordingly. And given the
attendance last time, you would have fit all of the attendees in that building for
worship services in New Ulm without issue.
Obviously MLC also has plenty of classrooms and the like in order to
conduct overflow sessions as well. This
is why they give the directors of these events years to plan ahead.
Imagine if “the largest Lutheran
worship conference in North America” made New Ulm its home every single
time? MLC would get a terrific showcase
and have a fraction of justification as to why they built that chapel in the
first place. Also, imagine how grateful
the city and surrounding communities would be because of the influx of summer revenue. What great bragging rights the synod could
have indeed. Instead, the synod is just
nomadic and willing to shell out money to a church group that they say they
want nothing to do with because of fellowship issues. Well, except for when they choose to overlook
that during worship conference time. I
can see why there would be a food service problem. It is hard enough trying to feed one face,
let alone those with two of them.
***
GJ - When I wrote about the first WELS pan-denominational conference at Carthage College, the Church of the Lutheran Confession (sic) went bonkers calling me a liar, etc. I had the poster on my desk when I wrote. Of course, the barrage came from Paul Tiefel in the CLC, first cousin of James Tiefel in WELS, the host and bartender for the conference.
