Gottesdienst in North Alabama...?

No. This is not promotion for a conference. It’s a meaningful evangelism experience for my unique context! (Did I cover all of the essentials?)

During each of our city’s festivals this year, our citizens have been reminded that Cullman (our city) turns 150 years old. Since Cullman was founded by Germans, this celebration was brought to culmination during this year’s Oktoberfest.

The planners went above and beyond in preparation. It truly was the biggest Oktoberfest our small town has ever seen. Tens of thousands gathered each night for food, dancing, and plenty of beer! Among the thousands were the descendants of the man who founded our town (who are faithfully LCMS).

When the planning for the festival was taking place, I informed the city of our intentions for the weekend so that they could get it in their promotional material. While other downtown churches annually offer dinner or bingo games, we conducted a service auf Deutsch. Fr. Charles Schaum served as liturgist. Many years ago he presided over the German Mass at Historic Trinity in St. Louis. He now serves in my circuit in North Alabama. Dr. Mark Laverty served as organist, and I preached using my best Southern German. Because none of the people (besides the 4 Germans who showed up) could follow along completely, I provided an English copy of my sermon to the people at the conclusion of the service.

Highlighted here are a few links from the weekend. In the video, the pastor of the Evangelical Protestant church will speak about their stained glass before my brief interview about the service. You’ll have to scroll down to the “Religious Communities” video. This one is from one of our city’s newspapers.

If you ever have the opportunity to do something like this in your city, I highly recommend pooling whatever resources necessary (circuit, district, etc.) and making it happen.