This week Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary is hosting its annual symposium. More than 450 pastors and seminary students are attending the event Sept. 20-21. The record attendance can be attributed at least in part to the timely topic of this year's presentations: "Worship and Outreach." The event was planned by the seminary in conjunction with our synod's Commission on Worship and Commission on Evangelism.

The seminary's invitation to the symposium outlined its goal: "There are loud voices on today's Lutheran scene that suggest a commitment to reach the lost and a desire to retain the historic emphases of Lutheran liturgical worship are incompatible. The Symposium on Worship and Outreach will explore these issues and offer a perspective that worship and outreach need not be mutually exclusive, pitted against each other, or outside the parameters of Lutheran history and practice. With the Spirit's guidance, the symposium will offer an encouragement to participants to strive for excellence in both gospel-centered worship and gospel-proclaiming outreach."

Lutheran worship is primarily the proclamation of the gospel in Word and sacrament. As we gather together for worship, God speaks to us in his Word. Through the preaching of his law he crushes us with the stark and painful reminder of our own sin and unworthiness; he causes us to tremble at his holiness and justice; he speaks to us his urgent call to repentance. But in that same time of worship, a gracious God speaks to us words of full and free forgiveness. He points us to Christ and to the cross where his sacrifice paid the price of our sin, removed our guilt, and opened the door to heaven itself. In that same time of worship, we poor miserable sinners kneel side by side and receive the same body and blood that were given and shed for us. We commune with our God and with each other. In that same setting of worship, we witness how the power of the Holy Spirit, working through nothing other than his Word and simple water, creates new life and faith in the hearts of children and adults as they are baptized. And even when we join our voices to praise God in our words and songs, that praise is always focused on what God has done for us in Christ, adding our voices of gospel proclamation to the voice of the shepherd God has called to serve us.

If that is what happens in Lutheran worship, if the proclamation of the gospel and the preaching of Christ crucified is the center of what happens in our churches, then our worship services are not only times when God is nourishing the faith of believers; worship services also become a time and place where true evangelism and outreach take place. It is in that kind of Christ-centered and cross-focused worship setting that people hear not what they want to hear, but what they need to hear. It is then that people receive something effective and lasting—not the passing emotional high that soon fades outside the church doors, not the hollow recipes for happiness, worldly success, or outwardly godly living.

I am thankful that our seminary has recognized the need to address this topic. The symposium reminds us that Lutheran liturgical worship and a commitment to reach the lost are not mutually exclusive. I encourage all of our pastors, teachers, and congregational members to read the essays that are presented and to talk about them in your homes and congregations. The essays will be posted on the seminary's continuing education Web site soon after the symposium ends.

Serving in Christ,
Mark Schroeder