Intentionality: In church work formation, a little word with an eternal impact

Britney Vercruysse works with her students on March 15, 2023, at Sioux Falls Lutheran School in Sioux Falls, S.D. Set Apart to Serve has many resources to encourage intentionality in recruiting and forming youth and adults to consider full-time church work. (LCMS/Erik M. Lunsford)

By James Baneck

In his breviary, Martin Luther wrote a short meditation for each day of the year. For March 11, he wrote, “We could still bear it if need demanded that someone should steal all our worldly goods, our honor and our lives or whatever else we may have. It would, however, be too much if we let someone steal our wonderful consoling Gospel, our faith and Christ Himself. That would be simply too much.”

Luther’s words are deeply meaningful to us. This is our prayer for our children and grandchildren; for our family and friends; for our neighbor, ourselves and all God’s people. We pray fervently that no one steal from any of us the wonderful consoling Gospel, saving faith and Christ Himself, who provides what is most needful throughout all the stages, challenges, sufferings and joys of life.

As Jesus taught us, we pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest (Matt. 9:38). These words are meaningful to you as you pray that God would supply your congregation with an excellent pastor to feed you with God’s Word. These words are meaningful to you as you pray for an excellent teacher in your Lutheran school to instruct your children with the Word of God and a virtuous education. Some of you are praying for a deaconess, a director of Christian education, a director of parish music or another servant for your congregation.

We have learned from our research that nearly 90% of Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) pastors and commissioned church workers, and nearly 60% of LCMS parents and congregational leaders, have heard about Set Apart to Serve (SAS). Through all of us, God is building a wonderful culture among us — a culture of forming and recruiting full-time workers in our LCMS congregations, schools, districts and entities.

To grow this culture — so that church work formation and recruitment become knit into the very fabric of our congregations and schools — there is a very important word I want to share with you: intentional.

Resources available

SAS has many resources and best practices to help us all be intentional about forming, recruiting and encouraging youth and adults in our congregation to consider full-time church work. This includes the free SAS curriculum at cph.org/sas.

There is no easy path to creating a culture in which church work formation and recruitment are knit into the fabric of our congregations, schools and districts. However, as we are all fervently praying for excellent church workers, we have many resources available to help.

The resources are organized according to those who are most influential in forming and recruiting youth and adults to consider full-time church work. Select the tab that pertains most to you — pastors, parents, church workers (commissioned), laity or districts. Click on a resource that piques your interest. How does it apply to you? How can this resource be used in your congregation or school? Whom are you encouraging to consider being a full-time church worker?

All of us have a vested interest in having pastors who feed us with God’s Word and Sacraments for eternal life. Many of us also have a deep interest in having Lutheran school teachers for our children, directors of Christian education, deaconesses, directors of parish music and others to teach God’s Word and especially to help us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our saving faith (Heb. 12:2).

As we pray to the Lord of the harvest, may we also intentionally work to encourage those in our midst to become laborers in that harvest, that His loving purposes may be fulfilled.

Posted April 22, 2025