Visit to Oromo Lutheran Church Worship, 9-12-04

Martin Luther King Dr. , Portland

By Herb Hoefer

As part of my service on the Ethnic Ministry Task Force of the Northwest Dt., I visited the worship service of the Oromo Lutheran Church on Sept. 12 th morning.   I had taught for a while in rural Kenya , Africa , and I was impressed by how similar this congregation’s worship style was to what is practiced in the Lutheran church there.   A total of about 60 people participated in the worship.

The basic format of the service was as follows:

              10:30 a.m.           Announced beginning time, 5 people present, leader setting up

              10:45                    Leader leads in prayers of preparation and praise

11:00                  Songs led by different leader, self-composed (from week to week, I understand), preaching interspersed

              11:45                    Testimony by different leader, prayer by teenager

              12:00                    3 songs by youth choir

              12:15                    Sermon

              12:45                    Personal prayers and blessings for those who come to altar

              1:10                      Closing song

              1:15                      Greeting of each other (African hugs), tea and homemade bread

Characteristics of worship:

1.   Emotion and intensity – Many “Alleluias” between leader and congregation, jumping by some, loudspeaker volume high, frequent ululating, hands in air, clapping, synthesizer

2.   Shared leadership – 5 different male leaders, leaders sat in congregation, all attendees participated in blessing each other with raised hands several times

3.   Informal but focused – Attendees arrived up to an hour into the service, all but one attendee seemed deeply involved in the worship, most had brought a Bible, about one-third of the attendees went to the front for the time of personal prayer and blessing

4.   All ages and genders – About one-third were men and women in their 20’s

5.   Four women were in African dress

6.   One visitor was introduced.   At the end of the service she joined others for personal prayer in the front of the worship area, and she returned weeping.

7.   From the running translation we received from the man sitting next to us, it seemed that all the messages had a good balance of Law and Gospel.

Visit to Hispanic/Anglo Service, Hope Lutheran Church , Woodburn

October 31, 2004

by

Herb Hoefer

As part of my preliminary research on behalf of the NW District Ethnic Ministries Task Force, I visi ted the worship at Hope, Woodburn, on Oct. 31, 2004 .   Every fifth Sunday they have a joint service between the English-speaking and the Spanish-speaking congregations.   For the past two years, they have been worshipping at the same time, 10:30 a.m. , with the Hispanic congregation in the [fellowship hall] [old sanctuary] and the Anglo congregation in the new one.

The service was jointly led by Pastor Bruce Zagel (wearing clergy vestments) and Deacon Miguel Luna (dressed in a suit, with pectoral cross).   They read the lessons for the day, preached a sermon, and sang songs in English and Spanish, following the traditional Lutheran order of service.   The Anglo congregation was composed largely of elderly members (45 total, with 6 children).   The Hispanic worshippers sat on one side, 7 adults and 9 children, and one young girl served as the acolyte.   Prior to the service, five of these children were in the Sunday School, led by an Anglo teacher.

The two groups had difficulty participating in each other’s part of the worship.   Speaking with Miguel and his wife Marta afterwards, they said that some of the Hispanic worshippers do not speak English at all, much less read it.   The Anglo congregation seemed to be supportive and encouraging of their joint ministry.   As the acolyte handed out the offering plates to the Anglo ushers, for example, one lady sitting behind us commen ted , “She seems such a sweet girl, doesn’t she?”

There was a marked difference in the music used for the songs in the worship.   The English songs were traditional Lutheran hymns accompanied by an organ.   The Spanish songs were much more up beat, with some clapping, led by Marta Luna playing on the keyboard and singing with a microphone.   During his sermon also, Deacon Luna used the responses of “Amen” and “ All eluia” in his message to the Hispanic worshippers.

There was a joint fellowship time after the service.   The Anglo worshippers filed out the main church entrance and were gree ted by Pastor Zagel and Deacon Luna.   The Hispanic worshippers went out a side entrance and proceeded outside to the fellowship hall.   The two groups did not mix during the fellowship time.

I had the opportunity to discuss with Deacon Luna and his wife during the fellowship time.   Miguel informed me that there are 13 families in the Hispanic congregation.   At Sunday worship, they typically have 15-20 adults and 20 children.   Their order of service is to sing songs for 20-25 minutes, have the sermon, and then the prayers.

Miguel receives $600 a month through the Hope Lutheran congregation, all from an anonymous donor.   He works fulltime at another job as well.   He is in the Leadership Advancement Program of the Northwest Dt. and would like eventually to become an ordained pastor.

P.S.:

I asked Pam Bridgehouse and Rev. Bruce Zagel to review my report to see if it was accurate and typical.   They added the comments provided below.

From Pam:

[This sounds accurate.   Perhaps it should be no ted that Pr. Bruce would happily depart from the traditional liturgy, but the elderly congregation virtually refuses anything else.  

Because in our LAP training we just comple ted the course on Lutheran worship, and because our assignments included learning to lead the liturgy, our services at Trinity, Mt. Angel have been from the book ¡Cantad al Señor! which is a translation of the Divine Services from the hymnal.   Our attendance has been Miguel and his family, one family from Hope, and a few people who live near Trinity.   We are going to change the style to make it more accessible to non-readers, now that our class is over.   We’ll use elements from the liturgy, along with less formal elements, and songs that are lively, and can be learned easily by ear.

On November 21, we are having a potluck supper at 5 pm followed by service at 6 pm .   We are inviting the Ascension , Portland , and Trinity, Portland , to come join us for this Thanksgiving service.

The Anglo congregation at Hope has really come a long way in their attitude toward welcoming the Spanish-speaking congregation.   As weak as it may appear, a lot of progress has been made.   They’re in transition, now that Pr. Zagel is leaving for his new assignment.   Several of us have the vision of Hope becoming a Spanish-language center for worship, service, and education activities through LCMS.]

From Pastor Zagel:

Greetings Herb,

The only change I would make would be that the $600/month Miguel receives was budge ted for 2004 in the Hope annual budget. After the year began Hope received $5000 from the NW Dist. through the District Convention special offering. That amount has been used to subsidize Hope's support of Miguel.