Ablaze! in the Northern Illinois District

It's not difficult to find a church with a bilingual ministry, particularly in Northern Illinois, and one providing just such a ministry is St. John's Lutheran Church on Montrose Avenue in Chicago. However, those calling to inquire about it aren't asking ¿Usted habla español? but rather, Sprechen Sie Deutsch?

St. John's was established in 1875 and, like most Lutheran churches at the time, was German-speaking. The Lutheran churches of that day all eventually switched their language to English, but where St. John differs is that it has continually maintained one service each week in German since its founding.

Today, St. John's is the only LCMS church in the greater Chicago area offering a German-language service, and it considers that service the cornerstone of an ongoing outreach to the German community. Overseeing that particular ministry of the congregation are a retired pastor, Rev. Juan Berndt, and his assistant, retired Concordia University Professor Dr. Paul Kreiss.

And while one might think this “mission field” isn't big enough to warrant such attention, statistics show otherwise.

“The false idea that people have is that there is no market for it,” says Kreiss. “The German newspaper says there are 800,000 people in the area that are of German-speaking background. There are also hundreds of thousands of tourists and students in our universities, and dozens of German outlets and businesses.”

Kreiss also notes that while these people may not necessarily be new converts to Christianity, many are in need of spiritual guidance and renewal.

“Many from Germany and throughout Europe have defected from the state church,” he explains. “Only about five percent are regularly in Lutheran churches in Germany. And because it's a state church, it's really more of a club rather than actually proclaiming the gospel as we do here in our churches. So these people drift away. Of the 800,000 here, there is probably a higher percentage of unchurched people than among the American-born people.”

In addition to the weekly worship service, the church also sponsors a German children's choir that meets on Saturdays, and both German and Spanish are taught in St. John's Lutheran School.

One big event at the church each year is Liederfest, a German Christmas Song Festival that is open to the public. The afternoon includes not only singing, but a brief devotion, prayers and, of course, authentic German refreshments. St. John's all-encompassing outreach attitude is evident in this event – once a purely German festival, it is now in both English and German to encourage multi-generational, bilingual participation.

“St. John's is a beautiful mix of many different cultures and backgrounds,” says Rev. Richard Heinz, who just arrived as St. John's pastor this summer. “I think it's exciting and a joy to compare where we've been and where we're going. One hundred years ago it was a German-speaking congregation. In the early 20th century the church started its mission outreach by speaking English, and now we've come full circle with a mission to those speaking German. We've continued to be bilingual, but now the shoe is on the other foot with the majority speaking English.”

While there are only 2-6 members of St. John's who participate in the German service, the program has grown in the last two years with new participants. Both Kreiss and Berndt also minister to a handful of German shut-ins and elderly members of St. John's who are no longer able to attend the service.

“People say, ‘you are 83 and 84 – what future is there? It's going to die out, so we need to send these people into the English service,'” he says. “That's an excellent argument from the human standpoint, but church work is not on the human level. We have the Holy Spirit that works on people's hearts. We let the Holy Spirit worry about it. I think he will take care of it in time.”

“I believe we have a nice opportunity to reach people with our uniqueness of having a German-language service every Sunday, and if we have an opportunity to do so, then we do it now and let the Lord worry about it in the future,” Kreiss concludes. “We are here to proclaim, and to let the Lord take care of the other end.”

“God is providing an opportunity to reach out,” he says. “The original people who helped keep it going around 20 years ago are now with the Lord, and it's the new people coming, and a number of visitors who enjoy worshiping the Lord in their native German. It continues to be truly an outreach – not just a few stubborn old members.”