We welcome Marion back to the community. Pastor Gorder will gladly make alternative arrangements for membership transfer, instruction, and welcoming into our community if these dates are not feasible. Everyone knows that ordained pastors preach, preside at communion, baptize, and do many other things in the churches of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. These unordained individuals are diaconal ministers. They are called to word and service instead of word and sacrament.
Diaconal ministers serve in counseling, administration, education, and other areas.
Charles Smith is preparing to be a diaconal minister at the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago. He hopes to teach in the area of science and theology. A requirement for the diaconal ministry program is working with a congregation on a project. In this case, the project involves environmental programs at Augustana and may include neighborhood organizations, spring clean up of the church grounds, and a worship service giving thanks for God's Creation and praying for the care of the earth. Augustana has an outstanding record with ecological issues.