This letter, written to WELS President Rev. Mark Schroeder, by a visitor to a WELS home mission congregation in the Denver area. 

Dear President Schroeder,

You wrote of the Convention agenda, “But all of those discussions will revolve around how we can best use God’s resources to carry out our mission of preserving and proclaiming God’s truth.”

I have just returned from a ‘road trip vacation.’  My wife and I worshipped in our church at Grand Junction Colorado one Sunday and at Denver the next.  It is of the Denver church, Christ Lutheran Church that I will comment.

The congregation, which I found through our synod website, is a mission, meeting in a low-income part of town. The building is far from imposing, a former store. Mrs. Eileen Zanto, trained as a teacher, had given me telephone help the night before and explained that she had been the pianist and coordinator (organizer of guest pastors) of the mission for the eight established Denver congregations for some nine years.  She was very helpful.

There is an English language service at 10 AM (which we attended) and a Spanish-language service at noon.  The Pastor, who I highly commend, is Rev. Paul Biedenbender. He explained that this was his first call from the seminary, some four years before.  His message, from Jonah, was well presented and well underscored with a short ‘children’s object lesson.’ The English service was attended by about thirty people including African-, Hispanic- and Anglo- background folk. The Anglos included a team of six students from New Ulm led by a professor.  They were there to assist with the VBS which was to begin the next evening and were housed with congregants.  A student pianist from the group was immediately used: she played the hymns for that service.  Despite the lack of a ‘normal, established’ sanctuary, the worship space was aglow with the work of God in His members, alive with their praise to God.

We were blessed to see the cutting edge in Home Missions: our fears of a neighborhood of barred windows evaporated.  We are proud of what we discovered: a naturally developing WELS mission congregation with volunteer helpers, both local and synodically sent.   Our church mission is being worked out.

Truly the work of the Church is happening there!

Duane Smalley, Staff Minister
Divine Peace, Renton, WA