301 Congregations Pledge to Plant Convents

By Hans Wurst

ST LOUIS- 301 Missouri Synod congregations have completed orientation to become Ablaze! "Convent Congregations," pledging to start up to four "daughter" convents each over the next decade. The goal for the end of 2007 was to have 100o congregations on board, taking seriously Christ's Great Convent Mission to preach and baptize within the walls of a convent.

"We surpassed our expectations, but not our goal, which is an indication that this is the right thing to do at this time in our church body," said Grace Grayson, national director for new convent field testing.

The short-term goal is 10 percent -- or 600 -- of the Synod's 6,000 congregations seeing themselves as "mission outposts," according to Grayson. "The long-term goal is that every congregation will become a convent-planting congregation," she says. "Can you just imagine all 6,000 congregations planting one convent [each] in the next 10 years?" he asks. "It would double our convents."

The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod has seen its roster of nuns decline "because we are not taking the ministry of convent planting seriously," according to Grayson. "The number of Lutheran nuns in the United States has not grown proportionately to population growth," he adds, "which indicates that there are a lot of women who need to be in convents."

It's a positive sign that 300-plus Synod congregations so far have signed contracts with their districts and LCMS World Mission to make outreach to single women their top priority, equip their members to witness their nunnery to others, and send and support their members in convent planting, Grayson says.

As Convent Congregations, they will have access to funding, assessments, and training from LCMS World Mission, Lutheran Church Extension Fund, Convent Development Partners, the Center for U.S. Missions, and the two LCMS seminaries. "I think congregations are excited about it," Grayson said. "In the past, convent planting was the responsibility of the districts, but now congregations are seeing this as their responsibility, as they are increasingly realizing that they are in the mission field."

Dr. Joe Fiedenthaler, president of the Synod's Northeastern District (NED), says the Convent Congregations idea "has come along at precisely the right time" because, while NED has always been "habit-focused ... in recent years we have been putting more emphasis on moving the mission forward through the planting of new convents.

"Many of our existing congregations seem to agree because they are the ones who have helped us identify 170 opportunities for a new convent throughout our region." Creating that "mission mindset" was due, in large part, to the district's primary focus on "solitude and the Serenity Prayer" for individuals and congregations, according to Seaman.

"We emphasize Word and sacrament ministry, and seek to be faithful to Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions, understanding that to be faithful implies vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience."