“At the heart of worship is Christ, and that makes every service a foretaste of heaven.”
About the Conference
The theme of the conference is Sing a New Song to the Lord. While the song of the gospel is always new, this conference will make extensive use of new songs from the 2021 WELS hymnal and beyond.
2024 is the 500th anniversary of the publication of the first Lutheran hymnal (the Achtliederbuch – “Eight Song Book”) and provides a wonderful opportunity to gather for this conference for the first time since the 500th anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation in 2017. The new hymnal suite offers congregations more than just a chance to try some new hymns, psalms, and liturgical settings. The new resources provide a golden opportunity for all of us to gain new appreciation for our role as priests of God in worship, each one of us proclaiming God’s message of grace in speech and song.
The conference will help participants to put aside the temptation toward comfortable complacency and to be refreshed in what we do in worship and why. At the heart of worship is Christ, and that makes every service a foretaste of heaven.
The non-festival half of the Christian church year is often called Ordinary Time, and the repeating elements of the liturgy are called The Ordinary, but there is nothing ordinary about the regular weekly worship of God’s gathered people. Even on non-festival days, in Word and Sacrament we hear and proclaim a message that raises the dead: Jesus, our Savior lives!
At this conference, we will experience services, psalms, and hymns from Ordinary Time that deliver the extraordinary through the gospel. Even within each service, we will adorn the liturgy and hymns in a thoughtful way to demonstrate the value of these gospel canticles.
At the same time, we will honor the priesthood of all believers by giving musical prominence to singing.
We’ll invite and encourage participants to sing hymns both old and new, and we’ve made an effort to include broadly loved favorites in the mix.
The themes and readings for our three morning services are drawn from Year C (2024-2025) to provide plenty of lead time for those wanting to incorporate elements of these services at home. Evening services offer a Canticle Concert and a Hymn Festival, both featuring a variety of musical styles and a plethora of instrumentalists.
Newly and recently commissioned music will be featured, most accessible or adaptable in average congregations.
Have Questions? We have answers.
About Commission on Worship
The Commission on Worship exists to educate, encourage, and equip our congregations and schools in their central activity of worship by assessing synod-wide needs, trends, and challenges and by promoting evangelical Lutheran practice. Since public worship is where people of all ages and backgrounds regularly gather in Jesus’ name, the commission supports the gospel proclamation of gathered believers in a variety of ways: through rites and liturgy, ambience and forms, preaching and singing, music and the arts, architecture and symbolism.
For further information visit the WELS Congregational Services website.
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WELS Congregational Services exists to encourage and equip congregations for faithful and fruitful gospel ministry.
