Plenary Address | Rev. Jonathan Bauer

“Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit…”

Plenary Address | Rev. Jonathan Bauer

Lutheran Worship: What Now?

This conference’s plenary address, to be presented after the opening service on Wednesday, explores the following themes and questions. In 2024, Lutheran worship celebrates its 500th birthday. Within the next few years, Christian worship will enter its third millennium. These milestone anniversaries happen at a time when nearly everyone agrees that our world is experiencing unprecedented changes. Whether it’s advances in technology, shifts in spirituality, or instability in institutions, the dramatic ways in which our world is changing have given us a world we would not have recognized a decade ago (much less a world Lutherans in 1524 or the apostles in first-century Jerusalem would have recognized). So what now? How do Christian congregations meet the unique challenges presented by our late-modern world as they gather weekly in Jesus’ name? This presentation aims to demonstrate how, as confessional Lutherans, we are fully equipped to answer this crucial question about our worship: What now?

Bio | Rev. Jonathan Bauer

Pastor Bauer graduated from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2008. His first call was to Emmanuel in Tempe, Ariz. In 2014 he accepted the call to Good News in Mount Horeb, Wis., a mission church that dedicated its first building project in 2023. Jon serves on the WELS Commission on Congregational Counseling and the Institute for Worship and Outreach. He served on the executive committee of the WELS Hymnal Project.