Photo by Tom Lynn / For the Journal Sentinel
By Annysa Johnston
For as long as she can remember, the Rev. Kristin Nielsen has experienced God and the world through the lens of her Lutheran faith.
She grew up a “PK,” or pastor’s kid, in a Lutheran home. She attended a Lutheran seminary, and has spent her pastoral career preaching the Gospel in Evangelical Lutheran churches.
These days, Nielsen leads a combined Presbyterian-Lutheran congregation on Milwaukee’s west side as two churches – Good Shepherd Lutheran and Trinity Presbyterian – work toward a rare and once-unthinkable merger across denominational lines.
Theirs is in many ways an Easter story – one of death and new life, of letting go and trusting that what is to come is greater than what was.
“Sometimes, there is a cry for change. We can relate to that,” Nielsen reminded worshippers on Palm Sunday, the start of the Christian Holy Week, as she recalled the fear among Christ’s disciples on the eve of his crucifixion.
“I never would have dreamed both sides could let go of something so dear, and now new life happens,” Nielsen said in an interview. “Are we there yet? No. But the journey is being open to where the Holy Spirit is leading you.”
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Very interesting story. I’m guessing this is what lies ahead for the denominations themselves: A merger between the two (and perhaps with one or two other denominations as well), as a desperation survival measure. But the merged organization will be Presbyterian, or Lutheran, or neither; it can’t be both. Most likely, its doctrines and polity will simply be watered down, to accomodate all parties, so that what remains is a generic denomination of few real beliefs, and little influence on or importance to society.
A Lutheran and Presbyterian yoked ministry (shared pastor and combined service Sunday school, Vacation Bible school, etc.) has been in existence since 1973. The pastor was called on an alternating basis—-Lutheran then Presbyterian. Last month, due to dwindling membership and the inability to keep both buildings and a parsonage maintained, they formed a federated church, blessed by both the ELCA and the PCUSA. The rest of what you’ve said, Don, I believe will come to pass here as well——if merger is so that one can continue to exist—–the effort will fail, it is just a matter of time.