CHAPTERS

by Brian Schroeder, Emerging Worship Leader & Design Strategist (brians@lordoflife.org)

If your life were a book, how would you separate its chapters? What moments do you remember as being bound to others? What relationships could have only worked in certain chapters of your life, or what big decisions sent you on a different trajectory? Where do you see God in these chapters?

And what if we were to try this exercise on Lord of Life? How would we define its chapters? I recently graduated from Luther Seminary with a master’s degree in leadership & innovation in ministry. During my time there, I wrote a 30-page research paper on Lord of Life’s history, demographics, and future. Many of my classmates finished the assignment discouraged by what they learned about their church, but what I learned about Lord of Life actually made me love this community more. When we look back at the chapters of our lives (or the chapters of our church community), we can learn to appreciate our present and face the future with wisdom.

Let’s say that Lord of Life’s first chapter began in 1978 at Cedar Island Elementary School. For four years, the staff had no offices, the community set up chairs every Sunday, and they held confirmation at each others’ houses. This “church plant” chapter was scrappy, improvisational, and new.

Chapter 2 for Lord of Life might have been moving into a new building on Fish Lake Road. For fifteen years, Lord of Life was bursting at the seams, just like the surrounding suburb. Pastor Peter became senior pastor in 1988, working to grow the faith of people of all ages. This growing church in a growing suburb worshiped six times a weekend in two locations.

You could say that Lord of Life began its third chapter in 2001 when they built a new campus in the middle of a field on the outskirts of Maple Grove. Here, Lord of Life had room for its whole congregation and even added an addition to the building in 2011. No longer quite bursting at the seams, but certainly not declining, the community had the space and resources it needed to host the big, thriving ministry God was calling them to. They had spent a lot of energy building this new site; now their primary goal was to build people of God.

Which brings us to today! Now here’s what’s so exciting about what God is doing in our current chapter. In a few short years, the farmland around Lord of Life is filled with houses and a grocery store, transforming Lord of Life from a destination church to a neighborhood church. Pastor Joel has become lead pastor, with Pastor Peter serving the community as pastor emeritus. Pastor Kaitlyn leads this community faithfully as executive pastor, along with Pastors Dave, Karen, and LisaMarie. We’ve weathered a pandemic together, built a thriving online campus, and even hired another worship leader (me!). This chapter is new, exciting, and unlike any chapter that came before it.

Looking at Lord of Life’s chapters, it might be tempting to decide, “That’s when Lord of Life was at its best. Those were the good ol’ days.” But let me remind you, worshiping in an elementary school (Chapter 1) is a really difficult undertaking; managing a new building (Chapter 2) comes with a lot of financial uncertainty; building a new campus on the outskirts of town (Chapter 3) is a huge risk that usually causes church congregations to reduce by a third. And this chapter (and the next and the next and the next) will have challenges of its own.

We can’t revisit or replicate past chapters; that’s not how stories work. What we can do is see God’s work in those past chapters and move forward faithfully, trusting that God is at work to continue the story. This new chapter unfolds with new challenges and opportunities. I am so excited for where the Holy Spirit will lead us next!