In the previous Words of Worship post, we explored the importance of partnership between a congregation and its families. In a similar way, partnership is crucial to our Words of Worship initiative!
Hearing Directly from Congregations
One of the benefits of the support given through the Nurturing Children Through Worship and Prayer Initiative is that we at Concordia Publishing House (CPH) have the rare opportunity to hear directly from congregations—their pastors, leaders, and members of all ages. Included in our five-year timeline are several critical milestones for receiving meaningful feedback:
- At the beginning of 2026, we met in person with congregations organized into three cohorts to share our initial thoughts about Words of Worship resources and to gain insight from event attendees.
- Additionally, we surveyed members of those congregations to get preliminary insights into how families and congregational leaders are already teaching words of worship to children.
- In the years to come, we will be asking our partners to try out our resources, giving us direct feedback on best practices, new resources, and more.
3 Lessons Learned
The Blessing of District Leaders
How did we connect with the congregations in our cohorts? In working to recruit these churches, one lesson we learned was the blessing we have in district leaders. The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod is divided into districts, all consisting of many congregations. Those who lead each district have a long-standing, trusted relationship with the congregations in their care. It was a blessing that we were able to partner with two districts (Northern Illinois and Missouri) so that their leaders could identify possible partners and bridge a connection between CPH and the congregations.
Dedication Amid Limitations
Another lesson we learned in recruiting these congregations was the dedication and commitment they exhibited despite logistic limitations. For example, the radius of the locations of two of the cohorts amounted to about a 90-minute commute for some who came to our meetings in January. For the other cohort, some traveled a distance of several hours! The wonderful variety of churches in terms of size, location, and ministry context also meant the challenge of distance and time commitment. With winter storms, we experienced some unavoidable setbacks to staying on track with our timeline, but we were grateful for the many folks who overcame these obstacles to meet.
Remaining Flexible
A final lesson we learned was the value of a good pivot. Originally, we were planning to have four congregational cohorts. In the end, while we hit our goal in terms of the number of congregations, we were only able to organize three cohort groups. In considering other possibilities for a fourth cohort, we concluded that a unique group could help in other ways. Our fourth cohort is made up of individuals, not congregations, who are outside the two districts we’re already working with. Their experience in music, family ministry, children’s ministry, congregational leadership, and more will provide a birds-eye view of these resources and give us insights unique to their roles. By shifting our recruitment strategy, we are now able to listen to a wider variety of voices.
The resources that come out of our Words of Worship initiative and the training that will come with it will be enriched by the feedback we receive from these cohorts. Having gone through the experience, we have also learned lessons that will improve our future partnerships.
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