Pewcards (Divine Service — an Explanation)

We at BJS were deeply involved in generating this pewcard, so we periodically post information on it, letting new readers have the opportunity to educate the laity at their church on what the liturgy means. Pastor Timothy Rossow originally developed these for his church, Bethany Lutheran in Naperville. While I was working for a printing company I got his permission to make these available to the church at large. We reformatted the cards to fit behind hymnals in pew racks and modified the text somewhat. We had gone through three separate printings before the company decided they wanted to focus on what they do best. An independent lutheran layman has now done a fourth printing and is involved in continuing to distribute these to the church. He reduced the price to make them available to more people. Read the below and see if you might be interested in obtaining these for your church. We would be appreciative if you would help spread the word that these are available.

 

I’m pleased to announce that we are now on the FOURTH printing of the pewcards shown below. This card was prepared and printed so that it may help the laity better understand the liturgy and its richness. We have shipped it all over the country (though not Alaska or Hawaii yet!) including two orders to Canada! We’ve been pretty busy with other tasks and haven’t really done much to promote it other than word of mouth. We appreciate all of you who are helping to spread the knowledge of this great resource around the country.

Life-long Lutherans come to church each Sunday, open the hymnal to the right page, and are ready to worship. But a visitor coming in for the first time may find the order of service confusing and intimidating. Without an understanding of what the Divine Service means, they may leave and never come to experience the richness and deep significance of Lutheran worship. Some life-long Lutherans may have learned about the parts of the service as a teenager and are now saying them from memory without understanding what each part means.

 

DS-ExplanationMany of you have observed the “Explanation of the Divine Service” pamphlets that are found in the pew racks at Bethany Lutheran Church in Naperville while attending a conference or event there.

The Brothers of John the Steadfast have worked to make a version of this pamphlet available to the church at large. These pewcards have been so well received that a fourth printing has now been completed.  Some of the comments coming back to us are:

  • “We’ve always wanted to write something like this, but never had the time”.
  • “I’m thrilled with it — in addition to having it available as information for our visitors, I’m planning on having a 2- or 3- week Bible study, reading through this and expanding on the liturgy”.
  • “It’s well designed and fits nicely behind our hymnals”.
  • “These are great for visitors and members alike, and a good tool to help members learn why we worship the way we do”.
  • “These are great. We’ve had many positive responses from members and visitors alike”.

For more information about “The Divine Service — an Explanation”, or to order one or more for your church, click here. (you can view the text on the card there).

 

We gratefully acknowledge the work of Pastor Timothy Rossow who developed the first version of this publication.

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