Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church - A Brief History
The beginnings of Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church in Santa Ynez filled the dreams of several resident families. A planning meeting was announced in the newspaper and was held at the home of Don and Marie Funk on March 9, 1978. Those present at that meeting included the Funks, Etlings, Joan Madsen, Marv Newton and Lloyd Sorenson. The congregation was organized and officially chartered on May 6, 1978.
The Rev. Elmer Klenk was called to serve as the congregation’s first pastor in November of 1978 and served until June of 1982. After Rev. Klenk’s retirement, Rev. Walter Moeller again served as interim pastor.
Rev. Wayne Koenig began his full time service as pastor in Santa Ynez on February 13, 1983. He served until November 17, 1991. Under his pastoral leadership, the congregation began construction of a new and larger church and parish hall. The Danish celebration known as Rejsegilde was held on March 14, 1984 as the highest beam of the new facility was set in place. The new campus was dedicated to the service of the Lord on September 29, 1984.
After Rev. Koenig was called to serve elsewhere, the Rev. T.G. Torvik served as interim pastor during the process to call a new full time pastor.
Vicar Michael Zehnder was sent from the seminary and began to serve the congregation July 26, 1992. He was ordained July 25, 1993 and served as pastor until April 23, 1995. Under his pastoral leadership the congregation began offering a creative liturgical worship format.
In July of 1995 Shepherd of the Valley extended its ministry to include a midweek preschool ministry. Mrs. Molly Williams was contracted to organize and direct this new ministry endeavor. The first day of classes for this new ministry was July 10, 1995.
On August 28, 2015 the preschool ministry was ended due to demographic changes resulting in the lack of funds to support this ministry.
Once again, during the calling process, the congregation was served by an interim pastor, Rev. Cliff Kenyon.
Rev. Lowel B. Kindschy was called and began serving as pastor January 2, 1996. Rev. Kindschy retired December 31, 2016.
Pastor Ronald Moritz served as Interim Pastor for nine months preparing the congregation to call a new fulltime pastor. In December of 2017 the Call Committee recommended two candidates for the pastoral position. The candidates were interviewed by the Congregation and Pastor Russel Troester was extended a call. On February 11, 2018, Pastor Russel Troester was installed as the new Pastor of Shepherd of the Valley LCMS. Pastor Troester continued to serve the congregation until March 31, 2019.
On August 17, 2019, Pastor Jess M. Knauft was installed as Shepherd of the Valley's new pastor.
THE LCMS – Who We Are
In Alaska, a congregation uses a tiny trailer for its office. Another, in Texas, renovates a multi-building complex, fully intending to use every bit of space in what was once the world’s largest auto mall. In Hawaii, members in bright print clothing worship outdoors; in Wisconsin, they don their “Sunday best” to worship in the 156 year old brick and stone building built by their great-grandparents.
Whether they gather in small, white-framed churches next to century-old cemeteries or in new, soaring, glass-and-steel worship centers, they share a common confession centered in the Gospel — the Good News: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). With 2.6 million others, these are the people who form a church body called The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod.
It is in the congregation that Christ gathers his people around God’s Holy Word — to hear it proclaimed, to study it, to proclaim it in worship. In the congregation, through the water and the Word of Holy Baptism, God claims each child — young or old — as his own, calling them by name and bringing them into his kingdom. In Holy Communion, Christ is truly and essentially present under the bread and wine, given to his people to eat and to drink, for the forgiveness of their sins, for life and for salvation.
United for a purpose - little did they know what they started!
On April 26, 1847, 12 pastors representing 15 congregations signed a constitution that established “The German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio and Other States.” Meeting in Chicago, they had traveled by horseback, stagecoach and boat from Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio and New York. (Also attending were 10 advisory pastors, four laymen, two theology candidates and seven guests.)
They were men of faith and conviction. Some were German immigrants who had come to the United States to preserve their Lutheran confession of the faith, free from government intervention. They were stirred for mission, especially to reach German immigrants, and , for some, the desire to bring the Gospel to Native Americans.
In its 150th year, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (the name was shortened on the 100th anniversary) counts 2.6 million members in 6,145 congregations. The original constitution was written in German (and German continued to prevail in worship and writing until World War 1). Today, the list of pastors includes names like Schmidt and Nguyen and Perez and O’Connor and Zyskowski and King and Pacilli. While English dominates now, on any given Sunday, there may be worship in at least 20 different languages-including Spanish, Hmong, Eritean, Russian, Finnish, Slovak, Chinese, even German.
Adapted from A Week in the Life of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, copyright 1996, Concordia Publishing House.
The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod
A Brief History by Dr. Samuel Nafzger
Introduction
According to 1994 statistics, there are 5,672,815,000 people on planet earth. David B. Barrett’s World Christian Encyclopedia (1994 Update) reports that 33.6 percent or 1.9 billion are classified as in some sense Christian. Of these, slightly over a billion (1,034,322,000) or 54 percent are Roman Catholic and 187,582,000 million or 9.9 percent are Orthodox. The third largest grouping of Christians in this world is Lutheran, which as of 1993 numbers 58.5 million or 3 percent of the Christian population. Anglicans come in forth with a total of approximately 56 million worldwide.
The world’s 59 million Lutherans belong to 250 different autonomous Lutheran churches around the world. Not surprisingly, the largest numbers of Lutherans are to be found in Germany, the place where the Lutheran tradition made its beginning during the early part of the16th century. There are 14.7 million Lutherans in Germany in 15 church bodies, 8.7 million in North America, 7.6 in Sweden, 4.6 in Finland, 4.5 in Denmark, 3.9 in Norway, and 2.4 million in Indonesia. There are 6.2 million Lutherans in Africa, the place where the Lutheran Church is growing most rapidly today, and 4.6 million Lutherans in Asia.
The 8.7 million Lutherans in North America belong to 21 different Lutheran bodies. The largest of these at 5.2 million is the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), which came into being in 1988 as the result of a three way merger of the Lutheran Church in America, The American Lutheran Church, and the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches. This brings us to the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, which with 2,615,567 baptized members ranks as the second largest Lutheran church body in North America and the 11th largest denomination in the USA. The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) has 421,189 members and is the third largest Lutheran Church in the USA.
The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod traces its origin to 750 Saxon immigrants who came to Missouri in 1839 seeking freedom from religious rationalism in Germany. Under the leadership of a young pastor named C.F.W. Walther, these German immigrants joined together with a number of pastors sent to America by Wilhelm Loehe in Neuendettelsau (Bavaria) to form “The German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States.” The first convention of the new synod was held in Chicago on April 25-May 6, 1947. Twelve pastors, with their congregations, adopted the constitution, and 10 other pastors added their signatures as advisory members, since their congregations which formed the Missouri Synod included about 3,000 persons. Dr. Walther was elected to serve as the first president of the new Synod. One hundred years later in 1947 the Synod officially changed its name to The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.
The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, which remained largely German in its makeup and even in language until the end of the First World War, grew dramatically during the latter part of the 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries. In 1897, 50 years after its founding, the Synod reported a membership of 685,000. During the next 50 years it more than doubled its membership. As of 1993, it reports a membership of 2.6 million members belonging to 6,218 congregations. The Synod has 10 colleges, two seminaries, 62 high schools and the nation’s largest Protestant elementary school system with 1,786 elementary schools and preschools. Congregations and schools are served by 8,389 pastors, 9,951 parochial school teachers and numerous other full-time workers, such as deaconesses and directors of Christian education. While the Synod holds that the ordination of women to the office of pastor is contrary to the Scriptures, approximately 45 percent of its full-time professional church workers are women. The LCMS has congregations in all sections of the United States, but the heaviest concentration of its membership continues to lie in the Midwest.
Well known for its emphasis on Biblical doctrine and faithfulness to historic Lutheran Confessions, the Synod also manifests an innovative spirit in seeking new ways of proclaiming the Gospel. Concordia Publishing House, whose Arch Book Series for children has sold more than 55 million copies, is the nation’s fourth-largest Protestant publisher. A pioneer in radio and television work, the Synod operates the world’s oldest religious radio station, KFUO, headquartered in St. Louis, Mo. Its program, ”The Lutheran Hour,” produced by the Synod’s International Lutheran Layman’s League, has been aired in North America since 1930, and Lutheran Hour programs are broadcast each week into more than 110 nations. Hispanic language broadcasts reach out to this fastest-growing minority. The League also continues to distribute “This is the Life,” the longest-running dramatic series in the history of television, which celebrated its 40th anniversary in 1992. The Lutheran Women’s Missionary League (LWML), which came into being in 1942, serves as the Synod’s auxiliary for women asd has been a leader in supporting missionary outreach in many areas. The LWML also provided the initiative in 1989 for developing “Lifelight,” a widely used in-depth Bible study series.
The Synod has a long history of reaching out to others. Black ministry, for example, has been a solid part of the Synod for more than 100 years. In fact, most African Americans who are Lutheran are members of the LCMS. In addition, a Library for the Blind produces sermons and devotional literature, and of the approximately 90 deaf congregations maintained by all religious denominations, over 50 are members of the LCMS.
In its forward-looking approach to doing the Lord’s work by helping one’s fellow human beings, the LCMS in 1980 became the first denomination in the United States to urge its members to donate body organs at death for transplant. The Synod holds a strong pro-life position and supports efforts calling for constitutional protection of all human life, including the unborn. With respect to the end of life, the Synod believes that the Scriptures teach that Christians are always to care for the dying, but never to aim to kill them. Therefore the LCMS strongly opposes euthanasia, but also believes that when the body’s ability to sustain itself is no longer possible, and when doctors conclude that there is no hope of recovery, Christians may in good conscience forego the use of life support systems. While rejecting homosexual behavior as contrary to God’s will, the Synod has also called for the development of a plan for ministry to homosexuals and their families.
Unlike many other churches, the LCMS has never been involved in a major merger. However, it was a member of the Lutheran Council in the U.S.A. until the Council went out of existence on January 1, 1998, with the formation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Internationally, the Synod conducts missions or maintains relations with churches in over 50 different countries. It is a member of the International Lutheran Council, but it does not belong to the Lutheran World Federation, to the National Council of Churches or to the World Council of Churches.
Following a decade of soul-searching and controversy that resulted in the walkout of most faculty members and students from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis and the eventual departure of slightly more than 100,00 members (who formed the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches) in the early 1970’s the LCMS has reclaimed its historic confessional stance on the doctrine of the authority of Holy Scripture as the inspired and inerrant Word of God.
In 1982 the Synod published a new hymnal, Lutheran Worship, and in May 1983 it dedicated its new International Center in the St. Louis suburb of Kirkwood, Mo. Dr. Al Barry, who served as the Synod’s 11th president from 1992 to 2001, was called to his heavenly home on March 23. He was succeeded by Dr. Robert Kuhn, first vice president. At the synodical convention in July 2001, Dr. Gerald Kieschnick, president of the Texas District, was elected the Synod’s 13th president. In 2013 Matthew Harrison was elected 14th president.
Dr. Samuel Nafzger was the Executive Director of the Commission on Theology and Church Relations of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.
