Local Pastor Plans A Journey Of Research And Renewal

By Jan Howard

A Newtown clergyman has received a “renewal” grant from Lilly Endowment, Inc., a private, family foundation based in Indianapolis.

The Rev Gregory J. Wismar, pastor of Christ the King Lutheran Church, has been awarded $20,344 in the National Clergy Renewal Program/2000. Pastor Wismar is one 118 pastors from congregations in 33 states whose churches have been selected to participate in the program.

“It really is incredible,” Pastor Wismar said last week. “It’s really a neat thing. It was an interesting process to say the least.”

Pastor Wismar’s program, approved by his congregation in May, will make it possible for him to explore family history and to discover various ministerial approaches.

He is the fifth generation in his family to serve in the ministry of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod since its establishment in 1847. Previous generations of LC-MA clergy are his father, Adolph H. Wismar, who was ordained in 1936; his grandfather, Adolph P.L. Wismar, who was ordained in 1906; his great-grandfather, Henry Schaefer, who was ordained in 1872; and his great-great grandfather, Adolph G. Francke, who was ordained in 1846. His son, Eric Andrew Wismar, is currently a student at Concordia Seminary in St Louis. When ordained, he will be the sixth clergy generation of the family in America.

In 2001, Pastor Wismar will celebrate his 30th year of ordination. About half of his years of ministry have been spent at Christ the King.

Launched in January, the National Clergy Renewal Program invited Christian congregations and their pastors in 49 states to describe their congregations and their ministries, outline their renewal programs, and present budgets of up to $30,000. Up to $10,000 of that amount could be used to help the congregation fulfill pastoral duties during his or her absence. The grants total nearly $2.7 million.

The congregations and their pastors were selected from hundreds of applications in response to a nationwide invitation to congregations to consider and plan a period of “intentional reflection and renewal” for their pastors so they could step back from their busy lives and replenish their energy and vision for ministry.

“The Endowment cares deeply about the health and vitality of congregations,” said Craig Dykstra, Endowment vice president for religion. “We seek to honor the high calling of pastors who do a good job of serving their congregations and also to provide opportunities for them to strengthen and renew themselves for their important and difficult work. Congregations are not always easy places, and it is good for pastors to have the time to step back and take time to get re-energized and rejuvenated.”

“We were so pleased with the thoughtfulness expressed in the applications,” Mr Dykstra said. “The congregations’ affection for their pastors was evident, and they demonstrated considerable creativity in finding ways to handle ongoing responsibilities while their pastors are away. Likewise, the ministers were plainly thrilled at the notion of planning programs that would give them time to get to ‘get away from it all’ and then ‘come back to it all’ as better pastors.”

Pastor Wismar’s grant will fund a three-month-long sequence of three parts in 2001. In September, the pastor would spend a week in St Louis, Mo., at the Concordia Historical Institute, the archival center for the Synod, researching the previous generations of his family and where they served their ministries.

“I will research the times, places, and people,” Pastor Wismar said.

In the second part of the program, Pastor Wismar and his wife, Priscilla, will travel to Germany in October. During a three-week period, he will trace the clergy members of his family through the Evangelical Church Archives in Hanover and Hamburg and visit the locations of the ministries of earlier generations of Lutheran clergy family members in northern and central Germany. These will include the villages of Meinersen, Paese, and Wilhelsdorf and the city of Luneberg.

Of particular interest in Germany will be the early life of Pastor Wismar’s great-great grandfather, Adolph Francke, who had immigrated to the United States in 1846. He was ordained in December of that year and assigned to western Missouri as that area’s first resident pastor.

“When he got there, there had been a German settlement for ten years without a pastor,” Pastor Wismar said. There were few if any Lutheran pastors in the Midwest at that time, he noted. While a Lutheran teacher had been allowed to officiate at baptisms, marriages, and funerals, he had not been allowed to do confirmations.

“He had nine years of confirmations to do,” Pastor Wismar said.

In Germany, Pastor Wismar hopes to trace family stories and historic places relating to his great-great-grandfather, from the university he attended to where he had a job as a tutor for a wealthy family. “We hope to retrace his steps as much as we can,” he said.

The third part of the sequence is a cross-country auto trip by Pastor Wismar in November and early December to visit the 18 congregations in ten states served by the four previous generations of clergy of his family in America. Some of these communities include Marquette, Mich.; Gretna (New Orleans), La.; Providence, R.I.; Concordia (Kansas City), Mo.; and Renault, Ill., where his great-grandfather, Henry Schaefer, was the first resident pastor of Holy Cross Parish.

During this segment of the program, Pastor Wismar would discover the impact of the ministry of his clergy relative on the history of that particular congregation, visit the current pastor and church members, and discover family history.

Pastor Wismar said that he would like to interview the pastors in each of the 18 congregations he visits. He also hopes to talk to someone who knows the history of the area. “I may have relatives there,” he said.

According to the proposal, Pastor Wismar would be renewed by learning the value of the Christian pastoral work done by his clergy forebears and have a special legacy to share with his four children and his grandchildren.

The congregation would benefit, according to the proposal, by Pastor Wismar contacting the parish during the program so it can share in his travels and discoveries. After parts one and two of the program, he will be back in Newtown, and will update the parish regarding the program. Also, during church visitations in Germany and the United States, he will gather ideas for ministry today that can be shared and implemented at Christ the King in the future.

As he has after various journeys to the Holy Land and other places, Pastor Wismar will make a photographic commentary presentation to the congregation following completion of the program.

During Pastor Wismar’s absence in September and October, the Rev Robert Schipul and the Rev Paul Dorn will oversee the congregation’s pastoral functions. In November and December, the church’s first pastor, the Rev James Ilten, will return from Lombard, Ill.  “This will give the congregation a link with its past,” Pastor Wismar said.

“The project will help me see how each generation accepted the challenges and received the joys that have been met in this profession,” Pastor Wismar said. “Each era had something different happening, from the pioneer times of 1846 to the expansion of immigration in 1872.”