One of the many things that came out of our strategic planning sessions this summer was the potential idea of applying for a vicar next year. For those of you who are unfamiliar with that title, a vicar is like an intern pastor-in-training. During your third year at our church body's post-graduate Seminary, each student is assigned to serve at a church for the school year. My vicar year was one of the best and most enjoyable years of my ministry. 

Vicars can be a wonderful blessing to a congregation, too. They can help in many ways as they learn what it's like to serve God's people. They preach, teach, visit, plan, help with events, etc. We've had a couple vicars from other local churches guest preach here over the years and many of you have spoken highly of them. At the same time, it will require a commitment from us to not only support him financially but also to help mold and train him to become a pastor as we collectively serve as an extension of the Seminary classroom for a year. It costs roughly $50,000 to get a vicar, but because we are considered a mission congregation, we could apply for about half that price. 

Applying for one doesn't guarantee we will get one. There are only so many vicars and a lot of churches apply. But if we do apply, we need to be prepared for and committed to getting and supporting one. The application is due in January and there's a decent amount of paper work that needs to be filled out and decisions that need to be made before that time. The council suggested that we discuss it as a congregation in the near future to gauge whatever interest there might be. So think and pray about it, and we'll plan on attending an open forum to discuss after the Divine Service on December 17. We will have our Mission Counselor, Rev. Wayne Uhlhorn in attendance as well. He not only serves on the Board which helps with mission vicar recommendations but he's also had a number of vicars throughout his ministry. He will be an invaluable resource and we're grateful that he will be with us.