Parish Ministry in Rural and Small Towns
Includes Multiple Live Events. The next is on 09/08/2026 at 7:00 PM (CDT)
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Register
- Non-member - $150
- Member - $150
Tuesdays, September 8 - October 13 7-8 PM, CT
Parish Ministry in Rural and Small Town contexts will include learning and conversing about rural and small town cultures and relationships, small congregation life, community involvement, and ministry partnerships. What are rural and small town characteristics that impact ministry? Why are relationships so important in these settings? How does the church work become involved in the small community? What makes the small church tick? How can small churches tailor their organization for mission? What is changing in rural and small town settings? How can rural and small town churches engage in ministry partnerships? The Old Testament prophets and our Lord Jesus were frequently in rural and small towns utilizing their language and images to announce the Kingdom of God. Gaining understandings of today's rural and small town life through learning and discussing will aid LCMS church workers called to serve among rural and small town people. This course is designed for LCMS pastors, DCEs, principals and teachers who are currently serving or about to serve in rural and small town parishes.
Course Objectives:
- Analyze your rural and small cultures
- Understand relationships in your small town community for participating in them. Taylor the ministry God has entrusted to you to engage your rural and small town culture.
- Consider your talents and skills for participating in your community and prioritizing what is best to engage.
- Recognize the unique aspects of small church life.
- Examine models for congregational constitutions that fit small churches.
- Analyze what is changing in rural and small town areas and consider ministry responses.
- Identify ministry partnership opportunities and consider models for them.
Individuals affiliated with eligible preferred partner organizations receive exclusive tuition discounts for Concordia Nebraska Studia Vitae courses. Please visit cune.edu/partnerdiscount to view a list of current preferred partners and verify your membership to receive your discount code.
Rev. Russ Sommerfeld (Moderator)
Retired Interim Director of the Institute for Rural and Small Town Ministry
Concordia University, Nebraska
Rev. Russ Sommerfeld recently retired as interim director of the Institute for Rural and Small Town Ministry of Concordia, University, Nebraska. He was Concordia’s Assistant to the President for Church Engagement (2021-2023), interim president (2020-2021), assistant professor of theology (2016-2020).
His areas of interest include pastoral care, relationship evangelism, conflict reconciliation, multiple congregation parishes, group dynamics, post-seminary pastoral education, ministry and health care, hospice care, and congregational polity. He has taught undergraduate courses in the History and Literature of the Old Testament, Faith and Life and the Christian Teacher’s Ministry.
Prior to coming to Concordia, he served as president of the Nebraska District-LCMS (2003-2015), senior pastor of Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Kearney, Nebraska (1995-2003), pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, Arapahoe, Nebraska (1986-1995), Immanuel and St. John’s Lutheran Churches, Canton and Moundridge, Kansas (1980-1986). He also served as a part-time hospice chaplain in a rural and small town area (1992-1995). He provided pastoral guidance to the formation of the Jamaican Lutheran Mission Society comprised of small town LCMS congregations.
He has served on a variety of boards including the Regents and the Foundation for Concordia University, Nebraska, the Lutheran Ministry Foundation and Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska, the advisory Board for the Good Samaritan Health Systems Hospice and Home Health Care of Kearney, Nebraska, as well as a Board member for Buffalo County Community Health Partners, the Buffalo County Health Ministry Network. He was on the national Board of Directors of Wheat Ridge Ministries of Itasca, Illinois. And on the Board of Directors of Ambassadors of Reconciliation of Billings, Montana. He is an active member and past president of the Seward Rotary Club.
He is a caregiver for his wife Donna “Nino”. They are blessed with two adult sons and a daughter, and four granddaughters.
Dr. David Peter (Moderator)
Professor of Practical Theology and Dean of Faculty
Concordia Seminary, St. Louis
Dr. David J. Peter is professor of Practical Theology and dean of faculty at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. He has been a faculty member since 1998. He previously served as chairman of the Department of Practical Theology (2010-18) and director of the Doctor of Ministry Program (1998-2013).
His areas of interest include the dynamics of pastoral leadership in different sizes of congregations and in organizing leaders in congregational contexts. He also specializes in the art of expository preaching.
Dr. Peter teaches courses in homiletics, pastoral ministry, pastoral leadership and parish administration at the Master of Divinity, distance certification and doctoral levels.
Before joining the Seminary, he served as associate pastor at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Peoria, Ill., from 1988-95 and then as senior pastor from 1995-98. He has been the pastor of St. John Lutheran Church in the small town of St. James, Missouri for eighteen years.
He received a Master of Divinity from Concordia Seminary (1987). He also has a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (1982) and a Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Ill. (1999).
Dr. Peter has written three books: “Organizing for Ministry and Mission: Options for Church Structure” (Concordia Publishing House, 2023); “Opening the Scriptures: Expository Preaching in the Lutheran Tradition” (Concordia Seminary Press, 2022); and “Maximizing the Midsize Church: Effective Leadership for Fruitful Mission and Ministry” (Kregel Publishing, 2018).
He also has published Bible study resources for congregations through The Lutheran Church−Missouri Synod, and sermons and devotional resources through Concordia Publishing House, Creative Communications for the Parish and Concordia Seminary Press. He also has published articles in “Concordia Journal,” “Concordia Pulpit Resources,” “The Servant and Issues in Christian Education,” and led seminars on pastoral leadership, congregational dynamics and the book of Revelation
Dr. Peter and his wife, Tonya, have two grown sons.
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