A strengthened, shared ministry

Editor’s note: The ELCA has a long and meaningful history of ministry in rural areas. This story is part of a series highlighting innovative rural ministries in ELCA congregations and communities today. 

Across the plains of North Dakota, where residents are used to logging miles on long, quiet stretches of highway, eight ELCA congregations are bridging the distance by joining together to share resources and expand the reach of their ministries. Christians in Action, an area ministry strategy in south central North Dakota, officially formed in 2024, but most of the member congregations had been working together for several years prior. The collaboration was initially born out of necessity when some congregations in the region were without pastoral leadership. But Kristi Weber, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, Jamestown, said this situation led them to explore how they could build off the tradition of cooperative ministry in their own context.

“There is a history of this type of ministry where congregations are working together while retaining their own identity,” Weber said. “We share resources and personnel and offer opportunities, but congregations can choose what makes the most sense for them to participate. Not everything is expected to be the same.”

The participating congregations are Christ the King Lutheran Church in Ellendale, Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Gackle, Zion Lutheran Church in Kulm, English Lutheran Church in Medina, Montpelier Lutheran Church in Montpelier and three churches in Jamestown: Trinity, Atonement and St. John.

“We share resources and personnel and offer opportunities, but congregations can choose what makes the most sense for them.”

Today the congregations share a preaching team and work together to recruit and equip lay leaders, who are trained to lead worship services or do visitations. The congregations also share a director of youth and family ministry, who leads youth retreats and teaches confirmation classes and Sunday school. Each congregation has a member on the board of Christians in Action, and there’s an annual retreat for congregation council presidents and the shared pastoral team.

Though some aspects of the cooperative ministry address logistical or personnel issues, the congregations have also made a point to create opportunities for sharing fellowship and faith practices. A Christians in Action book club meets on Zoom, and this year, its members collaborated on an Advent devotional that was posted to the Christians in Action website for congregants to use.

“The distances between these congregations are [up to] an hour and a half,” Weber said. “We know that we can have authentic community even across distance, and meeting online helps us to do that.”

More support, more opportunities

Serving as president of a church council always brings layers of responsibility, but a president can grow enervated by worrying every week about who will stand in the pulpit on Sunday. Sandi Rivinius has been a member of Emmanuel for 25 years and presided over the council for the past three. She remembers the prior president spending a lot of time on the phone every week, trying to arrange pulpit supply, after Emmanuel lost its full-time pastor about five years ago. Rivinius is grateful for the regular rotation of preachers that Christians in Action has brought to Emmanuel.

“As president, I don’t feel like I have that anxiety or pressure to fill the pulpit,” she said. “There are so many [benefits] of all the congregations coming together, but having that regular leadership has been the biggest thing for us.” The Christians in Action congregations have a team of leaders they can count on not only for weekly worship but also for weddings, funerals and pastoral visits.

Christians in Action isn’t just a solution to problems, though. Rivinius said she thinks about the joint ministry in terms of each congregation bringing its assets to the table and providing new opportunities for every congregation involved. Last year, Emmanuel was one of four Christians in Action congregations that shared a seminary intern, who lived in the parsonage owned by Emmanuel.

“We all have assets that can be available to each other now and for the future.”

“Could we have sustained an intern on our own? Probably not,” Rivinius said. “But we were able to work together to make it happen. Our congregation’s parsonage is an asset we could offer, and it helped offset our portion of having [the intern] involved with Emmanuel. We all have assets that can be available to each other now and for the future.”

Rivinius also appreciates the network of support and connection with the other participating congregations. She enjoys going to the other congregations to see how they do things and what works well: “Whether it be asking how they handle custodial services or hearing what kind of worship style they have, I know I can contact the other congregations to ask for advice even though I’m not a member of their community. Everyone is very open to sharing.”

Rivinius and Weber both hope that the example of Christians in Action will inspire other congregations looking for solutions or new opportunities to see the shared ministry as one they can replicate in their own context.

“We have a very rural focus to our ministry, but there are certainly ways urban congregations can find ways to do a similar ministry together authentically,” Weber said. “It’s just about knowing your own community and group of congregations—knowing what would work well for everyone and for the season you’re in.”

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