Convention Workbook

Task Force for Church Worker Recruitment & Retention
Report from Rachel Klitzing,
Executive Director of School
Ministries
The purpose of the task force is to
increase awareness of church-related
vocations, address factors that contribute
to church-worker attrition, to purposefully
recruit future church-workers, and to
encourage congregational members to
participate in retention and recruitment of
full-time church workers.
The task force works to generate a culture
of recruiting and retaining within
congregations. Congregations are
encouraged to identify those whom God
has gifted for professional church work
and foster those talents. In addition to
equipping individuals for service, the task
force encourages parishioners to support
church work by contributing to the
Herman Meyerhoff/Workers for the
Harvest Professional Church-Worker
Endowment of the Pacific Southwest
District. For more information or to
make a donation, contact the District
office at extension 223.
Throughout the past five years, the task
force has endeavored to express gratitude
and appreciation to our professional
church-workers. The “Taste and See”
initiative, based on Psalm 34:8, provided
tools and gifts for Lutheran educators to
gather, fellowship, and participate in
devotions with one another. The task
force also thanked educators at the 2009
and 2010 Lutheran Educators Conference
with candy and encouraging notes, and
worked on a project called “Mentors in
Ministry”, pairing a young teacher with a
seasoned veteran for support,
encouragement and prayer. Additionally,
the task force expressed thanks to district
DCEs in written notes of encouragement
and small tokens of appreciation. The task
force continues to plan creative and
helpful ways to retain our leaders in
professional ministry careers.
The task force conducts intentional
recruitment through a biennial “On the
Edge” church-worker recruitment
conference. “On the Edge: Stepping into
Ministry” (2008/2010), provided high
school students with the opportunity to
worship, learn how to prayerfully discern
if they are being called into full-time
professional ministry, interact with each
other and current church-work students,
learn about the various church-work
vocations, and tour the Concordia
University Irvine campus. Students
responded positively to the conference.
The task force plans to deliver an on-line
version of this recruitment resource. A
virtual “On the Edge” will be ready by
summer 2012 and available on DVD and
through the Pacific Southwest District
website.
Please take the time to keep this
important work in your prayers.
Members of the task force are: LeAnna
Christopher, Carrie Fick, Kyle Frazier,
Robin Gomes, Rachel Klitzing, Becky
Peters, David Rueter.
Respectfully submitted by Rachel Klitzing
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