An Outsider Visits a Lutheran Church…

ONLINE – What happens when an outsider visits a Lutheran church? That’s the subject of a new video by Matt Whitman of The Ten Minute Bible Hour which is racking up the views on YouTube.

Whitman visited St. Paul Lutheran Church in Hamel, Illinois, a congregation of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, to take part in liturgical Lutheran worship for the first time ever. The next day he returned to quiz the congregation’s Assistant Pastor about Lutheran theology and the meaning of the church’s design. William Weedon, former Director of Worship for The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) and Assistant Pastor at the congregation, joins Whitman in the video for a lively dialogue that has already been viewed more than 77,000 times since it went live on Reformation Day (October 31, 2019).

“I know that some of you may have assumptions about Lutheranism,” Whitman says in the introduction to the video. “Maybe you think it’s boring and stodgy. But if you think that, you have not met Will Weedon. This guy is nuts… in a good way! He’s brilliant, he’s interesting; I cannot wait to introduce you to him.”

True to Whitman’s preface, Weedon provides a dynamic introduction to Lutheran faith and practice that has YouTube commenters (Lutheran and otherwise) praising his joyful explanation of the faith as well as his intellectual rigour. Throughout the freewheeling discussion, Weedon discusses church architecture, liturgy, baptism, evangelism, and much more. “The building itself is designed to sort of ‘confess,’ and the liturgy that you experienced yesterday is designed to confess—to confess the faith of the church,” he explains at one point. “If you look around the room, you can’t help but notice it’s a little about Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.” He goes on to unpack Lutheranism’s central focus on Jesus and the Gospel, testified to in every aspect of church teaching and life.

Near the end of the video, which is part of his “Visiting Other Churches” series, Whitman reflects on his visit to a Lutheran church, calling it a fantastic experience. “Everything in the church is loaded with meaning,” he says. “Almost everything in the church is packed with theology and history.”

“It was very interesting to go there and to worship and to be a part of it, and to almost feel like I’m in an atemporal expression of Christianity,” he concludes. “I expected something very 16^th-century. I got something that felt much more ‘all 2000 years of church happening at once.’”

Whitman ends the video with a promise that a further two videos discussing Lutheran theology with Weedon are forthcoming on his channel. The first of these was released on November 8, 2019 (Lutheran Church–Canada members will appreciate Weedon’s nod to our church body when he talks about the LCMS’ partner churches). The final video was released November 12, 2019.

The conversation is continuing elsewhere too. Whitman was a recent guest on KFUO, a radio channel of the LCMS, to discuss his “Visiting Other Churches” video series and his experiences visiting St. Paul Lutheran in Hamel, Illinois. He’s also been a guest on Issues Etc. for a two-part interview entitled “A Non-Lutheran’s Reaction to Visiting a Lutheran Church” (hear Part 1 here and Part 2 here). Whitman and Weedon also joined the podcast Crucial Production for a two-part conversation on Lutheran theology entitled “3 Things I Heard About Lutherans” (hear Part 1 here and Part 2 here).

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