CaSTLE project 

+Bishop Dee Pederson

Those five little words summarize the promises of Baptism. They are also at the heart of the grant our synod received to organize and equip Mentors who walk with our Synod-Authorized Ministers (SAMs) as they continue to grow in ministry. We are grateful to Wartburg Theological Seminary and Lilly Endowment, Inc., for the gift of CaSTLE grants for 2025 and 2026.  

From August 10-12 synod participants in the CaSTLE project explored what it means to be “Rooted in Baptism. Sent into Everyday Life.” As synod grant leaders, Synod Minister Pr. Heather Culuris and I attended this annual retreat. Pr. Bryant Kaden also participated as one of Wartburg’s CaSTLE Advisory Team members.  

“CaSTLE” is short for Country and Small Town Lived Ecclesiology. OK – that sounds like a mouthful, but the heart of this ministry is simple: living out Baptism in everyday life – right where God planted us. It is the recognition that God is already at work right where are you each day: in the ordinary spaces of daily life.  

This is nothing new, right?! As a pastor, I prepared families and adults for baptism for decades. We teach the gift of baptism, preach it, and ground the gospel in the promises of the Triune God made to us in Baptism. But honestly, the CaSTLE Project is helping synods like ours embrace these promises in a whole new way. 

This is vital to the formation our SAMs receive through our synod. Because lay ministry is not about completing a year of classes and then assuming we have reached a final goal or received a title. It is about continued formation in leadership as a lay minister in this synod and in the ELCA. The program is not intended to create leaders who do it all themselves. Rather, it is to equip the baptized in congregations to be the church—to live out their baptism in the places of their everyday life.  

As the CaSTLE material states: 

• The CaSTLE Project is helping reimagine what it means to be church in rural communities and small towns today. 

• Grounded in our baptismal calling, we believe ministry is not confined to church buildings, Sunday mornings, or professional clergy. God is already at work in churches and offices, at co-ops and cafes, on tractors and front porches, in conversations with neighbors, and in acts of care woven through daily life. 

• Instead of an attraction model which focuses on recruiting volunteers for an organization, we are helping congregations to nurture, empower and send disciples of Jesus into the communities where they already live, work, and serve. 

While we were at Wartburg, Professor Craig Nessen gave a presentation on one phrase of “We know that Christ is Raised and Dies No More”: The Spirit’s fission shakes the church of God. Nessen suggests that we have been a “fusion” church, assuming that: Building + Pastor + Programs = a strong church.  

But that formula can leave us thinking that we are a failure as a church if we do not have all three. Nessen challenges us to become a “a fission church” by practicing “Worship as Formation for Sending.” 

This good word is not only for Synod-Authorized Ministers; it is for all of us! So here are some ideas to help us live into our baptismal calling: 

• Memorize the promises of baptism over the next 5 weeks (one per week!). 

• Create your own Baptismal Promise Card. Print the baptismal promises on a small card to distribute so people can carry those baptismal promises with them and even share with others.
  

• Open your eyes, ears, and heart to spot an opportunity to put this commitment into action in the ordinary places of your daily life. 

• Bless your young people in worship as they prepare to head back to school. They might bring their backpacks to worship. Remember, it is not really the contents of the backpacks that a blessing, but the children and youth who carry them. Pray for them as they begin this new school year. . 

• Celebrate “God’s Work. Our Hands.” more than once a year. This is a great way to be present with and for our neighbors and serve as an anchor that contributes to the vitality of our rural areas and small towns.  

• Consider including prayers and blessings for the affirmation of Christian vocation not only on Labor Day weekend, but periodically throughout the year. What a wonderful way to ground worship practices in Sending, so we might be Gospel-centered, praising, peacemaking, grateful, generous, and neighborly people. 

It’s all about fission!  

“We know that Christ is Raised and Dies No More” is one of my favorites hymns. Our family was formed through adoption, and I will never forget the excitement on our daughter’s four-year old face when we sang the Hymn of the Day before her baptism. As we sang, “We know that Christ is Raised and Dies No More” she couldn’t contain herself. There she was—with an exploding smile, jumping with excitement, hands bursting with joy, because she was about to receive a cross + marked on her forehead. She did not speak much English, but she knew that cross meant: Jesus loves you forever. 

This is the joy and the promise of Baptism. It is what Jesus sends us to live each day. 

So, how might we become a fission church? How might living deeply in our Baptismal promises and help us see worship as formation for the Sending?  

Thank you, dear synod, for being part of this adventure of being church together.