Lutheran Witness June 1967

Douglas B. Schill, lay assistant at Kent

Lay Assistant Installed in Faith, Kent

The installation of Douglas B. Schill on May 28 as lay assistant to the pastor of Faith, Kent, fulfills a long-standing hope within the parish for full-time assistance in the dual ministry of the. "town-gown" congregation. Rev. Hillard K. Ranta is the pastor.

Faith is located opposite the Kent State University campus, which has an enrollment exceeding 20,000. Faith, with an attractive church and chapel, is the only Lutheran congregation adja­cent to the university. Faith's non stu­dent communicant membership stands at 356; with several hundred students making Faith their church "home" as well.

The trend-setting move to call and install a full-time lay assistant to the pastor grew out of convictions devel­oped during the past year as Faith ex­perimented with a dual ministry. The Ohio District assigned Rev. John Vavroch to Faith temporarily in September 1966 to help devise a ministry that would most effectively serve both the community and the university students. As the work of the parish was ana­lyzed, the areas needing most attention seemed to indicate a strong and sus­tained music program for all ages as well as for worship, programming for student and youth activities, full-time teaching in Saturday school as well as help in Sunday school and Walther League 'activities. On the other hand, the need for two ordained pastors to share the public ministry of preaching and parish care, although desirable, was not as pressing as the other needs.

Before his graduation from Kent in March of this year, Mr. Schill had indi­cated a desire to work in the church rather than pursue his original plans to work in public recreation. His educa­tional background and proven ability as a part-time worker for Faith encour­aged the voters and the Ohio District to offer him a position at Faith as full­time assistant to the pastor.