I was invited to preach a sermon in German at the congregation of our fellowship in Leipzig. I had preached it the Sunday before in Schoenfeld, so I was a little less nervous this week. The service in Leipzig began, and I figured out where the liturgy was in the hymnal. I followed along well. Then the regular pastor, who was presiding, called the children forward for what I found out later was a routine time of catechetical instruction in the Sunday service. It looked and sounded like a children’s lesson to me. The pastor returned to sit next to me, and the service continued, but we were not speaking the next thing in the hymnal, and suddenly I was lost. I leaned over to him and whispered in German, “I have no idea where we are. You’re going to have to tell me when it is time for me to preach.” He got quite a chuckle out of that.

You may get a chuckle out of people struggling to participate in the Sunday service, but more likely you wince. Our seminary professors and bishops told us it was rude to carry on with the service as if people were supposed to figure out for themselves how to follow along. Instead, they advised us to print the entire service in the bulletin so that any literate person would be able to participate.

In 2025, the Commission on Worship polled WELS congregations. One of the ten questions was, “Do you usually print the whole service in a bulletin?” Of 958 respondents, 653 (68%) answered yes. The remainder, 305 respondents (32%), answered no.

Those who answered “yes” did not make many comments. But I have sat in enough council meetings where the use of copiers and paper was questioned to know that printing bulletins with the complete service has to be a conscious stewardship choice. The value of active participation in worship is hard to overstate, and if a printed bulletin is what makes it possible, congregations are going to dedicate the dollars and time. It has become evident that Christian Worship: Service Builder significantly lowers the time it takes to construct the bulletin, and the results usually look good.

Those who answered “no” sometimes made comments that fell into two categories. The first category was those who explained that they printed most of the service in their bulletins but just listed a hymn number in order to encourage the use of hymnals. A handful of people mentioned that only melody lines for hymns worked well in bulletins, but the hymnal has parts printed for hymns that are meant to be sung in parts.

A second category of people who do not print bulletins are those who have arranged screens in their sanctuary such that it works for almost everyone to see them. We’ll spend more time on screens in next month’s article.

A few months ago, a congregation member called the synod headquarters to offer suggestions for improvement of the new hymnal. He told me that it was just too confusing. As he explained his confusion, it became clear that his new young pastor did not print the whole service in the bulletin. I advised him to encourage his pastor to do something like that. By chance, less than a month later, I was the guest pastor in that congregation, both presiding and preaching. I saw what the congregation member was talking about. His pastor printed page numbers in the bulletin but jumped between liturgies and even moved back and forth a couple times within a service setting. Remembering my experience in Germany, I became very detailed in my instructions. “Now leave your finger in this page and turn briefly to this other page…” On the way out, a congregation member—I assume it was the same man who called the synod headquarters—said, “Thank you, Pastor. That was the first time I followed along the whole service.”

One of the distinguishing marks of Lutheran worship is the participation of the people. Do what you can to help them participate!