Join us for Sunday Forum

Sundays September - April | 9:45 AM

When & Where  

Sundays, September through April 
9:45 – 10:45 AM
Shepherd of the Valley (Rooms 20-21)  
No registration necessary

Past Presentations

What to Expect  

During the months of September – April, people of all ages are invited to hear professors, teachers, and members of our congregation present topics connected to our faith. These speakers inspire us in our faith to seek a better understanding of God in today’s ever-changing world. There is time set aside for questions at the end of the presentation. 

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2025 - 2026 Presenters

January 11 & 18

"Turbulent Water: How Baptism Has United and Divided Christians" with Mark Tranvik, Professor, Luther Seminary

January 25

“Leading With and For Community”, with Dr. Salma Hussein, Principal at Gideon Pond Elementary School

February 8 & 15

"Whose Body? Whose Future?" with Jerry Hamilton, Retired College Professor from Wittenberg University

2025 - 2026 Schedule Details

In our time together we will look at Martin Luther's understanding of baptism and reflect on the ways it provided great comfort but also caused division among Christians.

Mark Tranvik is a parish pastor at heart. He spent almost ten years (1984-93) as a pastor at Cross of Glory Lutheran Church in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. It was a rich experience, full of struggle and joy. Even today as a teacher he tries to keep one eye on the parish pastor or lay leader when he talks about the Reformation or a theological topic. One of his favorite things to do is to visit congregations and lead adult forums. 

Mark retired in 2020 after twenty-five years of teaching at Augsburg University. That also was a good experience. He learned much from his Auggie students and colleagues. Following his “retirement” he was offered a full-time position in Reformation history and theology at Luther Seminary. His academic interests are in Reformation sacramental theology and Luther’s doctrine of vocation in particular. He looks forward to introducing his students to the crazy idea that Luther picked up from Paul: God’s love for the unlovable.

Information coming soon!

Dr. Salma Hussein is Somali Muslim woman leader and a committed community member who honors her interfaith family, including her husband’s Catholic relatives, and believes that love, dignity, and faith unite us far more than they divide us. God is Love.  

Information coming soon!

These two Sunday Forum sessions offer a critical confrontation with the Eugenics Movement—a historical apparatus of racism, ableism, and white supremacy that sought to dictate who could reproduce and who could not. We will analyze the movement's rise, its political power, and its central role in enacting compulsory sterilization laws and restrictive immigration policies designed to enforce a dangerous and unscientific ideal of "Racial Purity" that continues to surface in debates to this day.   

Jerry has taught at the elementary, junior high, and college levels, and has worked as an elementary school counselor. During his tenure at Wittenberg in the Department of Education, Jerry served as department chair, Faculty Personnel Board chair and Head of the Faculty Development Organization. In his non-teaching time, he was a volunteer football statistician and assistant women's basketball coach and volunteered with Habitat for Humanity. He has traveled six times with students to Mississippi to help build houses as part of the Habitat Collegiate Challenge.    

Information coming soon!