Pastor to the Community &
Director of Worship
Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago | Hyde Park
Pastor (former)
St. Luke's Lutheran Church | Logan Square
Projects and Work
Power of Testimony
In both his parish ministry and now, as Pastor to the Community & Director of Worship at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC), Erik has focused on the power of testimony to build power in community for the sake of personal and societal transformation. Erik was invited to present his work to the 2018 gathering of ELCA college and university pastors and has led workshops and retreats on related topics in congregations and conferences.
Erik served as the project manager on a grant project on testimony funded by the Calvin Institute for Christian Worship in 2016, which brought together four congregations in the Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago for a year long focus on story-telling across lines of difference in age, ethnicity and denominations.
Ecumenical Alliance & Community Organizing
Erik was a founding pastor in the Logan Square Ecumenical Alliance, through which he co-led congregational engagement in movements for public and affordable housing in a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood. In his new role at LSTC, Erik has brought the work of faith-rooted community organizing into the work of planning and leading worship as a model of how congregational worship opens into public action.
Available for
Comment/
Consultation on
Christian testimony
Faith community organizing
Writings
Contributing author to
In These or Similar Words: Crafting Language for Worship (Augsburg Fortress, 2015)
The CEB Student Bible (Common English Bible, 2015)
Worship Matters: An Introduction to Worship (Augsburg Fortress, 2012)
Press Coverage
"Lathrop Homes Protesters Demand CHA Replace 525 Lost Public Housing Units" (DNAInfo)