In the Field

"Sharing the Gospel with People of All Walks of Life"

Featuring the Rev. Christopher S. Esget, 
Pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church, 
Alexandria, VA

by Monica Robins

During his college years at Berklee College, Boston, Mass., Christopher S. Esget, a baptized and confirmed LCMS Lutheran, frequented various "evangelical" churches, especially those that favored worship sometimes called "contemporary." As he attended various Bible studies, and listened to the preaching in these Reformed churches, he began to question some of the teachings, and he began to doubt that his sins were forgiven.

"I never heard unequivocally in the Reformed churches that I was forgiven," said Pastor Esget. "It always seemed to be followed by some statement of what I had to do. This became especially clear to me while I lived in a house owned and run by a Reformed church in Boston, where twelve ‘evangelical' college students lived, ate, studied, and worshipped together. The community was very legalistic, and I began to hunger and yearn for the Gospel."

At the same time, he had questions about the Lord's Supper. On the infrequent occasions that it was celebrated in these churches, the words of Jesus seemed to be contradicted by the preaching. "I asked the Lutheran pastor who confirmed me back in Minnesota about this, and he gave me a book by Martin Chemnitz on the topic to read, and also Walther's Law and Gospel. Reading those books began within me the desire to study theology and I began attending a Lutheran church in Boston, although this was against the rules of the house I was living in."

The hymns were a great comfort to him in their proclamation of the Gospel and the clear confession of Christ's presence in the Lord's Supper. "The vicars at the church--one from St. Louis, and the next year one from Fort Wayne--were very supportive and took time to talk to me, to answer my many questions, and gave me more to read. The more I learned, the more I wanted to share with my Reformed friends the wonderful news of the Gospel I had discovered in these Lutheran books, and the comfort that I found in the liturgy that was so much deeper than in the Reformed songs, which I had come to find very shallow."

Pastor Esget completed his Bachelor of Music in 1993. With a desire to serve the church, he contacted the seminaries with an interest in a master of church music program. "Although they did not offer the program in which I was interested, after meeting the professors and students at Concordia Theological Seminary and listening to the lectures, I began to think that I could study for the ministry, even though I felt very inadequate and ill-prepared."

Pastor Esget graduated from CTS with a Master of Divinity in 1997. His first Call was to Bethel Lutheran Church, DuQuoin, Ill., which is a small town (6600 pop.) in rural southern Illinois, about 90 miles southeast of St. Louis. "We averaged around 90 at the Divine Service on Sundays. It was a young congregation with many children; I really emphasized catechesis of the young children, starting in our church's preschool, where even the three-year-olds memorized the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, and many Lutheran hymns and parts of the Liturgy." Another thing he emphasized was celebrating all of the minor festivals with a spoken Divine Service in the evening. "I also tried to be involved in the community by speaking regularly on the local radio station and by serving at the hospital as a volunteer chaplain," continued Pastor Esget.

In 2001, Pastor Esget received and accepted a call to Immanuel Lutheran Church, Alexandria, Va., which borders Washington, D.C. Immanuel has a very diverse congregation, with people from all walks of life: blue collar workers, military and retired military officers, government workers (some of whom work in the White House and on Capital Hill), information and technology specialists, and several Ph.D. students. Very few people in the congregation were born here; most have come to the D.C. area through their occupations. Said Pastor Esget of his congregation members, "With family spread out all around the country, people here treat each other as family. I have been really impressed with how they care for one another. While some people live in our neighborhood, which is very old and established, many of our members drive long distances, some over an hour, to come to our church, which emphasizes the historic liturgy and confessional doctrine, which is in short supply in these parts."

Immanuel also has a parochial school of about 100 students, although few at this time come from the congregation. Pastor Esget teaches seventh and eighth grade religion classes in the school every day, and leads a weekly chapel service (Matins) complete with vestments, organ, etc. The children are reciting the Catechism together during that time as well. Many are not members of any church--this is a great mission field that they are trying to pursue more actively. They also offer services (Evening Prayer) on Wednesday evenings, which draw about 20 people.

"Besides Sunday morning, I also have a Wednesday morning Bible Study, and we have just started a new program called the Lay Academy of Theology on Sunday evenings. This is a more in-depth study of Lutheran theology that we hope to be the genesis of a program to reach out to inquiring adults from throughout the D.C. metro area in the future. We already have had, in the first few weeks, several young adults who are not members of our congregation attending. I'm hoping to develop that as an emphasis--academic- and professionally-oriented young adults who are looking for substantive Christian teaching and worship."

The Sunday following the September 11th terrorist attack was their best attended, with 127 in worship. A typical Sunday brings around 100 to worship. "The congregation has been through some difficult times. They were vacant for two and a half years, after the previous pastor resigned his divine call. Shortly after that a large segment of the leadership left to follow the pastor, who then joined a different denomination. Some of those who stayed really wondered whether the congregation would survive, but by God's grace, the congregation was very united in its life under God's Word and their desire to remain a strong, confessional, liturgical church. While the numbers dwindled for awhile, God has really strengthened this congregation and they are ready to grow, spiritually, and, if God wills, numerically," said Pastor Esget.

Living in a very ethnically diverse area, one of their challenges is to reach out with the Gospel to the people arriving in the area. "It is a thrill to minister amongst such a diverse congregation and community--but the Gospel is the same. I've had two funerals already, and those really made clear to me that the Gospel is the same no matter the size of the community or education of the people. We still preach that in Christ, we look for the ‘resurrection of the body and the life of the world to come.'"

The Rev. Christopher S. Esget, Pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church, Alexandria, Va., is married to Kassie, whom he met on vicarage at Trinity Lutheran Church, Norman, Okla.