This book presents a rich and insightful look at the deaconess vocation and its blessing to the LCMS. Utilizing primary sources to document the inspiring story of the deaconess movement within the LCMS, it fills a significant gap in the annals of synodical history. Collected in this one volume is a record of events as well as the thoughts and actions of deaconesses during every era of the Synod's history.
--This text refers to the
Kindle Edition
edition.
Cheryl Dorothy Freitag (Naumann) was born to Dorothy and Arthur Freitag on June 23, 1956, in Bremerton, Washington. She was baptized, confirmed, married, and commissioned as a deaconess at Memorial Lutheran Church (LCMS) in Bremerton.
Cheryl and her husband have six children (Brian, David, Edward, Gordon, Nigel, and Dorothy) and also three grandchildren (Hannah, Martin, and Ruth). The family is a close one and tries to get together as often as possible, even though some of the children live on different continents.
Cheryl has been an avid writer for most of her life. She began writing poetry and short stories at an early age. During her entire 8th grade year, at the age of 12, she wrote a weekly newspaper column called "Teen Beat" for the Bremerton Sun. While living in London, England (1988-2003) she developed a "side" career as a free-lance corporate writer and editor. Among other projects during that time, she was the editor of Acorn and Xemplar magazines (UK educational computer magazines for primary and secondary schools) and served as the editor for British Lutheran, the official magazine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of England (1996-99).
Cheryl graduated from Valparaiso University on May 20, 1979 and was consecrated as a Lutheran Deaconess that same day. Her first call (into which she was placed by the Council of Presidents of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod) was to Lutheran Home for the Aged in Kendallville, Indiana. In 1980, she became one of the nine founding members of Concordia Deaconess Conference - Lutheran Church Missouri Synod.
From 1982 to 2003 Cheryl lived in the United Kingdom, assisting her pastor husband in mission work at St. Columba Lutheran Church, East Kilbride, Scotland and St. Andrew's Lutheran Church, Ruislip, England. In 1991 she received a Master of Theology degree (in Theology and Church History) from Glasgow University, Glasgow, Scotland. In 2004 she completed the LCMS deaconess colloquy program at Concordia University Chicago, and a few months later accepted a call to serve Redeemer Lutheran Church and School, Oakmont, Pennsylvania, where she still serves today.
Please visit my website at www.deaconesshistory.org
