The Rev. Vitor Westhelle, Professor at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC), will be the guest preacher, and Greater Milwaukee Synod Bishop Jeff Barrow will officiate at the rite of ordination. While the majority of the worship service will be in English, portions of the liturgy and music will be in Spanish.
Jhon Freddy Correa, 28, was born in Colombia, and has been the pastoral intern at Emmaus while pursuing his Master in Ministry degree at LSTC. Correa received his MDiv. degree on May 16. He has been leading Emmaus' Spanish-language worship service since May 31, 2009. He is married to Liliana Moncada; they are expecting their first child in September.
Emmaus’ Hispanic ministry program is funded in part by a $45,000 grant from the Bethania Lutheran Church (Racine) LACE endowment fund, the Greater Milwaukee Synod, the national ELCA, and contributions from individuals and other Racine congregations.
Emmaus was founded in 1851 by Norwegian and Danish immigrants as First Scandinavian Lutheran Church; the name was formally changed to Emmaus Evangelical Lutheran Church in 1926. The congregation only began offering weekly worship services in English in 1923; Danish language services were discontinued during World War II.
