Kurty Darling ’25 Ph.D. is serving for one year as visiting instructor for children, youth, and family ministry and as grant manager for the Nurturing Children Through Worship and Prayer Initiative grant. She holds an M.A. in Narrative Theology from United Theological Seminary and a B.A. from Bethel University, where she has taught for the past five years. In September, Darling defended her dissertation on the evangelical imagination around visions of a flourishing life.

Darling was drawn to the field of practical theology because of the rich way it brings together theory and practice. “To me, theology is a vibrant and living reality that finds purchase in the lives of individuals, in the history of the church, in the ever-coming action of God, and within the interpretation of the scriptures,” she said. “Narrative theology remains important to me because it takes seriously the story of the text and the storied life of the interpreter—I think it gives life to readers of scripture today.”

With the Nurturing Children Through Worship and Prayer grant, Darling will lead the organizing and hosting of groups of children’s ministers—a local cohort in the Twin Cities, another in Kansas City, one of people connected to the seminary’s nondegree-seeking students, and one of solo pastors at their churches. “Our dream is to provide supportive spaces to expand the theological imagination around children’s ministry and connect children’s ministers to one another in a life-giving environment,” said Darling.

She said this work will help “orient the church around the important work of the children’s minister.” Too often, the church looks at children’s ministry as something of a holding space for the work of “real” church service. “But in the encounter between child and children’s minister, things can happen that are—on their own—theologically significant.”