{"id":7537,"date":"2023-11-20T17:34:24","date_gmt":"2023-11-20T17:34:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.luthersem.edu\/story\/?p=7537"},"modified":"2023-12-05T15:56:14","modified_gmt":"2023-12-05T15:56:14","slug":"stepping-into-a-new-role","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.luthersem.edu\/story\/2023\/11\/20\/stepping-into-a-new-role\/","title":{"rendered":"Stepping into a new role"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alumni pastors use innovation to engage their new communities.<\/h2>\n

As parish nurse for First Lutheran Church in Fargo, North Dakota, Katie Kringstad \u201921 M.Div.<\/strong> did home and hospital visits, foot clinics, grief work, and nursing home check-ins.<\/p>\n

That job was followed by a move to director of the church\u2019s children\u2019s ministry. During that time, Kringstad\u2019s pastor encouraged her to start writing devotionals and later asked her to preach on Good Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was really being pushed out of my comfort zone, but in a good way,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Soon, parishioners wanted to know if Kringstad had ever thought about going to seminary. She made excuses for why it wouldn\u2019t work until all those excuses were gone.<\/p>\n

Kringstad completed her Master of Divinity at Luther Seminary in 2021 and was called to be the pastor of Norman and Davenport Lutheran Parish in rural North Dakota, making it the first time in two years that they had had a permanent pastor.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy biggest learning from Luther was to be flexible,\u201d she said. \u201cYou think that you have all these plans perfectly set out and then things happen, and plans change. You must go with the flow and be flexible, and things will still work out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kringstad is one of many Luther Seminary graduates who have helped fill the need for pastors in congregations that have struggled to find permanent clergy leadership in recent years. As they step into new pastoral roles, these graduates are living out the seminary\u2019s vision to lead faithful innovation in a rapidly changing world.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe became very innovative during the pandemic,\u201d Kringstad said. \u201cWhile I was an intern, we got this amazing technology system so we can be live every Sunday on Facebook. It\u2019s also recorded, and you can go back and watch it whenever you want. We were pushed to do things that we might not have done otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kringstad said this new technology benefits the congregation and has helped people stay connected to what\u2019s going on. They can hear the sermon and not feel as if they\u2019re missing out.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have so many who go south for the winter, so they can still feel that connection when they\u2019re out of town,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd then we have those who are homebound or in the nursing home, but they can still watch it on their iPad. Even those people who don\u2019t feel safe driving in the winter, or the people who spend Sunday at the lake\u2015they want to stay home and just watch it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another seemingly small addition to the church that has made a big impact is a new sign that lights up. It replaces a small metal sign at the end of their gravel road that was easy to miss.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve been putting up jokes on the sign,\u201d Kringstad said. \u201cThat always gets people\u2019s attention. I figured, well, if they know we have a sense of humor, they\u2019ll be more apt to come to church.\u201d<\/p>\n

People are busy and sometimes it\u2019s hard to make church a priority, Kringstad said. It\u2019s all about getting their attention with \u201cfun and fresh ideas,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur area is growing and so are our churches, which is huge here because a lot of the churches are dwindling and closing,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re blessed to be one that is growing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Small changes make a big impact<\/h2>\n
\"Lynn
Lynn Melchoir \u201922 M.Div.<\/strong> (Courtesy photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When Lynn Melchior \u201922 M.Div.<\/strong> joined the congregation at First Lutheran Church in Battle Lake, Minnesota, in November 2022, she was excited about the possibilities. She knew interim pastors had led the church during the middle of the pandemic. She knew that the pandemic had been hard on the church, which was one of the last in town to open back up to in-person worship. And she knew that instead of attendance going down in the summer, it goes up thanks to an influx of tourists and those who spend their summers in the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember being told repeatedly: When you start your first year, don\u2019t make any changes,\u201d Melchior said. \u201cThat stuck with me, but I knew I really needed to make a change because COVID had been hard on the church. It was losing money and didn\u2019t have a good handle on its finances. It lost a lot of people, and it seemed stuck. How could I not make changes?\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead of a major shakeup, Melchior made small but effective tweaks. She instituted \u201ccongregational voices\u201d during worship services, where she asked the congregation for input on matters that involved them before the closing hymn. She also gave them permission to dress more casually for services. That proved to be a popular move.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a more traditional church,\u201d she said. \u201cI asked them to raise their hands if they wanted a casual summer, which meant wearing jeans or shorts to church was fine. If they really wanted to dress up, totally go for it. I have had so many comments from people saying, \u2018Really? I can do that?\u2019 I had parents saying it was easier to get their kids ready for church. I had one woman who was a health care provider who lives in the area. She said she was supposed to come to church with a client but didn\u2019t have any dress pants. She asked me what she should do. I told her, \u2018These jeans I\u2019m wearing are the ones I wore to lead worship on Sunday. As long as you\u2019re not in your bathing suit, you\u2019re welcome on Sunday morning.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Melchior also started adding variety to her services. Instead of simply standing at the pulpit reading the Gospel and then following it up with a sermon, she often invites members of the congregation to read parts of the Gospel while she serves as narrator, so people are hearing multiple voices. She likes to add images to the readings, too, since an estimated 65% of the population are visual learners, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are small but innovative changes,\u201d she said. \u201cThe most impactful to the congregation was giving permission to wear jeans. It is giving permission to step outside of the box that they grew up in, which means you only hear the Gospel verbally. OK, if this is the only time they\u2019re going to hear the Bible, let\u2019s make sure that they hear and see it. If I could figure out a way for them to touch it, I would, so we could get all the senses involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Listening to lead<\/h2>\n
\"Emillie
Emillie Binja \u201922 M.Div.<\/strong> hugs a member of Creator Lutheran Church in Clackamas, Oregon (courtesy photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The journey to becoming a Lutheran was a long one for Emillie Binja \u201922 M.Div.<\/strong>\u2014nearly 8,000 miles.<\/p>\n

A native of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Binja and her family had to flee to Uganda when she was young for safety reasons. When Binja was 23, she immigrated to the United States, landing in Tacoma, Washington, in 2017. Her family was sponsored by the Lutheran Immigration Refugee Services and Lutheran Services Northwest.<\/p>\n

Years later, Binja graduated from Luther Seminary. As she was discerning what she wanted to do next, she talked to Laurie Larson Caesar, bishop of the Oregon Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, who had a church for her in mind\u2014Creator Lutheran Church in Clackamas, Oregon. Creator Lutheran\u2019s pastor had passed away right before the pandemic. After three years without a permanent leader, Binja\u2019s arrival in July was a welcome one.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a conversation with them, and I felt like if I was ever to start a congregation call it would have to be with this church,\u201d Binja said. \u201cI wanted to be part of their ministry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt felt like it was the right timing for them, too,\u201d she continued. \u201cThis congregation had endured so much during the pandemic. What really got me excited was amid all of that, they created these small groups in their church. They have a group that supports veterans and a group connected to the Hispanic community. They are helping those people in need.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought, if a congregation can do this without a pastor, that\u2019s so amazing. There are all these people who have a drive to be in community with others learning and doing God\u2019s work together, and they do that. I wanted to be a part of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

She remembers being nervous and a bit shaky during her first Sunday sermon to her new congregation. But the congregation made her feel welcomed and right at home.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost people are just excited to have a pastor,\u201d she said. \u201cMost people will say, \u2018We\u2019re glad you\u2019re here, and we hope that you\u2019ll feel at home. We enjoy having you and enjoy having a pastor who\u2019s walking alongside us.\u2019 I really love hearing that because I try to emphasize that every day\u2014I\u2019m walking alongside you.\u201d<\/p>\n

For now, instead of making any big changes to the church, Binja is opening her heart and her ears. She is setting a foundation as she gets to know her congregation and they get to know her.<\/p>\n

\u201cFaithful innovation is us listening,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s any way of innovating if I\u2019m not listening\u2014listening to the people in my church, listening to the people of my community, listening to where God is calling us to lean in more. We\u2019re so quick to want to get things done, especially in our culture of achieving, that we sometimes move before we are sure why exactly we are moving.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe key word is faithful. You must faithfully watch and listen\u2014listen to ourselves, to each other\u2014and watch how God is moving in and through that. Do that as much as you possibly can for as long as is needed. Because it is only from that, that you can produce the gift that God is planting in people\u2019s hearts every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Creative thinking<\/h2>\n
\"Gregory
Gregory Isaacson \u201991 M.Div.<\/strong>
(courtesy photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gregory Isaacson \u201991 M.Div.<\/strong> became a pastor more than three decades ago after leaving a career in banking. Over the years, he\u2019s served primarily at rural churches in Minnesota. Trinity Lutheran Church in Crookston had been relying on interim pastors and looking for a permanent leader when Isaacson joined them in 2011.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the first things I did was lead them through a visioning mission exercise to determine where they felt their goals as a congregation were and to help articulate that,\u201d he said. \u201cThen we wanted to come up with some ideas that they could see pursuing as they continued as a fairly strong congregation here in Crookston.\u201d<\/p>\n

Along with leading Trinity, Isaacson serves as the executive pastor for the Northern Lights Ministry Collaborative, which includes Crookston\u2019s First Presbyterian Church. In 2018, the two churches were both looking for a half-time pastor, so they came up with a solution to fill and share the position by hiring Associate Pastor Michael Ozaki. And the creative problem-solving didn\u2019t stop there. During the pandemic, the churches added streaming on Facebook to their already existing TV and radio broadcasts and started hosting services and doing baptisms at Maple Lake.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s exhausting,\u201d Isaacson said about keeping up with the changing world, especially during a pandemic. \u201cWhen the pandemic happened, I knew people were going to get into a different pattern of worship. It\u2019s a lot easier to sit and have a coffee in their living room while watching worship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, it\u2019s about reengaging the congregation to be more active participants in services. While watching at home worked during the pandemic, gathering in person is important for the community, said Isaacson.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you want people to connect, we have to give them a reason,\u201d he said. \u201cHere\u2019s the purpose of this Sunday\u2019s worship. Here\u2019s the value of worship. But then also, what can we ask our people who come into worship to expect? And what is expected from them?\u201d<\/p>\n

Isaacson and Ozaki have asked their parishioners to consider these questions when coming to worship: How can I make worship great for others? How can I share my true self? How can I be open to what is being given?<\/p>\n

\u201cWith those three questions,\u201d Isaacson said, \u201cif they\u2019re going into worship reflecting on what their part of it is, then hopefully they will not only experience God in the midst of that, but they\u2019ll be more engaged to see how that benefits them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Featured Image:<\/strong> Katie Kringstad \u201921 M.Div.<\/strong> (courtesy photo)<\/p>\n

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Winter 2023 Articles<\/h2>\n