Good Shepherd to Good Shepherd

Rev. Kathy North, who was installed as pastor of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church on Aug. 10, comes to parish ministry as a second career. "For 10 years, I was manager of credit and collections for a clothing company," she said with a laugh. "In that work I discovered in myself what I thought was the gift of being good at conflict management, but I think my real gift is helping people deal with their anxieties."

In midlife and while raising two children, North had a powerful experience of God calling her to work in the Church. She studied at the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago, was ordained in 2001, and accepted a call to Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in North Aurora. Because the congregation to which she was called was dying, her letter of call gave her the mission of turning the ministry around and therefore the authority to make decisions without the council's approval.

"That's where 10 years of credit collection helped," she said. "Change is not easy, and when a church is changing, there's high anxiety."

North attributes at least part of her ability to help people with change to her spiritual outlook. "Many people," she explained, "look at a glass of water and ask if it is half full or half empty. I look inside the glass and ask if God is in the water, no matter what the level is. If God is in the water, we have everything we need. I don't care if it's only one drop. If God isn't in the water, even if the glass is full, it's not enough."

Partway into her ministry in North Aurora, North discovered another congregation about the same size and with many of the same issues, a Spanish-speaking church named San Francisco de Asis. One thing led to another, and the two congregations voted to share the building owned by Good Shepherd.

From the beginning, she was determined that the relationship between the two would be a real partnership and not a landlord/renter arrangement. North smiled as she recalled 80-year-old white Lutherans trying to say "Buenos Dias" and "Como Estas" to their new partners, which gave those who were first generation immigrants in the Hispanic congregation permission to try to communicate in their broken English.

Recently, the two congregations decided to merge and form one bilingual ministry, which meant that North, who doesn't speak Spanish fluently enough to be in that kind of context, had in effect worked herself out of a job.

Another set of experiences which affirmed her sense of direction in ministry was connected to the two trips she made to South Africa in the last four years. In some cases she observed what might be a colonial missionary mentality in non-African visitors which goes something like this: "You need what I have, but I don't need what you have, so out of the goodness of my heart, I'm going to give you what you need."

The problem with that approach, according to North, is that it assumes people from richer countries know how to do things better than local people and ignores their knowledge of how their culture works.

A second problem is that if the people in Soweto with whom she has now formed relationships don't use the funding that big brother in America or Europe gives them the way big brother wants them to use it, the big brother donor churches often withhold the funding they had promised.

"When I approach another culture," she said, "my first job is to listen, even when the answers they give to my questions are sometimes hard to hear."

North said she was attracted to ministry in Oak Park in general, because she has always been impressed by the village's stand against racial profiling and redlining, and at Good Shepherd in particular because of its commitment to multicultural ministry. She envisions her future ministry as nurturing a cross-cultural, bridge-building sense of purpose.

Rev. Todd Wilson was installed as senior pastor of Calvary Memorial Church on Oct. 5. Calvary's website says Wilson, who grew up in a non-Christian home, came to Christ at age 16, and he "immediately sensed a personal responsibility to grow deeply in his newfound faith, motivated by the desire to defend and explain it to skeptical and unbelieving family and friends."

His desire to add intellectual integrity to his faith led him to Wheaton College, where he increasingly felt a call to ministry. After graduating in 1998, he spent two years doing inner-city ministry in Minneapolis and then returned to his alma mater where he added an M.A. in biblical exegesis and another B.A. in philosophy.

Seeking even more theological rigor, Wilson and his young family moved to Cambridge, England, where after three years, he earned a Ph.D. in New Testament, awarded in 2005. Though living in an English-speaking country, he still experienced culture shock.

In 2005, Wilson became associate pastor for adult training & ministries at College Church in Wheaton, where he was responsible for oversight of adult communities and for men's and women's ministries.

In many ways, Wilson, his wife Katie and their three children seem like a typical middle-class family, which you might find in your own neighborhood. They enjoy eating ice cream, dancing, reading and riding bikes around the neighborhood.

Wilson, however, described his sense of mission in very un-bourgeois terms.

"I desire to see Calvary Memorial Church be a counter-cultural community for the common good in Oak Park and beyond. This means seeking the welfare of this community by proclaiming, in both word and deed, the good news of Jesus Christ and by embodying his message of 'grace and truth' in our life together."

Wilson and his wife have three young children and are in the process of adopting two siblings from Ethiopia. They will travel to Africa this fall to pick up their two new children.

Aiming for the next level

The Pastor Nominating Committee set the bar extremely high for the more than 150 clergy who applied for the position of Lead Pastor at First United Church of Oak Park. The new pastor would be required to:

1) provide pastoral leadership for creating and maintaining a framework that inspires, informs, and nourishes the spiritual welfare of the congregation;

2) strengthen the committees and leadership using a collegial approach;

3) grow;

4) improve communication and the decision-making process in the congregation.

The committee was describing Rev. Julie Ruth Harley, the person they eventually chose and who officially began her ministry in Oak Park on Oct. 5, as a person of lived faith, an effective communicator, a leader who is open and able to work with diversity, and an emotionally secure person.

Harley came to the interview process with impressive credentials. She received a Master of Divinity degree from Princeton Seminary in 1985 and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Northern Seminary in Lombard in 2006. She has served as a pastor in three congregations and as vice president of Ministry and Mission for Lifelink Corp. She is the author of Soul Calling: Breathing Spirit into a Life of Service.

Harley's human side is revealed in a story she tells about a conversation she had with Mike Royko. Majoring in journalism as an undergraduate at Northwestern, Harley was able to get a summer internship with the Sun-Times working alongside the columnist who was known for not mincing words. Feeling a call to ministry at that time, she told Royko that she was enrolling in seminary.

"Why in the world would you want to do that?" he sputtered in disgust.

"God only knows," she replied.

Harley's experience as a reporter helped sharpen her focus in her new vocation. "Instead of exposing what's wrong with the world, and not being part of the solution," she said, "I now have the task of examining what God is doing in the world and motivating people to be part of that mission. I honestly think it's easier to be cynical than it is to be hopeful. But I've always liked a challenge."

As an example, she recalled covering a story about a 9-year-old boy who was killed while playing with his father's gun. In her role as a reporter, she did a good job telling the story of what happened but did little to comfort the family. Now as a minister, she can be what she calls "an instrument of God's peace."

"Recently," she said, "I conducted a healing service for a woman who was grieving the stillbirth of twins, even though it had been five years since they died. She was able to feel peace about her loss for the first time. Ministry is incredibly gratifying every day."

First United has high experctations for her, but Harley has even higher expectations for the congregation. She envisions her new congregation becoming a leading church on the national horizon; developing a dynamic, spirit-filled vision for mission; being a witness for justice and reconciliation in the public square; offering worship and education that changes lives and produces leaders; growing in numbers, stewardship, spiritual discernment and God's love.

"First United is an outstanding church," she said, "and together we will take it to the next level."

Youth movement

If you look in the 1998 OPRF High School yearbook and turn to the picture of the orchestra, you will find a young man in the cello section named Jon Dumpys. After graduating, that young man went on what he calls "a faith journey," which brought him right back where he began. Dumpys was installed as the pastor of United Lutheran Church on Sept. 21.

Pastor Dumpys was born in Winnepeg, Canada, which makes him a dual citizen. His father Hans, who was a pastor in, and then bishop of, the Lithuanian Lutheran church in Diaspora, moved his family to the 700 block of South Clarence in 1987.

It was as a student majoring in religious studies at Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota that Dumpys began to critically examine his faith. "I like to define my college experience," he explained, "as a faith journey. I went from believing that questions and doubts about my faith were keeping me further away from God, when in fact they were drawing me closer."

He wrote his senior thesis on Thomas Merton, the Roman Catholic contemplative monk, who "saw prayer as a bridge between the contemplative life and social action." After college, he decided to, in effect, follow Merton's advice and put his faith into action by volunteering to serve the homeless in St Louis for a year as part of the Jesuit Volunteer Corps.

While working with people on the margins of society, Dumpys realized he felt called to nurture other people's lives of faith, entered the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago, and graduated with a Master of Divinity degree in May.

Dumpys is looking forward to his ministry at United Lutheran. "I get excited about opportunities to help the church look beyond its walls, to help people see where God is at work in the world, and to inspire and equip people to do the work of justice."

Rich Liefer, a member of the call committee, acknowledged it is unusual for an established congregation to call a person right out of seminary. But he believes Dumpys' familiarity with the neighborhood will help him understand the ministry's context, and, reminiscent of what we've been hearing from the Obama campaign, Liefer believes their new pastor is just what the congregation needs.

"Pastor Dumpys promises to be a fresh, new intelligence in the community-very mature for his age-enthusiastic and committed to being a religious leader as well as a social activist ... and he is ecumenical-minded. He represents a promising step toward the future ... for a congregation that will mark its 80th year in Oak Park this fall."

Dumpys feels the relationship is a good fit as well. "I feel truly blessed to be joining this congregation in its ministry," he said. There are enormous gifts and assets here-talented laity who reflect the diversity of this community, a vibrant worship life, and an inspired ethic of service to the community."

He has one more thing to look forward to. In January the new pastor will marry Stacey Jutila who also is an ordained ELCA pastor working as a chaplain at Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. The couple will move into the congregation's parsonage after the wedding.

Hands, heart and mind

Rev. Emily Gage, the new minister of Faith Development at Unity Temple, grew up in the Unitarian Universalist tradition in Pittsburgh. Following a lifelong interest in the study of religion and what people believe, she majored in religion at Swarthmore College.

Like all of her new colleagues, Gage felt moved to take detours from the "normal" college to seminary to congregation track. "Upon graduation after years of study, I decided it was time to save the world," she recalled, "so I signed up for the Peace Corps and ended up teaching English as a foreign language to high school students in Poland (1991-93)."

After two years in Poland, Gage returned to Pittsburgh without a plan for what to do next. Her home congregation offered her the position of advisor, and while working for that church, she realized "ministry combined everything I was passionate about-working for change, working with different ages, storytelling, writing, singing and preaching." She went to Harvard Divinity School, graduated, was ordained in 1997 and has served since then at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Joliet.

At Unity Temple Gage's job description includes overseeing and providing leadership for the congregation's faith development/religious education programming for all ages. "I'm especially excited," she said, "about focusing on faith and what it means to be a Unitarian Universalist for our young people, parents and families."

She added that Unitarian Universalists see themselves continually developing their faith. "We talk about the ongoing quest for truth and meaning," she said, "meaning that we are always open to new truth, testing our beliefs through our experience and exploration. This is a hands, heart and mind exercise."

It's about people

Rev. Kelly Faulstich, who will be installed as associate pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, River Forest, in December, was asked to write a spiritual autobiography as part of the interview process a few months ago. She based it on a Ghanaian proverb: "People are the thing: If I call 'gold,' gold does not respond. If I call 'clothes,' clothes do not respond. People are the thing."

In her ministry at Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Warrenville, Ohio, where she has been pastor since her ordination in 2004, it is the relationships she most enjoys. "From two-year-old Julian who runs to the communion rail every Sunday to 85-year-old Maxine who as lector reads the Sunday Scriptures with great passion, it is truly the people who make ministry a joy."

To illustrate her vision of what church really is, she described what happens every Sunday in front of the Chapel of the Resurrection at Valparaiso University where she did her undergraduate work. She likes to watch the flow of people toward the communion table to receive the sacrament and then return to their pews.

"It is a constant circle," she said, "and every time I go back to that chapel, I think of the people who have gone before me in faith and rejoice at those who will come long after I have passed."

Faulstich has had two significant multicultural experiences. The first was in a mostly African-American congregation, Windsor Park Lutheran Church at 76th and Saginaw where there was a family of about 15 kids from across the street who worshiped weekly. One Sunday while the pastor was chanting the communion liturgy, he paused. Some of the kids must have thought he needed help, because they jumped right in, chanting the pastor's part from their pew. The traditional Lutheran liturgy took on new meaning for her as the neighborhood children assisted their pastor with words for worship that are centuries old.

The second was with the International Lutheran Church in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where she did her internship. Her confirmation class included the children of pastors from the U.S. and Ethiopia together with HIV/AIDS orphans.

"While these young people came from very diverse backgrounds," Faulstich recalled, "they were united in the gospel and in learning how to live out their faith in a wonderfully complex world."

"All the heady discussions in the classroom," she said, "took on new life as I visited with folks from recovering addicts on Chicago's South Side to ambassadors from Cameroon. The faces I saw and the voices I heard across this city and across the ocean belong to the people through whom I experienced God's love and grace most profoundly."