It is with joy that I share the news that Andrew Spidahl will begin his ministry as our Pastoral Resident beginning on April 7th! You may recall the announcement at the Annual Meeting that we requested approval from Church of the Servant in Grand Rapids, Michigan to be included in their Pastoral Residency program which is funded through a Lily Foundation grant. They did not have sufficient grant money left to fund our position fully but agreed to make a request to use the remaining funds they had left toward a position at Hope Church. They have heard that Lily approved that proposal (so I suppose we are only 99.99% assured that this is happening until the written acceptance letter arrives!)
We will be planning a commissioning service for Andrew in the coming months so watch for details about that. Andrew has just begun the ordination process within the RCA to become a minister of Word and Sacrament so he is not yet eligible to be ordained to that office. But we will be ordaining Andrew as an Elder so that he can be authorized to celebrate the sacraments in his role as Pastoral Resident.
He will be focusing his full time ministry in three areas. Approximately 20 hours a week will be dedicated to his current work and role as the Neighborhood Connector for Washington School Neighbors. The remainder of his time will be dedicated to two arenas within Hope Church’s ministry: young adult ministry and alternative worship. We have just begun to build a vision for ministry with young adults who are post-high school through thirty years old. Andrew will bring leadership to the development of that ministry within and beyond Hope Church’s membership. He will also be responsible to guide our congregation in developing our worship life beyond the 11:00 a.m. sanctuary service. This will include Early Worship as well as worship with young adults.
We are excited to bring Andrew onto our staff. Look for ways to welcome him in the days ahead!
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Jill