A church staff of 10 on Minnesota’s Iron Range A
t larger metropolitan and suburban congregations, it’s not unusual to
find a staff of 10. But then there’s Messiah Lutheran Church on the Iron Range in northeast Minnesota. Fewer than 100 worship every Sunday, but it boasts a staff of 10.
Since 2005, Messiah, Mountain Iron, has created a process of com- missioning staff, said Kristin Foster, pastor. It identifies gifts and equips nonpaid congregational leaders for ministry in the areas of worship, edu- cation, spiritual direction, and parish nursing and lay pastoral care. The latest expansion of the staff was Ellen Taube, installed as assis-
tant pastor of worship, education and pastoral care in shared time minis- try (a person has another significant vocation and income source), and reinstated to the ELCA clergy ros- ter Sept. 9. Taube, also a pharmacist, was removed from the roster in 2003 for being in a same-sex relationship. “We aren’t self-selected liberals,” Foster said, describing the congrega- tion instead as “a beacon of hope in a small-town, rural-industrial-mining area.”
Members spent considerable time on the ELCA sexuality study, “Jour- ney Together Faithfully,” that led to a 2009 Churchwide Assembly vote to
allow for partnered gay clergy. In 2010, Messiah also became a Reconciling in Christ congregation (a program that recognizes commu- nities that publicly welcome lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender believ- ers)—the first outside a Minnesota metropolitan area. “The ELCA has had to deal with controversy and the departure of some congregations,” Foster said. “We at Messiah have a story of ben- efiting from that decision by being able to have Ellen serve as pastor, of coming together and growth in peo- ple’s awareness about who God’s call is for.”
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