A life update + vocational transition

This past weekend I shared some big news with the church I serve. I want to tell you about it. But I’m also out of words this week. Sometimes all the words get spent through emotional connection and presence with people I deeply care about.

I’ve been deep in discernment the past year or so and it’s led me to a intriguing place. As deep listening tends to do. I’ll be unpacking this for months and years to come. But for now, I’ll share with you the letter I sent my beloved congregants.

Dear Morningside,

There’s an important update I want to share with you. Before I came to serve as one of your pastors, I took a year and a half off from serving a local church. I learned a great deal about myself and why I had burned out so spectacularly in the season before. I remember saying to the cabinet (the team that appoints pastors) that I’m willing to say yes to serving a local church again as long as I could be an out autistic pastor because I was still figuring out what that meant to me.

Then I came to Morningside. Your love and acceptance and desire to learn about different neurotypes healed something deep in me. I got to be more myself with you in this role than I have in my entire life. Thank you.

I also learned something about myself that’s really hard to admit: The role of a pastor in a local church is not a sustainable space for me as an autistic woman.

I can no longer avoid this truth. It lives in my body, my heart, and my mind. I’ve fought it for decades. I’ve grieved this truth. I’ve tried to outperform this truth. But once I decided to trust God that maybe it was okay to genuinely allow this to be true, the clarity that’s bubbled up has only affirmed this knowing.

As I came to terms with this truth, another part of my call became clear. For my entire ministry, I’ve always been curious about how we translate what happens inside the walls of the church to outside the walls of the church. I’m an innovator at heart and I’ve always wanted to walk with people one on one, in groups, workshops, and retreats as we journey into the hard stories of life, trusting that wholeness and healing always meet us on the other side of our fear. Kind of a hybrid of pastoral care, coaching, and somatic healing work.

There’s such a need for this kind of work especially with our neurodivergent friends. I’m calling it The Gentle Way. I’m hopeful this kind of practice could one day become an extension ministry of the United Methodist Church. You can learn more about it here.

So I have decided that it’s time to make a transition. For my ability to be a source of love in our world. For my well-being. For me.

What does this mean for you as Morningside United Methodist Church?

Just as the many pastors who’ve come before me, I’ll get to add my name to the list of beloveds who’ve walked with you for a season. I’ll be your appointed pastor until the end of June then I will transition into this new ministry. You’ll find out in the next few months who your next pastor will be and they will likely begin this July.

Our Staff Parish Committee will guide us through this process as they work with our District Superintendent. There will be space for you to advocate for the kind of pastor and gifts you think Morningside most needs in your next chapter. I’m very confident they will send you one of my amazing colleagues to walk alongside you.

Some will wonder — are we moving? We aren’t going anywhere! We love our home in Keizer and will continue to deepen our community connections.

When it comes to my Open Door Church connections, including youth ministry, we’ll know more about that in a couple months. I love working with our teens and am so grateful to be on the confirmation journey with many of them.

I’m looking forward to being an active part of the United Methodist Church through co-chairing the order of elders, guest preaching at churches, coaching, facilitating retreats, and groups.

A word about feelings. All the emotions are welcome here. I know some will feel excited for me while feeling disappointed at the same time. I know some might not understand and feel angry. It’s okay. I understand. It all gets to be here.

Our United Methodist world is an interesting one, isn’t it? We attach to pastors. Pastors attach to their congregants. We build trust with each other, we share really profound moments of life, and then change happens. It’s disorienting.

Yet we stand in the truth we’ve been nurturing in our time together. The joy and grief all get to be here. God’s love is powerfully at work within, around, and in spite of us. We’re invited to join in the movement of God’s spirit.

You’ve been Morningside long before I arrived and your story gets to enter a new chapter together. I’ll forever be so grateful I got to be a part of this chapter with you!

I’m looking forward to being with you in worship this Sunday. We’ll talk a bit about all this and we’ll connect in prayer, music, and be the body of Christ together. You are so loved, my friends.

All will be well. May it be so. Amen.

Grace + Peace,
Pastor Jenny