A member of Seeds of Faith Lutheran church has a new role at the congregation, as she steps into the role of pastor of the church.
Erika Uthe was a biology major when she was in college at Iowa State University. While active in faith she never thought about becoming a pastor as an option. Uthe’s senior year in college, she took a trip to Guatemala over spring break. Her pastor during the trip was a woman. The first women pastor she had experienced in her life.
Uthe studied the verse Isaiah 6:9 with the pastor. The verse says, “whom shall I send, who will go for us? Isaiah said, here I am, send me!” The words spoke to Uthe who realized she not only could be a pastor, but it was her calling to become one. After she graduated from Iowa State, Uthe went to seminary at Dubuque College and Wartburg Seminary.
Uthe is now the new pastor at the Seeds of Faith Lutheran Church in Lisbon. She has been in the role for just over a month and has loved the new role.
“The people are so amazing,” said Uthe, “Getting to know people in a different way, from the shift from member to pastor, has just been really fun.”
Uthe has been a pastor for 14 years now. She held a couple different roles, allowing her to work with more than 135 congregations.
Uthe’s first job as a pastor was at a church in Ely. After a couple of years there, she moved on to working for the bishop in the Southeastern Iowa Synod. In this job, Uthe would be at a different church most Sundays. She loved her job and being able to reach many parts of Eastern Iowa, but she began to yearn to be rooted in a single place and community.
The pastor position at Seeds of Faith had been open for about two years before Uthe applied. When Uthe applied, she knew the community well already and knew how accepting of a congregation they were.
“It’s unique because when you are new to a place it takes time to get to know the people and community,” said Uthe, “In one sense, I have some of the knowledge already so I feel I can hit the ground running, so it’s exciting.”
Seeds of Faith seemed like the perfect match for Uthe because of how open they were to change.
“I feel a little bit more freedom to do some changes earlier than when I would normally be able to do that,” Uthe said.
The change Uthe is talking about is rooting the church deeper into the communities of Mount Vernon and Lisbon. Uthe wants to be an active community partner that can meet the needs of the community.
“I am still trying to learn what are the needs, the real needs,” said Uthe, “We can all make guesses about what people need, but I think oftentimes there are hidden needs in a community. In these first few months I really want to make those connections with community leaders and find out what those needs are.”
The church already helps with Southeast Linn Community Center, their school and food drives, and Meals on Wheels. Uthe believes the congregation is very gifted with a lot of passion to help people in the community.
“I’m so grateful for the people of Seeds of Faith who have trusted me to be their pastor and I am looking forward to working together to make a difference in Mount Vernon and Lisbon in the years to come,” Uthe said.