Lake Burien Presbyterian Church
Religion & Spirituality
Lake Burien Presbyterian Church’s Pivot Ministry
(Young Adult Ministry)
The Pivot Northwest Grant is a grant that is operating out of Seattle Pacific University, with funds coming from the Lilly Endowment Inc. 12 churches in western Washington have been selected to receive grant money for a 3 year period, Lake Burien Presbyterian Church being one of the grantees. Through this grant, our church is receiving a funding amount of $10,000 per year for three years total. The focus of this grant is to create “innovative ministry plans” in order to explore the reason why young adults (20-30 year olds in our case) are leaving the church, and how to “do church” more creatively.
In the beginning, Pastor Lina gathered a multigenerational and multi-ethnic group of folks that later became the “Pivot Advisory Team”. The Advisory Team consists of older adults who are tasked with the responsibility of helping young adults explore conversations, planning, and hold the team accountable in focusing on our mission.
Aside from the Advisory Team, the young adults in the Pivot ministry have been gathering monthly for dinner at Tom and Susan Lane’s home who are part of the Advisory Team. They have graciously offered to host our young adult group which usually consists of 9-15 people each month. This is a space where conversation of how faith and spirituality intersects with different places in our lives e.i. Family relations, career pathways, education, and etc.
Freedom Road Pilgrimage
Our main project/work right now as a ministry is leading the Lake Burien congregation into the Freedom Road Pilgrimage. The Freedom Road Pilgrimage is a week-long journey that 30 of us will be going on in July of 2019. This trip is led by author, speaker and Christian justice leader, Lisa Sharon Harper who founded Freedom Road. We will journey through the U.S. South to explore sites of racial injustice and domination to have direct engagement with the “The Narrative Gap”, the stories in parts of history that were not always taught. We are entering this pilgrimage with the goal of spiritual formation and reformation and exploring God’s shalom as we closely explore both the historical and current oppression of those in these places. We as a ministry believe this is a huge opportunity to move our congregation closer to living the Gospel Fully Alive as people working toward a more loving and just world. In preparing for this pilgrimage, we as a group of 30 people will be gathering once a month to participate in a curriculum pre-pilgrimage. We will also be fundraising for this trip to help cover the cost which is $1,553/person, not including airfare.
Anonymous Young Adult Experiences
Navigating through career fields is entirely different as a millennial. I hear people talk about finding careers straight out of college, but that experience is lost as a millennial. We’re living in a time where prices are high for things, but corporations don’t want to pay enough for us to live, let alone for us to save or invest. I’ve found myself thinking how asinine that the “career” job I just landed pays the same as a supervisor position at the movie theater I used to work at. Why would I want to do extra work in a “professional” field to make the same amount I would’ve at a movie theater? Either way, I couldn’t afford to live alone with these income amounts.
When reflecting on our conversation and these questions the one the sticks out to me is “what keeps millennials coming back to church?” My journey on coming back to church is one I wasn’t sure I would find, I hadn’t been part of a church family for over seven years. Despite growing up in the church, as I got older, I began recognizing the messages being preached weren’t ones of acceptance and God’s love but more of a judgmental and damaging to those that didn’t fit into the box this pastor had created. As I began to question who God was and realizing that I believed he is a God of acceptance I moved away from the church. When I heard about how accepting and open Lake B was, I was a little skeptical but thought I would give church another try. From day one I have been amazed at how the sermons and overall feel of the church felt welcoming and accepting of all! I found myself looking forward to the services and sermons. In addition, seeing that the church was an active member in the community and really looking beyond the walls of the church to help their neighbors is a major part of what keeps me coming back. Pivot has also played a role in helping me feel like I was apart of the community at Lake B.
I think the hardest thing about being a millennial is how big social media has gotten over the years. I’ve realized how much of a distraction it’s been in my life to the point where I lost focus of what God was doing in my life because I was more focused on how other people where living their lives, I was stuck in the comparison game. But I’ve learned that the only person I need to compare myself to is Jesus. God did not create me to be a copy of anybody but a unique piece in constant construction! He knows who I am and why I was made and He has given me everything I need to fulfill His purpose.
Millennials are often criticized for their non-linear, non-traditional career paths. Whereas it was not uncommon for folks in our parents’ and grandparents’ generation to boast lifelong careers in which they worked for the same company for over 30 years, most (if not all) in my generation have built quite colorful resumes in our few years of adulthood thus far. I, myself, started out as a shoe salesperson at Macy’s for two years, then transitioned to working as a front desk clerk for the student union building at UW for the next two years. The following two years, I got a job as a music and art teacher for 3 to 5-year-olds. Then, I became a nanny for a year and finally, worked as a tutor at an elementary school for a few months. After graduating with my Master’s in Teaching last year, I landed my dream job as a 4th grade teacher. Over the last decade, I have dabbled in retail, social media advertising, graphic design, bookkeeping, customer service, childcare and education. I do not consider these transitions as a result of a lack of loyalty to the company or people I worked for. Rather, they are motivated by a desire to live life to its fullest and to explore my passions. I consider each of those experiences as key to shaping the person I am today. Even now, while I love teaching, I continue to dream about what else I could become- perhaps a children’s book author and illustrator or a curriculum writer.
I’ve found so much pressure/obligation in helping my parents immediately after college. As a first generation student, I know my parents didn’t have the same opportunities as I’ve been privileged to have. After graduating from college there’s been so much pressure to practically take care of the family when at this time in my life I’m trying to juggle figuring out my career, set goals, spend time with friends and family, and even have the chance to read a book. It gets hard to see other peers do so many things right after college without the ties to family obligation, especially when your obligations seem to feel like they’re holding you back from progression.
Despite the many negative characterizations of my generation, I am proud to be a millennial. Though we are often seen as ‘soft’, ‘uncommitted’, and ‘wishful’ in our thinking and living, the many stigmatizations we face are not so different than those encountered by the generations that have come before us. We are often accused of disrespecting our ‘ancestors’ and the preceding generation, through the ways that we choose to break away from ‘tradition’. Yet as I reflect on this, I have come to realize that these are characteristics of every generation, not just my own. No generation has been remembered for submitting themselves to the tradition of the one that has come before it - not because of a tendency for rebellion, but because each generation has been forced to creatively deal with the circumstances of its current moment. With this in mind, I don’t think millennials are actually much different than ‘generation x’ers’ or ‘baby boomers’. We all faced, and continue to face unique circumstances, requiring creative ways of thinking and living - ways that will always be seen as ‘unconventional’ to those who have come before us. Perhaps we aren’t as different as we perceive ourselves to be.
February 27, 2022 - Conversation with Rev. Tali Hairston and Crystal Hairston
February 20, 2022 - Rev. Shalom Agtarap
February 13, 2022 - Rev. Paul Kim
February 6, 2022 - Rev. Lina Thompson
January 23, 2022 - Conversation with Rev. Lina Thompson, Livy Yanga and Lynia Morris
January 16, 2022 - Conversation with Rev. Lina Thompson, Rev. Tali Hairston, Trevor Cowley and Hala Mana
January 9, 2022 Conversation with Rev. Lina Thompson, Rev. Tali Hairston, Vanessa Coker and Megan Won
January 2, 2022 - Conversation with Rev. Lina Thompson, Rev. Tali Hairston and Rev. Paul Kim
December 26, 2021- Rev. Lina Thompson
December 19, 2021 - Conversation with Rev. Lina Thompson, Rev. Paul Kim and Rev. Tali Hairston
December 12, 2021 Rev. Paul Kim
December 5, 2021 - Rev. Lina Thompson
November 28, 2021 Rev. Tali Hairston
November 21, 2021 - Conversation with Rev. Lina Thompson, Rev. Tali Hairston and Rev. Dr. Kelle Brown
November 14, 2021 - Dr. Ron Ruthruff
November 7, 2021 - Rev. Tali Hairston
October 24, 2021 - Reflections from Rev. Lina Thompson, Michael Won and Liz Jenkins
October 17, 2021 - Rev. Lina Thompson
October 10, 2021 - Conversation with Rev. Lina Thompson, Rev. Paul Kim, Rev. Tali Hairston and Haley Ballast
October 3, 2021 - Conversation with Rev. Lina Thompson, Rev. Tali Hairston, Pastor Esau Oreso of Nairobi Kenya and Pastor Jean Valery Vital-Herne of Port au Prince Haiti
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