Plymouth's new Pastor of Care & Welcome Rev. Heather Coates introduces herself to the congregation.
Hello Plymouth! I am so happy to be returning to Plymouth as your Pastor of Care and Welcome. Many of you may remember me from my work here at Plymouth as the Director of Christian Education. I can’t believe how tall the children I used to work with are! My new role at Plymouth will have me, among other things, shepherding new members, coordinating care ministries, and regularly leading worship, including weddings and funerals.
What have I been doing in my time away from Plymouth? Well, I’ve been busy. While serving as your CE Director, I began to discern a call to ministry in the United Church of Christ. My first call, and the place where I was ordained, was St John’s UCC - a great little church in southern Douglas County. I also taught World Religions at Bishop Seabury Academy.
This summer, I started a three-year program at SoulJourners (an institution run by the Benedictine Sisters in Atchison, KS) to train as a Spiritual Advisor. I hope to find ways to share this work with you as I progress in the program.
My other significant life change in my time away from Plymouth is that I got married! (We will be celebrating our fifth anniversary in August). After that, I convinced Scott to move into my house in East Lawrence (we have since renovated), where we spend a lot of time growing tomatoes and peppers in what I sometimes refer to as our urban farm.
I look forward to getting reacquainted with all of the long-time members of Plymouth. And getting to know all the new faces I see in the pews. I hope we will all grow together in faith as we walk together in community.
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