Throw the Church Doors Wide

Sometimes God has you right where you’re needed most. While Job Pangilinan discerned his call to seminary, he was also serving in lay ministry at Seattle’s Fairwood Community United Methodist Church and realized he couldn’t leave his community for three years. The church depended on his leadership and he felt the Spirit rooting him in place, his pastoral gifts finding abundant use. Still, he knew he was called to serve as a Methodist elder so he jumped at the opportunity when he learned he could study remotely and receive his Master of Divinity at Garrett Seminary without leaving Washington. It was a fortuitous choice: Three years later, he’s not only graduating with his degree, but has also built a ministry that helped more than 150 Venezuelan refugees find the welcome and resources they need to build a new life.

Like many acts of faithfulness, Fairwood’s migrant ministry began with saying “yes” to an urgent communal problem without a clear vision for how their small church would be able to meet the enormity of people’s needs. “It was a very controversial decision for the church to make, but it was a call of crisis when we knew that families and children were sleeping in the park with nowhere to go,” Pangilinan confesses. “We just opened our doors and let them stay in the sanctuary. We didn’t have a plan, just a desire to give them warmth—everything else followed.” One year later, the church has been able to offer much more than refuge. “We’ve taken their kids to school, provided them with food, clothing, and a warm place to sleep,” Pangilinan reports with joy. “Isn’t this what Christ wants the church to do? And it’s created transformation within our community: People are offering ESL classes, donating food, loving God by loving our neighbors.”

Over the course of this incredible year, Pangilinan has been deeply moved by how the faith of the people he’s helping has deepened his own. “They have walked a journey thousands of miles into the unknown seeking safety,” he says. “It’s the theology that guided the biblical Hebrews. When you ask them, they will tell you outright: We are crossing the Red Sea.” As debates about immigration swirl throughout the country, through acts of service Pangilinan and his church have found a way to turn down the volume on venomous rhetoric pointed towards the strangers God explicitly calls us to welcome. “It breaks my heart, but it has also strengthened my faith,” he shares. “They are still filled with hope that God will provide them with their needs, despite all the fear that’s around them. This is the way the Spirit moves, a challenge to see how far you will follow love.”

Ministry takes more than faith, however. It also takes resources, and the church has been overwhelmed by the wider community’s response. “Initially, we had so many questions about whether we could do this—we knew it would be expensive,” he recalls. “We have proven all those doubts wrong as the church continues to flourish. Non-profits and neighbors have donated money to sustain this ministry.” It’s also become a potent gift for evangelism. “Even neighbors who don’t consider themselves church members, who might never come worship, are participating,” he says. “They volunteer, they give their time. That’s what church is all about, when a congregation opens its doors and the community floods in. Imagine how it would astronomically change the world if this were how every church acted.”

Throughout the process of guiding the church through this revitalizing ministry, Pangilinan has been attending classes online, writing papers, and learning new skills he can use to support the congregation’s incredible work. “There’s no better way of learning than applying what you’ve learned,” he laughs. “Every time I learn something I know is adaptable, my own church benefits immediately. I’m using things the same week, sometimes the day, I learn them—whether its preaching tips, pastoral counseling, or cultural competencies.” Indeed, he says that one of the most potent ways his education has shaped his ministry is the transnational character of Garrett’s online classroom. “My peers come from all over the world, which has broadened my lens, receiving knowledge from so many sources,” he reflects. “It’s an incredible synergy where all of us contribute and enrich each other’s experience, validating the work of God through our experience and testimony.”

This gift is exactly what Garrett intended when the seminary expanded its degree programs to offer the option to pursue a fully-remote MDiv. More students like Pangilinan are pursuing ordination while already serving a community or balancing the demands of higher education and family life. A remote MDiv ensures that residential education does not become a barrier that prevents anyone from following the call God has placed on their life. But it’s not just a benefit to students: By tethering our community to all the places in which our students live and serve, Garrett’s community more fully reflects the beauty of God’s global church. Pangilinan’s ministry is a living witness to this truth. During graduation week, he was honored to preach in chapel, testifying, “Surely, goodness and mercy have followed us here!” And churches like Fairwood grow stronger, infused by the lifegiving theologies nurtured in Garrett’s classrooms. “I’m not saying we’re a perfect church,” Pangilinan concludes. “But what’s important is that we’re a church who is listening to the voices of both God and our community—and acting on that love.”