The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Peace Community Church has new pastor
Peace Community Church has called the Rev. Erica Grace Saunders to guide its 40 regular worshippers.
An Oberlin church congregation has found a new pastor to lead the flock.
Peace Community Church has called the Rev. Erica Grace Saunders to guide the group of about 40 regular worshippers at 44 E. Lorain St.
The church aims to boldly and earnestly embrace the call of Jesus to seek God’s kingdom, Saunders said.
“That is marked by love and justice for all people, especially the poor and the marginalized,” she said.
The group has a rich history of welcoming and advocating for those folks, Saunders said.
“Even their decision to call me as pastor reflects that, I think,” she said.
Saunders said as far as she is aware, she is just the second openly transgender woman to be ordained in the Baptist tradition and likely the first to serve as a settled pastor for an established congregation.
Discerning the call
A native of Asheboro, N.C., Saunders, 25, studied French, Spanish and philosophy at Queens University of Charlotte.
But she said it was her religious studies coursework that set her on the path to seminary and ordination.
After graduating in 2016, Saunders entered Wake Forest University School of Divinity, where she earned her master’s degree.
In seminary, graduate work ranges from theology to biblical studies to ancient languages, to more practical concerns such as church administration and chaplaincy, Saunders said.
She described herself as a passionate student of early Christianity and hopes to pursue doctoral work on the New Testament.
Transition
It was at Wake Forest that Saunders came out and began her transition on her first day there.
“I believe that one’s experience of God and God’s love is deeply intertwined with their sense of self, and I’ve certainly experienced that to be true, both in terms of my transition, and other life events that have happened as I really began exploring my theology and my spirituality in graduate school,” Saunders said.
“In the process of growing more fully into who I am and who I was created to be, I think I was able to feel God’s presence in the movement of the spirit in ways that I have never been able to previously.”
Being more comfortable in her body and navigating the world as a woman, Saunders said, has freed her from pain, anxiety and depression that she felt before.
She said it allows to her love other people more and focus on serving them.
Saunders added she did not intend to speak highly of herself at all through her remarks.
In March, Saunders was ordained at Wake Forest Baptist Church, where she “found a home at our church, where each Sunday everyone we say, ‘All are welcome. No exceptions.’”
The church is affiliated with the Alliance of Baptists “and has been committed to LGBTQ+ rights since it first performed a same-sex union in 2000.”
Coming to Oberlin
Peace Community Church is affiliated with Baptist churches, including the Alliance of Baptists and the American Baptist Churches of the Rochester/Genesee Region.
Saunders said she had heard of Oberlin College and Conservatory, but was not familiar with the town.
It was through the Alliance of Baptists that she first heard of Peace Community Church.
The congregation formed a search committee to find successors to Pastors Mary and Steve Hammond, who retired after 40 years guiding the church.
With a pool of 16 candidates, the group selected five for online interviews.
Two were invited to lead worship at another church with the search committee attending, said Glenn Loafmann, a committee member.
It was clear Saunders was an insightful leader, Loafmann said.
“She’s very much a pastor caring about the people that she’s dealing with and she approached the situation with confidence and her own style,” said Loafmann, a retired minister who served primarily in Illinois before joining the congregation about 15 years ago.
Saunders began her pastorate July 1.
Her term will last as long as she and the congregation feel called to a relationship together.
“Whether or not that’s five years, or 40 years, only God knows,” Saunders said.
“I love this congregation, I love being their pastor and I am very excited to see what God has in store for us.”
“I believe that one’s experience of God and God’s love is deeply intertwined with their sense of self, and I’ve certainly experienced that to be true.”
Rev. Erica Grace Saunders