Sharon’s Ripple Story
WESTERN CANADA | TL1 & TL2 GRADUATE
I sat down with Sharon, & I immediately knew she would have some beautiful ministry updates to share. As I asked her how she was arriving she said, “I’m actually very encouraged & excited in life right now.” Sharon went on to say that she is currently serving as an associate pastor at a local multisite church in Vancouver, CA, & that she is about to step in as an interim resident pastor at one of their sites at the University of British Columbia. Sharon is excited to be supporting students as they explore their faith, & remembering all the questions, she asked about God herself at that age.
Sharon feels like she is currently in a “ministry season where God is really wanting to draw His people closer to Him.” Sharon has felt the broader community of Vancouver feeling parched by the global unrest. In the midst of communal worry & financial strain, she feels God inviting her to sit in the question of what it means to focus on Jesus as the oasis & the living water.
Sharon’s community hasn’t always been in Canada. She grew up in Hong Kong until moving to Michigan to pursue her undergrad degree. Next, she came to New England to complete her seminary degree at Gordon Conwell, where we first met her! Sharon shared that soul care looks different in all the places she has lived. For Sharon, it is about pinpointing what the community needs & then encouraging that space of growth with God & one another. She described how in Hong Kong, & parts of India, things are very fast paced so soul care means slowing down & receiving rest. Whereas, in Western Canada, they already move more slowly, so soul care can look like creating spaces for the louder practices of celebration or lament to live our full emotional landscape with each other. What a great example of the broader world of soul care!
In addition to being a world traveler, Sharon also has the unique distinction of learning under both Rama & Rama’s husband, Tim. First as Tim’s mentored ministry student, then as Rama’s directee, & finally through TL1 & TL2 with PAX! Sharon laughingly shared that she first began spiritual direction when Rama boldly told her she needed it. Sharon articulated how seminary did a great job of preparing her to understand scripture & to preach with integrity. Yet, she is very grateful she was exposed to spiritual direction while in seminary & would say, “if you are a seminary student, go receive spiritual direction because it will help you pause, & it will create space for you to process all the things you are learning & wrestling & navigating in school.” Sharon feels that it made a “vast difference in the way that I was processing my own calling” & that “now in my pastoral ministry…I sit & I ask people, where are you coming from, what is going on inside you…& giving people that space to notice the Holy Spirit.” Sharon shared how her time in PAX taught her the pieces of ministry involving relationship & presence. We rejoice with her for the way God met her as she was learning & growing!
I asked Sharon what differences she notices when she approaches ministry in this light. She replied that “for the gospel to move from people’s brains to people’s hearts, for it to be an embodied reality for people, relationships need to happen. It is in that relationship & that relational space that people discover Christ & His love.” Sharon named that preaching is good & important, but that she has seen the inner healing work really come out in practices like spiritual direction where people can take an active part in wrestling with the ideas that come from places like sermons. I could see Sharon’s deep love & care for creating these spaces for her congregation where they can really come to know God personally in their life circumstances. We need places to get messy & lean in to learn & grow!
Sharon’s current church is one where spiritual direction & spiritual formation are very present. Sharon holds a dream of having spiritual direction language feel as commonly received as therapy language is in Vancouver. She wants people to know how incredibly accessible spiritual direction can be & how it can meet them in tandem alongside counseling.
I asked her what difference she notices in a church that incorporates spiritual formation practices & she said that for any church, especially a multi-site one, there can be a leaning towards programmatic flows for people that can unintentionally become consumeristic for people just moving through. But that when you have soul care practices, “you have to take responsibility for your faith & your formation.” This can really be what allows space for that lasting change & participation! Sharon‘s church even has funding set aside for their staff to see a spiritual director. Sharon says that her church understands “what it means when our pastors are well formed & have space to be deeply formed that then we can participate with God as He forms His people.”
Sharon & I could have talked for ages about soul care & the church, yet it was time to ask, what would you say to someone considering investing in soul care? Sharon is again someone who would not have been able to do our programs without your support! Sharon answered that, “for me being a part of PAX has allowed me to be a more robust or wholesome minister of the gospel. I don’t think I would be able to be as relationally in tune or sensitive without the training I received from PAX, even with robust theological training. So it was a necessary practice for me to go through, & I’m so grateful to God that He made it possible, through the generosity of others, for me to go through it, because it is still something I carry & allow to form the way that I minister, to the way that I’m able to show God’s love to his people. As I’ve done more of it, both giving & receiving direction, I’ve found it to be a necessary practice, & so I’m just like we should all be receiving direction. Not just as a thing that you do but as a part of your spiritual formation…I’m deeply grateful because I would not be the same kind of pastor I am today without TL1 & TL2.”
We are so grateful to have known Sharon in many walks of her life & are excited to see what this current season holds for her!
Thank you to everyone who has supported the ministry of PAX & our participants—financially, prayerfully, & relationally. Many of our current donors were once recipients of these soul care grants. The ripple effects of your generosity are truly endless! If you’d like to learn more about giving a soul care grant & read more stories like Sharon’s you can do so below!