Sara Jane Nixon
Pastor, New Dublin Presbyterian Church
Dublin, Va.
(And LOGOS Participant as a Child!)
Photo: Sara Jane (middle) with Training Director Betsy Dishman (left) and Communications Coordinator Tracey Schoch, at a LIFT Experience held at Sara Jane's church a month before the pandemic began!
In each edition of IG Mix, we ask a guest writer two questions about serving in ministry.
What keeps you up at night?
How can I help people learn from each other? People in the church -- and society! -- are so age-segregated that being around people you are not related to with whom you have a significant age gap is unusual. It’s a nuisance, or at best, a favor that middle-aged people do for the “annoying” young, or that the young do the “out of touch” old. But the church ought to know better! We all learn and grow and are encouraged by each other, and forming strong relationships of mutual love and respect and learning can only strengthen our church and help us discern the will of God for our communities. The time of the old has not passed, and the time of the young is not the future. They both form the church of now. What practical ways can the church let that truth play out in its communal life?
What gets you up in the morning?
Hope. There’s such a million-dollar business to try to diagnose “what’s wrong with the church,” and heaven knows there’s definitely enough material to go around. Lots is wrong with the church. But in the end, Jesus Christ is Lord, the Spirit is moving, and scripture promises that the gates of Hell will not prevail. That’s a source of boundless energy. Yeah, we’ve got problems. We’ve failed people. But every day is a new opportunity to figure out new ways to be the church, new ways to be faithful, new ways to serve. What’s God going to do today? The only way to know is to get up and find out.
Sara Jane Nixon lives with her husband, Nathan, in Dublin, Virginia. She serves as pastor of New Dublin Presbyterian Church.