'It's just you and God.' Rev. Robin Woodberry makes history at St. Paul Episcopal
CANTON – The Rev. Robin Woodberry found herself in a spiritual dilemma of sorts a few years ago.
She was a second-generation associate pastor in the Baptist church where she grew up. But it was becoming less and less of a comfortable fit.
"As my understanding of ministry grew, it didn't seem to fit within the context of the Black Baptist church anymore," she said. "God was calling me to a kingdom ministry, and that understanding led me to a different place."
That place is St. Paul's Episcopal Church at 425 Cleveland Ave. SW where Woodberry - now an Episcopalian - is making history as the first clergyperson of color to lead the historic congregation.
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She was installed as deacon-in-charge on July 3 with hopes of ordination into the full Episcopal priesthood before the end of the year.
Woodberry, a mother of five and grandmother of five, has been in ministry for more than 25 years, a journey that started at New Bethel Baptist Church in Youngstown under the Revs. Lonnie and Kenneth Simon.
"My mother and I came out of the same church," Woodberry said. "She was licensed and ordained at New Bethel by the Rev. Lonnie Simon. And she stayed there and served until she just couldn't; there was really no place else for her to go. Nobody was calling a woman at the time in the Baptist church to be a pastor."
Woodberry said the Simons were progressive in their thinking toward women in ministry, which is how she and her mother were able to be ordained and serve in the church, but they were outliers in what remains a largely traditional and conservative denomination.
The Rev. Robin Woodberry finds her place
"It goes back to Scripture, basically in the understanding, or interpretation, of those Scriptures that feed into what a woman's role should be in the church," Woodberry said.
When Woodberry was a teenager, her mother, the Rev. Georgina "Gina" Thornton, joined the African Methodist Episcopal Church, where she was able to serve as a senior pastor until her retirement.
Woodbury said that as her own faith grew, she felt less able to find her place in the church she grew up with.
"As God grew my understanding of ministry, it incorporated interfaith relationships and interdenominational interaction. There just didn't seem to be room for that in the Baptist church," she said. "I really do believe in loving our neighbor, and that we don't get to dictate who our neighbors are, and that all of our neighbors are not Black or Christian, and we need to understand that and know how to work within that context.
"But that didn't seem to be the mindset of the Baptist church, and nobody was looking for somebody who had that understanding. And so, I was really feeling that frustration for years, like 'OK, God, I know there's more to ministry.'"
Woodberry said a friend advised her to talk to pastors from other denominations to find out why they were in those churches.
"Because my mindset was, I was going to be Baptist until the day I died," she said. "Honestly, I never considered anything outside, even though I watched my mother do that. That was not something I felt that I was gonna do. Never in a million years did I think that I'd have to leave the Baptist church to be able to move and grow."
It was a chat with a woman priest-in-charge at St. John's Episcopal Church in Youngstown who gave her a book, "Jesus is Episcopalian and You Can Be, Too."
"It cracked me up when I read the title," Woodberry said.
She soon was in tears.
"When it got to part where it talked about the mission of the church, the vision, the direction it was going, the whole focus was on who our neighbor was, and how do we connect with our neighbor and what that looks like and what can look like and should look like," she recalled. "I connected with the whole thing. I just cried through the whole book."
"I appreciate you"
Woodberry began the process of entering the Episcopalian ministry in 2017. She was confirmed and returned to seminary to acquire a certificate in Anglican studies from the Divinity School of the Pacific. She previously earned a doctorate in ministry from the former Southern Bible Institute and Seminary.
"I did not have to redo my degree, praise the Lord," she said with a laugh. "But I did have to get 'Anglicanized.'"
After completing certification in May 2021, Woodbury underwent more than two years of field study/internship at a church in Hudson.
Members of the St. Paul search committee traveled to Hudson to meet Woodbury.
"They like me and I liked them, and here I am," she said.
Karen Merrin Swope, chair of the search committee, said Woodberry "brings vitality, a background of experiences, knowledge, and a deep and obvious love of God to St. Paul’s."
"She has energized the congregation with her laughter and warmth, her uplifting and meaningful sermons, and an energy and personality that radiates God’s love for us," she said. "I value that my place of worship represents inclusiveness, diversity, acceptance and kindness to all."
Merrin Swope said Woodberry has leadership skills.
"She can beautifully segue from (ministering) to bringing parishioners together to do the business side of parish life so that missions and goals can be accomplished efficiently and effectively," she said. "During the brief time she has been with us, she is very respectful of the time and resources many volunteer. I’ve heard her on numerous occasions saying to others contributing to the day-to-day life of the church, 'I appreciate you.'"
Prior to Woodberry, St. Paul had been without pastoral leadership for five years.
Woodberry said she believes St. Paul was ready for such a historic moment because of their social ministry. A few years ago, St. Paul's and Mount Olive Baptist Church, a Black congregation, engaged in a series of discussions called "Courageous Conversations." The two congregations stay regularly in touch.
"The work they have been engaged in has prepared them to have person of color, where it's not a shock to the system," she said. "The response has been very good for the most part."
Woodberry said she's deeply grateful for the support she's received from her family and her husband, Anthony, who's still a Baptist, and the members of their childhood church. Woodbury's husband, parents, and the Rev. Kenneth Simon and congregants from New Bethel Baptist attended her installation in July, while others watched it online.
"They had lost their joy"
An executive director of the Mahoning Valley Association of Church for five years, Woodberry said she understands different denominations have different worship styles.
"People were always calling me to come preach at their churches," she said. "And so, having to adjust my style based on the context in which I was speaking was not new to me. The thing I struggled with the most is to be authentically me, in a white church? Preaching and stuff, I could work around that, but how do I just be Robin, who wears heels, who wears braids? I struggled with that for a while, I really did, but I just had to get to a place where I was OK with being me. And they're the ones that had to accept who I was."
Woodberry said she has some goals in mind for St. Paul, which recently celebrated its 150th anniversary.
"First and foremost ... I want St. Paul to get back to being - how can I put it - back to feeling alive," she said. "And I say that because they've been without a priest for five years, you know, and they did that during a pandemic, so their resilience is amazing; many churches closed and folded. But they had lost their joy, many lost their sense of life. And so one of my immediate things is to help restore their belief that God will bring them back to a place where they will feel alive."
Woodberry said the pandemic necessitates that churches and the people in them be more creative, thoughtful and innovative "because the world literally changed before their eyes."
More: https://www.cantonrep.com/story/news/local/canton/2019/05/30/celebrating-past-embracing-fu
Woodberry said the intimacy with God that she finds in the Episcopal church is unlike anything she's ever experienced, especially during Communion.
"What I value the most is the service provides space for intimacy with God, and as a person of color, we oftentimes don't feel that anywhere; you know, we're always a target," she said. "But to be able to come to a place where there's space for that intimacy, where it's just you and God, that's something I really value. I can work past the music not being the same, or somebody not around the church, I can work past all that. But to have that space where there's that intimacy with God, there's nothing like it."
Reach Charita at 330-580-8313 or charita.goshay@cantonrep.com
On Twitter: @cgoshayREP
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Rev. Robin Woodberry makes history at at St. Paul's Episcopal Church
