Perry Christian Church welcomes the Rev. Betty Sivis as new pastor

Sep. 30—The Rev. Betty Sivis is part of a family in which her father and grandfather both were pastors in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) denomination.

But Sivis didn't declare as a young child that she wanted to be a minister when she grew up. In fact, for much of her youth, Sivis was leaning toward entering a scientific profession.

"When I was a kid, I loved dinosaurs, and I was convinced I was going to be a paleontologist," she said. "And that actually lingered way up until high school, until I figured out that science was not my best subject."

While attending a Christian youth formation camp as a teen, Sivis felt that God was prompting her to enter the ministry. She then took steps to become the third generation in her family to serve as a Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) minister and pastor.

Sivis' spiritual journey recently led her to Perry Village, where she began duties in late August as the new pastor of Perry Christian Church.

Located at 3270 Call Road, Perry Christian Church consists of about 50 to 60 members, Sivis said.

"They haven't had a full-time pastor for a while, so we're just sort of working together to get back up to the level of activity that they had enjoyed before the pandemic," she said.

Sivis said there's definitely a focus on restoring fellowship within the congregation.

"This church has a history of loving to meet together and fellowship together, have meals together and that, of course, was restricted by COVID," she said. "So we're kind of working on plans for bringing that back, but also for adding some new ideas that might freshen up that fellowship and give them the chance to enjoy each other's company and to worship God in different ways."

The full-time pastor's position became vacant in late May when the Rev. Kristen Wickless resigned because of health reasons. From June until late August, the retired Rev. Jeff Wheeler filled in as interim pastor.

Sivis started her work on Aug. 22. She came to Perry from Kentucky, where she had served as pastor of the former Century Christian Church.

Located in the western Kentucky city of Owensboro, Century Christian Church fell victim to the novel coronavirus pandemic, Sivis said.

"We were rather small at the time and the financial impact of COVID really hit us hard, and we had to close in late 2021," she said.

After the church shut down, Sivis returned to her hometown of Ashland, Kentucky, and signed up for a one-year assignment in the AmeriCorps national service program.

Through AmeriCorps, Sivis worked as a housing counselor at the Shelter of Hope homeless shelter in Ashland from August 2021 through July of this year.

Sivis said she learned a lot by counseling clients at the shelter.

"It was a wonderful opportunity, even for continuing education in an unexpected fashion," she said. "It kind of opened up for me how I wanted to pursue my own continuing education, to add to my ministry later on. I really enjoyed it. I did real social work and really got a taste for that."

As she wrapped up her AmeriCorps commitment, Sivis began looking for opportunities to once again serve as a pastor. She became aware of the opening at Perry Christian Church through the Rev. Allen Harris, regional pastor and president of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Ohio.

"We talked about it, and he forwarded my name to (Perry Christian Church)," she said.

Sivis said she eventually was invited to interview for the pastor's position. She spoke with a group of lay leaders from the church who had formed a search committee.

"And then they deliberated and decided they wanted to put my name before the congregation for approval," she said. " And the congregation went ahead and approved their recommendation, and issued the call (offer to hire a candidate as pastor). In our denomination, it's all congregationally led, so the congregation has to take a vote."

Sivis said she's impressed by the warmth and friendliness of the members.

"This church has been really good about coming to me and introducing themselves and creating chances for us to get to know each other better," she said. "They've been very gracious and welcoming and done everything they could to help me sort of acclimate to the new area."

Sivis earned a bachelor's degree in history from the University of Kentucky and a master's of divinity degree from Lexington Theological Seminary, which also is based in Kentucky. Her father, the Rev. Larry Sivis, and grandfather, the late Rev. Edward Sivis, also graduated from Lexington, which is one of the oldest seminaries in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) denomination.

One of her goals as the new pastor of Perry Christian Church is to attract more young members, and "help them get a little more plugged into the church."

In addition, she wants the church to get back into the habit of reaching out to the community, and make the church a place that's "open and welcoming to all the community and without so much of the hesitation that came with COVID.

"And beyond that, we are working on strengthening our ties with other Disciples churches in the area and trying to re-establish those relationships," she said. "It's definitely a time of reconnection."