How Rev. Lorrin Razdik is navigating ministry in divided times
PLAIN TWP. − In an increasingly divided country, pastors such as the Rev. Lorrin Razdik are seeking ways to keep the church relevant while fulfilling their mission to share the Gospel and manage challenges to American Christianity.
The new senior pastor at Grace United Methodist Church, 1720 Schneider St. NW, is serving at a time when Americans find themselves at odds over matters of culture, politics and even organized religion.
In 2021, a Gallup Poll found that for the first time in U.S. history, less than half of Americans belong to a church, synagogue or mosque, down 20% from 2000.
Two of the fastest-growing demographics are the "Nones," people who are spiritual but unaffiliated, and the "Dones," Christians who have burned out on church.
"I think a lot of it has to do with relevancy," Radzik said. "In the '50s, the '60s and even the '70s, the church relied on being a central point in the community. This was the central point in the community. This was the gathering place. This is where people spent their time. This was the place where they were doing social services. As the church has declined or grown older, or both, folks have seen it as less relevant. They're seeing other organizations springing up to do things that the church was doing, better."
She added that while traditions such as liturgy and the sacraments remain valuable, churches should consider seeking new partnerships in their communities because while they might have stayed the same, their surrounding communities often have changed.
"The message of Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever, but the way that we communicate that message has to be different," she said. "We have to follow Jesus' example in meeting people where they are."
Radzik also says the modern church has drifted from its original identity.
"Christianity has always been at the margins," she said. "Jesus spent his time on the edges of society, not in the center. He challenged the center; he challenged the religious establishment, he challenged the political establishment. That's what got him killed. The movement of Christianity has always been reaching out to the margins, and I think we really got comfortable in the American church being the establishment. We got a little lazy, I think."
Across the country, pastors also worry about the rise of Christian nationalism. According to Christianity Today, "Christian nationalism is the belief that the American nation is defined by Christianity, and that the government should take active steps to keep it that way."
In February, a PRRI/Brookings Christian Nationalism Survey found 54% of Republicans surveyed sympathized with or considered themselves Christian nationalists. In contrast, 75% of Democrats and independents rejected Christian nationalism.
"That's absolutely not was Jesus was about," Razdik said. "And so that political divisiveness that we see in the larger society also infiltrates into the church and is splitting it. It's dividing congregations that worked really well together; its doing that in our own denomination. I think we have forgotten how to live with one another and disagree, and to care for one another in spite of the disagreements we have. Then we throw Jesus' name on it and say 'Jesus agrees with me.' Jesus challenges all of us to live differently and to transform life."
Yet, Radzik said even sharp divisions present opportunity for engagement for people who are willing to listen to others' views.
"The Gospel calls us not to leave anybody," she said. "Often what I find in those kinds of conversations is that what's underneath is a lot of hurt and brokenness; a lot of feeling of not being heard in politics or in church or in the world."
The United Methodist Church itself has not been immune to division. About 20% of congregations in the U.S. have disaffiliated in recent years over the issue of LGBT+ clergy and other police issues, including some in Stark County.
"I think people who show up regardless of their gender, people who show up uniquely and authentically as God-made then bring something special to ministry," Radzik said. "Some of my colleagues are desperately grieving this split. It's a regrettable, horrible thing, anytime a church splits over any particular issue. It's something I can't really imagine because none of the churches I've served or grew up in have participated in disaffiliation. But if the dividing line is you get to be in and and participate, or you get to be out because of who you are and how God made you, as a beloved child God, then I don't know that we believe as much in the same thing as people like to think.'"
Noting that Jesus never addressed the issue, Radzik said scriptures that do so must be studied in context, adding that "What he does say is that we're called to love people. and do what we can to engage them."
"I had a pastor and a mentor and friend say to me, 'I'd rather err on the side of grace and let God sort it out, than to judge someone and be wrong and have to deal with that,'" she said. "That's not my job. That's way above my pay grade. Jesus has instructed us to teach what the scripture says is true and right and holy. There's a context that we often leave out, and so I think understanding context in the time and place in which it was written, and the purpose is a very important key in interpreting scripture."
Answering God's call
The Wooster native said she sensed God's call to the ministry when she was a 12-year-old at Camp Wanake, a United Methodist summer camp in Beach City.
"I had never seen a female pastor. All of my pastors growing up had been men. I told no one about it," she said with a laugh. "I didn't tell my parents, I didn't tell my pastor, but I found myself trying to figure out what that would look like. So, when we went to a youth lock-in, I'd find myself standing behind the pulpit just to see 'what does this feel like' and slowly trying to wrap my head around this thing I had no frame of reference for, and my youth pastor began to notice."
Radzik said it led to conversations with her senior pastor and other leaders, "And I officially entered the process in middle school."
However, the prospect became so daunting, Razdik went to college to study psychology instead.
'I thought I'll be a great counselor and that will help me live this calling thing that I have but it's not quite there, and God said, 'Yeah, not quite,'" she said, laughing,
Razdik, 36, has been in ministry for 10 years. Prior to Grace UMC, she served the United Methodist Church of Macedonia. She graduated from Baldwin Wallace University with a bachelors' degree in psychology, followed by a master of divinity from the Boston University School of Theology.
Radzik laments at what she sees is a diminished connection among congregants and their pastors.
"From the time I started to now, there's a been a vast change in the ways that we deal with and care for each other, even within a local congregation," she said. "Some of it, I think, is due to social media and they way that the political culture is, and all that kind of thing. A lot of times, we don't know who we're sitting next to in the pew, anymore. We used to go to dinner at their houses, and know their story, and their kids and grandkids. A lot of churches are less connected that way. And so, we may sit with you in the pew every week, or you may sit across the sanctuary from us and we might know your name but we don't know your story and how God has been at work with you, or how God's been at work in me."
Such relationships, she added, require vulnerability. In addition to ministry, Radzik is a professional life coach, training in 2018 through Coaching4Clergy. She does consulting and coaching with parents, clergy, seminary students.
"Vulnerability scares us," she said. "You have to be brave enough to show up authentically as to who you are instead of pretending to be this perfectly polished Christian who shows up for their hour on Sunday morning, and then the rest of week your life may be falling apart, but no one knows. ... We make a lot of assumptions about why people do things or say things, but I think Jesus calls us to start being vulnerable because that's what he did. He told his story. He sat with folks and listened to them and as a pastor, that's what I try to model to the folks I serve, and ask them to model in the community."
Radzik said it's her goal to foster more mission and outreach at Grace UMC. Next month, they plan to meet with a coaching expert to set specific mission goals and to look at demographics.
"I want folks to be aware of what's different around them, and what the needs of the community are that might be different than when they moved into this building in the 1960s," she said.
Radzik said what makes ministry challenging, for example when people don't respect her authority because she is young and/or a woman, is the same thing that makes it rewarding.
"I think having a female pastor is a gift for some, and is certainly a detriment for others," she said. "In the churches I've served, I've had people who have left before I've even arrived. It's two sides of the same coin, having folks interact with me say 'Oh, I connected with you in a way that I haven't with other clergy. I love that you're a parent,'"
Radzik met her husband, the Rev. David Radzik, an Episcopal priest, when they were seminary students in Boston. He currently serves a church in Berea. The couple has a daughter and son, ages 4 and 2, and a new baby on the way.
Check out Radzik's church at https://northcantongrace.org.
Reach Charita at 330-580-8313 or charita.goshay@cantonrep.com. On Twitter: @cgoshayREP
This article originally appeared on The Repository: How Rev. Lorrin Razdik is navigating ministry in divided times
