Connecting church with everyday life

LOUISVILLE — Søren Briggs couldn’t wait to dig into the latest edition of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Book of Order.

No ordinary 17-year-old, Søren is the youngest ruling elder to be ordained at First Presbyterian Church in his hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico.

And it isn’t just his penchant for Presbyterian history that makes the PC(USA)’s Constitution all but irresistible to the high school senior. It’s also his love for both his home church — where his mother, Micaela Briggs, is also an elder and deacon — and the Presbyterian-related Menaul School that fuels his passion.

“Anytime anyone on campus has questions about the church, they go to me or my academic advisor, Mr. Sitler,” Søren said. “I try to stay up with most of the history of the church.”

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John Sitler, who teaches Upper School religion as chair of Menaul’s Religious Studies Department, has been Søren’s adviser for all four years.

“Whenever you talk to Søren, his eyes light up when he’s talking about Presbyterian polity,” said Sitler. “And he understands Reformed theology. He just gets it. He’s taken every elective that I’ve offered.”

With a rich history that dates back to the late 19th century, the Menaul School started out as a Presbyterian boarding school for Spanish-speaking boys, many of whom were among the first Hispanic/Latino leaders in what is now the PC(USA). Today, as a grades 6–12 preparatory day and boarding school, Menaul has students from as many as 30 countries and graduates from all across the world.

Because Søren had attended an elementary school where most of the classes were conducted in both English and Spanish, he was drawn to Menaul not only for its academic reputation and Presbyterian affiliation but also for its diverse student body.

“Even though I chose Menaul in part for its smaller size and strength as a STEM school, because I can hold conversations in Spanish, German and Chinese, I loved the international aspect,” said Søren. “Then, when I got interested in religious studies in my freshman year, I started looking into it more and more.”

Encouraging, educating and cultivating such young church leaders as Søren is what the PC(USA)’s Christmas Joy Offering is all about. His experience is being made possible, in part, by gifts to the Offering, which helps the school provide scholarships to exceptional students.

A cherished Presbyterian tradition since the 1930s, the Christmas Joy Offering distributes gifts equally to the Interim Unified Agency’s Presbyterian-related schools and colleges equipping communities of color, which includes Menaul, and to the Assistance Program of the PC(USA)’s Board of Pensions.

Preparing the way for students like Søren is also why Menaul has just launched a new year-long course designed for students who want to better understand what it means to lead a life of service.

Building on the school’s historic emphasis on ministry as a potential career path, the class, titled “Called to Serve,” will help Menaul students — whether or not they are ultimately called to ordained ministry — to appreciate the Reformed understanding of “vocation” as they explore together how their faith can be lived out in everyday life.

“As one of the only two existing PC(USA)-affiliated secondary schools left in the country, we started thinking about what we could offer our students that is unique to our Presbyterian tradition,” said Menaul’s chaplain, the Rev. Hannah Scanlon, who designed the course and wrote the grant with input from a multidisciplinary team. “Something that Presbyterians really value is academic rigor and education.”

Scanlon, who is herself pursuing further education as a Ph.D. candidate in Theology, sees chaplaincy at Menaul as the perfect synthesis of her gifts for ministry and education.

“Our students are asking big questions and wanting big answers,” she said. “As a secondary school, we want to foster their curiosity about what they’re called to do. We want to get them thinking about their ‘vocation’ more broadly and help them ask such questions as, ‘Where am I called to serve?’ and ‘Can I serve with the passions that I have?’ whether that be serving others in a hospital or health care context, in the military, in a prison, in a retirement facility, in a school, or in so many other possible ways.”

Scanlon’s hope is that the students enrolled in the course will be able to make visits to many of these settings throughout the year so that they “can see a face and a place in their minds as they consider their future careers in ministry,” including opportunities in the PC(USA).

“It’s all about communicating the idea that you can serve as an elder or a deacon, or you can go out into the community and do mission work,” added Sitler. “That’s how you can lead a life of service. You don’t have to wear a collar.”

It was Sitler who made sure that Søren knew about the new class.

“The course will tie in with what I already do at church,” said Søren. “Serving on the Buildings and Grounds and Christian Education committees, a lot of people have already talked to me about doing pastoral work. But if I do end up working in the church, I think I’d be more on the sidelines. I don’t think I could write and deliver a sermon every week!”

Søren also sees the class as helping him continue to cultivate good values.

“It’s about how to live your life as a kind person and how to practice your faith,” he said.

Scanlon also hopes to connect her students with a variety of service, learning, and possibly even preaching opportunities in the Presbytery of Santa Fe and the Synod of the Southwest.

“Yes, we’re preparing young people academically and sending them off to college, but we’re a Presbyterian school, and we’re proud of our Presbyterian roots,” she said. “We want to keep asking how we can use those resources to go deeper into the language of vocation while still valuing academics. This is so in line with our identity as a Presbyterian school; I wonder why we haven’t been doing this all along. I’m excited!”

And so is Søren.

Taking part in the Presbyterian Youth Triennium in Louisville this past summer — a gathering held every three years that draws thousands of school-age youth, youth leaders and young adults from the U.S. and internationally — inspired Søren all the more about the future of the PC(USA).

“To be able to motivate young people into the church through schools like Menaul is why people should give to the Christmas Joy Offering,” he said. “We might be dwindling in numbers, but we can still be a growing church and a community that’s open and accepting to all.”

Give to the Christmas Joy Offering to help Presbyterian-related schools and colleges equipping communities of color provide life-changing experiences.