Ellen Loughrin was appointed to the Spencerport United Methodist Church and began her ministry there on July 1. A 2004 graduate from Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School in Rochester, Loughrin's own path to the ministry and Spencerport was the result of a series of hard-work miracles, she said. "My call to the ministry came during a time of personal difficulty in trying to determine where to take my career. I wanted to know if I should pursue more management of technical communications or focus on process improvement. And the answer was not on my list, but it was the best answer, pastoral ministry. So back to school I went." Loughrin was born and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She attended Michigan Technological University, majoring in Technical Communications, and Michigan State University, where she graduated with a degree in Communications, specializing in Journalism and Spanish. One of the changes that Loughrin has experienced with her church was the recent move of the SUMC Café Church to a café gathering at Java John's on Union Street in Spencerport. "Café Church's goal is to reach out to those who are not comfortable walking into a traditional church setting - for whatever reason. More importantly, Café Church recognizes that comfortable or not, people are hungry and thirsty for a relationship with God - and we need to offer a place to serve that hunger and thirst." For the past year Café Church has been offered at 5 p.m. on Saturday nights in the Fellowship Hall of the United Methodist Church. The group now meets mid-week 6 to 6:50 p.m. at Java John's Loughrin will be delivering the sermon "The First Thanksgiving" at the Spencerport Ecumenical Ministries' Community Thanksgiving service at the Parma Baptist Church (corner of 259 ad 104), Sunday, November 21 at 7 p.m. Spencerport United Methodist Church's welcoming traditional service is 9:30 Sunday mornings followed by coffee and treats and then church school for all ages. |
