Richfield Today
Supports "for a country way of life"                   
On any given day this site receives more than 150 hits
  • Welcome
  • About Us
    • Quote of the Day
  • RT Blog
  • Governments
  • Contact Us
  • Links
  • Events Calendar

Going beyond usual family ties

6/20/2014

0 Comments

 
Ordination exam a first for Richfield church
By DAN MUCKELBAUER  Daily News 

Consider it a mother daughter bonding with ministers asking questions while the whole church watches.
In a first in its 163-year old history, an ecclesiastical council will meet to ordain a pastor at the 60-member St. Jacobi Congregational Church, 1695 Scenic Road at Highway 167 in Richfield.

With about a dozen Congregational Church delegates conducting the ordination exam from throughout southern Wisconsin, “it’s kind of a big deal for our church,” said Bob Laubenheimer, a St. Jacobi council member.

Should she be approved Saturday during the vicinage council, Associate Pastor Pam Viets will share the title of “reverend” with her daughter, the Rev. Hillary Bowser, 34, who happens to be her senior at the church.

Don’t expect tiffs between the part-time pastors. “My mom and I are very close. Things work very well,” Bowser said.

The working relationship began about 16 months ago with the birth of Bowser’s second child. She lives in Muskego with her husband and works roughly 20 hours a week in a widely varying schedule that gives her time with her young family.

“I was in the church for about seven years before she started getting involved. She was looking for a place for her skills to grow and I needed the help,” said Bowser, who was hired about nine years ago.

“We started talking about the needs of the church and her needs and it all fell into place.”

For Viets, it was continuing ministering opportunities that began in 2000 after talking with her pastor’s wife from North Shore Congregational Church in Fox Point. She began with a ministry on dying and worked with Alzheimer’s patients.

“I have always been called to ministering older people,” Viets said. She began delivering sermons at Tudor Oaks nursing home.

“I love leading worship,” Viets said. “I never thought I would love writing sermons so much.”

The daughter-mother team has given the church security in its pastoral leadership, said Laubenheimer, who has been on the council for almost 20 years.

Like at many other small churches, he said the duties include leading worship service, visiting members at home and in the hospital, planning Bible studies, helping with youth education, and contributing to local mission work and church activities, such as the recent fundraiser for the Griebel children, whose parents died April 25 in a car crash.

Viets, who lives in Shorewood with her husband, preaches once or twice a month, Bowser said.

“And she’s available for counsel. Some members are more comfortable with her than me, which I understand because she’s where I go to first for counsel,” Bowser said.

Viets, who brought up her four children in a Christian home, encouraged Bowser’s decision to continue her education at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. Both of her parents helped her in every way into the ministry after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks left Bowser reflecting about what’s important in life during her final year of earning a bachelor’s in international business at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California.

Meanwhile, her mother pursued a clinical pastoral education over the years, receiving her divinity degree last month from Central Baptist Theological Seminary based in Shawnee, Kansas, with a satellite in Elm Grove.

“I’m 70 years old. At that time most people are retired, but it is refreshing to study at that age,” said Viets, a former school teacher, who moved often with her academic husband, Hermann Viets, president of the Milwaukee School of Engineering, “And I’ve been involved in ministry my whole life. My whole goal was to make myself better at each step.”

Her mom’s journey into pastoral care was “probably imprinted in her DNA,” Bowser said.

Sue Laubenheimer, wife of Bob Laubenheimer, said she sees how smoothly the schedule functions for the two women and the benefit for the church.

It’s also reflective of the church. “At St. Jacobi, everyone truly loves each other. We are a family,” Sue Laubenheimer said.

With the pastoral team, that’s a truth.

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    About

    RT Blog will let you know the latest happenings around Richfield.

    Archives

    February 2021
    December 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    2014 Election
    2015 Election
    2016 Election
    2017 Election
    2018 Election
    2019 Election
    2020 Election
    Business News
    Government Topics
    Just News
    Local Events
    Political Posts

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photos used under Creative Commons from xbouwman, Pink Sherbet Photography, rumimume, VLMPO, roberthuffstutter, andreavallejos, steakpinball