St. Andrew's welcomes new senior pastor

The Rev. Amy Miller had never served in a historic church building until she came to St. Andrew's United Methodist Church. Now she's trying to learn about the edifice, which was built in 1901, as well as its parishioners. Miller took over as senior pastor of the West Sandusky Street church in June. "I think as an outsider coming in the building can be intimidating. And I've certainly, during the day, just walked through and I've gotten lost in a few cubbies," she said. The congregation, meanwhile, has been more than welcoming. "We're received lots of cookies and cakes at our home, too many in fact," she laughed. "But the congregation's been great." Most recently, Miller served as lead pastor at First United Methodist Church, Bowling Green. "That church was really good at engaging the community in relationships and reaching out to the community. We had a really strong school partnership. And I think anytime a school invites the church to come in, that's a huge opportunity," she said. Miller hopes to explore some of the ideas she has involving families and community engagement here as well. She grew up in the Defiance/Paulding area and went to high school in Paulding. Miller said she heard God's call to ministry when she was 15. "I grew up in a denomination that did not have a clear direction for women in ministry, so it was something that maybe I kind of put on the back burner," she explained. That changed during a ministry internship in Booneville, Arkansas, when Miller was about 22. "I got really connected with the United Methodist church there. Prior to that, I didn't know much about United Methodists," she said. "And from there I decided to go to seminary and just kind of learn more about, as we call it, the Wesley Distinctives, as with John Wesley, our founder. I just really found a home there." She earned a master's of divinity degree at the United Theological Seminary in Dayton and has been in appointed ministry for 12 years. Joining her in Findlay are her husband, Dan, a corporate recruiter for Bezos Academy, which is working to build a network of nonprofit Montessori-inspired preschools in low-income communities throughout the United States, and the couple's two children. Miller said one of the challenges of ministry is trying to reach all ages in a congregation. "I think the church in general has always been interesting because you have such a mixed bag, I mean, 0 to 99. And you're called to lead this community together," she said. "But I think it can be a really beautiful thing when it happens." Every congregation also has it's own characteristics, she added. "My job in the first year is to get to know them and what's unique to them, and then what's the next faithful step that God is calling this congregation to do," she said. Wolf: 419-427-8419