• By RJ Walters, Editor •
From being part of a family that adopted a young boy from Guatemala when she was still a child, to spending some of her college years in Spain and Costa Rica, the Rev. Melanie Carey has always embraced multiculturalism without regard for borders.
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| Rev. Melanie Carey |
Carey has flourished as the lead pastor of Ypsilanti: First UMC for the past 12 years, starting a weekly Spanish language worship service and shepherding a pair of Kingdom Assignments (www.kingdomassignment.org) that have provided grant money to help more than 20 Detroit Conference churches start their own Kingdom Assignment projects.
The Kingdom Assignment utilizes $100 gifts within congregations with a focus on growing that money for whatever type of ministry is near and dear to a recipient’s heart.
Carey’s penchant for local-church missions and meeting the needs of others caught the attention of Michigan Area Bishop Jonathan D. Keaton.
“Melanie combines fruitful pastoral ministry, a wide variety of conference responsibilities done well, and a passion for social justice," Keaton said. "Whenever and whatever she has been asked to do has been done with excellence, enthusiasm and attention to detail, and I am confident that she will bring those same attributes to her work as superintendent for this new district in the Detroit metropolitan area.”
Carey said she feels privileged to be part of “building God’s kingdom in the city and suburbs with everyone together” and she feels like her background fits the calling appropriately.
“I guess my story would be that Bishop Keaton asked me to serve this particular district because it’s a very diverse district in terms of every way you can think of — not just racial, ethnic diversity, but there’s economic diversity, there’s a lot of diversity in the sizes of churches — basically any way you define diversity, the new metro area is that,” she said.
She grew up in Chelsea, Mich., which she admits, “was not a very diverse place.” However, during her childhood, her parents hosted seven international exchange students for a year at a time.
In 1978 her parents adopted her younger brother from Guatemala, where the family spent weeks waiting for his paperwork to come through.
“That greatly influenced me, so I kind of grew up where multiculturalism was normal,” she said. “It was weird for me to just be around people who were exactly like me so I’ve always been kind of attracted to that.”
Carey has been actively involved in helping create Hispanic/Latino ministries in the conference. She is also a member of the regional advisory board for Justice for Our Neighbors Southeast Michigan, a program that provides free legal immigration services, education and advocacy.
Since 1994, Carey has served as a national facilitator with the General Board of Global Ministries' National Plan for Hispanic/Latino Ministry.
She acknowledges that being a vital part of a new district is one of the largest challenges she has taken on, but she said she will lean on the local churches and leaders of Detroit to “help create and cast a new vision.”
“Having churches and ministry sites work together, there all sorts of wonderful possibilities,” she said. “Plus we have such rich resources in the district in its people, who bring amazing gifts, so I think that’s another way sitting down and talking about what people can bring to the table will help.”
Carey calls her leadership style “very collegial.”
Some of her mentors include the Rev. Saul Trinidad, a National Hispanic Plan missionary who helped Carey practice her Spanish-speaking skills after college when he was serving at El Buen Pastor UMC in Detroit; FUMC of Birmingham pastor, the Rev. Jack Harnish, the first person to really encourage Carey to consider the ministry when she was younger; and the Rev. Jerry Parker, the pastor at Chelsea FUMC during Carey’s childhood.
Carey said she cannot wait to do ministry in new ways with new people in Detroit, but she is reminding people to be patient as fresh ideas and many years of history come together.
“I would to say that whenever we form something new there’s a lot anxiety about what it’s going to be. It’s important that we all give each other extra, what I call, ‘Space for grace,’” she said. “I would connect it to, you do a lot of wandering in the wilderness when you first start something brand new, but it’s also a very exciting time because things pop up that weren’t possible before because you did something a certain way.”
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