This space of stories from Grace Lutheran Church of Wenatchee emerged from Bergen Eickhoff's Internship Project in 2021, where the COVID-19 pandemic drove him to recognize the congregation's need for greater empathy for one another's experiences to make the decisions about what kind of church Grace would be for the future. The pandemic prevented us from living our lives together, and created barriers between us. It also revealed how much we need each other to live as our full selves. This story-sharing project is meant to inspire that work of sharing our full selves with our church family.
These stories were collected by a volunteer team of Grace members including Pat Fitzgerald, Milt and Jan Herman, Joanne Dalinkus, Ann Bartlett, and Gloria Foster. They each reached out to a handful of Grace members chosen at random to fulfill a balance of age, gender, and time spent in the church. These stories were shared through a combination of trust and vulnerability. Those who have shared their stories exercised great courage in speaking their truths, and deserve nothing but respect for what they have said. f you would like to share your own story on through this site, we encourage you to reach out to the church and inquire about an opportunity to share.
We are church together. That begins when we receive one another for the fullness of who we are and who God created us to be. As people with griefs and victories, joys and sorrows, gifts and weaknesses, strengths and vulnerabilities. May these stories inspire us all to love one another with more courage and willingness than ever before.