Angel
New Member
The new Pastor at United Church of Mapleton preached his first sermon the first Sunday of December 2018. Ellingson is a Minnesotan through and through, growing up in Brooklyn Center and Minnetonka. He lives in St. Peter with his wife, Allison, and two children—Hans, age three and Glory, age one and a half.
Every pastor has an interesting journey to the pastorate and Ellingson is no exception.
The now Pastor Ellingson graduated from Harvard with a Social Studies degree. He went to Beijing to teach English, then on to New York where he worked at a magazine as an editorial assistant, and then he moved to Chicago to attend divinity school where he was involved in church planting and was instrumental in starting a church that was 50 active members strong before he was moved on.
His journey is interesting in that the he did not grow up with a vast religious heritage of fathers and grandfathers being pastors. In fact, his parents were not particularly religious.
One parent was Catholic and the other Lutheran. Ellingson himself was baptized Episcopalian and confirmed Presbyterian. Ellingson and his friends searched out churches in his youth and while he did have many positive church experiences, he admits that he was not really interested in religion until after attending Harvard. He further admits to being a hard core atheist for a while. So how does one get from there to here?
After graduating from Harvard, he had what he calls “a religious experience.” He was walking in the woods, enjoying nature and he had “a powerful experience” that took the culmination of his thoughts, questions and experiences up to that point where he knew in that moment that when people used the word “God” they were talking about something real, someone we could know. God was not just a comforting thought or platitude.
“This powerful experience opened the door to my religious search. My friends at Harvard and parents were shocked I made the decision to go to divinity school. Pursuing religion is not a cool thing in elite academia. I looked into Buddhism and tried it out, but this seemed self-focused. However, I did appreciate the aspects of Buddhism as it relates to prayer. I found I was looking for not just personal inner peace stuff or my own private journey, but I was interested in sharing the journey together, serving one another and trying to save the world in small ways.”
He then joined a church in New York—the church he would be ordained in—that was a combination of the United Church of Christ and American Baptists, the same denomination affiliation as United Church of Mapleton.
Ellingson did not start divinity school with the intent of becoming a pastor. He thought he might be a professor. He went to divinity school to understand the “God stuff” through studying and school. As God continued to draw him in, he began his internship in a church as a part of his academic requirements. Ellingson fell in love with “doing church” and realized that the gifts and abilities that he had been given were the necessary attributes of a pastor. His third year in divinity school he took becoming a pastor seriously and was ordained in the church he had joined in New York, Judson Memorial Church.
Pastor Ellingson would like to bring his church planting experiences to Mapleton and start something new and dynamic at the United Church of Mapleton, seeking to bring in young people and young families. He believes that his willingness “to be real and authentic” will pierce through some of the stereotypes of what a minister should be like. He realizes that people both in and out of church think of a pastor as being one that is especially holy. “Pastors are just real people with real struggles.”
Pastor Ellingson’s son, Hans, suffered a brain injury at birth and now has quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy. This life changing event has brought him closer to God and provided him with a deeper understanding of God’s love and the silent suffering of God’s people. He believes in being open with his “struggles, uncertainty, questions, doubts and fears” because life is real and sometimes messy. As the pastor at the United Church of Mapleton he wants to be able to honestly show others how to look beyond to who God is and what is possible for their lives. He hopes this will help people to connect with a church and God that loves real people leading real lives.
For more stories, subscribe to the Maple River Messenger online or in print at www.maplerivermessenger.com.
Pastor Neil Ellingson, holding his son Hans, and his wife, Allison, holding daughter, Glory. Ellingson is the new pastor at the United Church of Mapleton.
Thank you
https://www.prairiepublishingmn.com/2019/01/30/powerful-experience-leads-pastor-neil-ellingson-to-religious-life-and-eventually-mapleton/
Every pastor has an interesting journey to the pastorate and Ellingson is no exception.
The now Pastor Ellingson graduated from Harvard with a Social Studies degree. He went to Beijing to teach English, then on to New York where he worked at a magazine as an editorial assistant, and then he moved to Chicago to attend divinity school where he was involved in church planting and was instrumental in starting a church that was 50 active members strong before he was moved on.
His journey is interesting in that the he did not grow up with a vast religious heritage of fathers and grandfathers being pastors. In fact, his parents were not particularly religious.
One parent was Catholic and the other Lutheran. Ellingson himself was baptized Episcopalian and confirmed Presbyterian. Ellingson and his friends searched out churches in his youth and while he did have many positive church experiences, he admits that he was not really interested in religion until after attending Harvard. He further admits to being a hard core atheist for a while. So how does one get from there to here?
After graduating from Harvard, he had what he calls “a religious experience.” He was walking in the woods, enjoying nature and he had “a powerful experience” that took the culmination of his thoughts, questions and experiences up to that point where he knew in that moment that when people used the word “God” they were talking about something real, someone we could know. God was not just a comforting thought or platitude.
“This powerful experience opened the door to my religious search. My friends at Harvard and parents were shocked I made the decision to go to divinity school. Pursuing religion is not a cool thing in elite academia. I looked into Buddhism and tried it out, but this seemed self-focused. However, I did appreciate the aspects of Buddhism as it relates to prayer. I found I was looking for not just personal inner peace stuff or my own private journey, but I was interested in sharing the journey together, serving one another and trying to save the world in small ways.”
He then joined a church in New York—the church he would be ordained in—that was a combination of the United Church of Christ and American Baptists, the same denomination affiliation as United Church of Mapleton.
Ellingson did not start divinity school with the intent of becoming a pastor. He thought he might be a professor. He went to divinity school to understand the “God stuff” through studying and school. As God continued to draw him in, he began his internship in a church as a part of his academic requirements. Ellingson fell in love with “doing church” and realized that the gifts and abilities that he had been given were the necessary attributes of a pastor. His third year in divinity school he took becoming a pastor seriously and was ordained in the church he had joined in New York, Judson Memorial Church.
Pastor Ellingson would like to bring his church planting experiences to Mapleton and start something new and dynamic at the United Church of Mapleton, seeking to bring in young people and young families. He believes that his willingness “to be real and authentic” will pierce through some of the stereotypes of what a minister should be like. He realizes that people both in and out of church think of a pastor as being one that is especially holy. “Pastors are just real people with real struggles.”
Pastor Ellingson’s son, Hans, suffered a brain injury at birth and now has quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy. This life changing event has brought him closer to God and provided him with a deeper understanding of God’s love and the silent suffering of God’s people. He believes in being open with his “struggles, uncertainty, questions, doubts and fears” because life is real and sometimes messy. As the pastor at the United Church of Mapleton he wants to be able to honestly show others how to look beyond to who God is and what is possible for their lives. He hopes this will help people to connect with a church and God that loves real people leading real lives.
For more stories, subscribe to the Maple River Messenger online or in print at www.maplerivermessenger.com.
Pastor Neil Ellingson, holding his son Hans, and his wife, Allison, holding daughter, Glory. Ellingson is the new pastor at the United Church of Mapleton.
Thank you
https://www.prairiepublishingmn.com/2019/01/30/powerful-experience-leads-pastor-neil-ellingson-to-religious-life-and-eventually-mapleton/