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[November 08, 2007]  Mary Alice Suter of Springfield has joined the staff of St. John United Church of Christ as an intern.

Suter, a second-year student at Eden Seminary in St. Louis, said her quarter-time job involves working with the youth group and Christian education committee, preaching one sermon a month, acting as liturgist, leading the congregation in prayer, and presenting children's sermons. Pastoral care is also a component of her internship.

She says of her first two months' experience, "I like it here. The Evangelical background isn't something I have experience with." She knew about the Congregationalist component of the UCC from her membership in First Congregational UCC in Springfield. The UCC merged Congregational, Christian, Evangelical and Reformed churches in 1957.

Suter's prior experience includes two years as Christian education director at the Springfield church. She says the two congregations have similar struggles and strengths.

The Rev. Rich Reinwald, pastor at St. John, mentors Suter in conjunction with both Eden Seminary and the Illinois Conference Western Association of the United Church of Christ. His role, he said, is to "basically be an encouragement, answer questions and offer support."

A graduate of Illinois College in Jacksonville, Suter double majored in French and English, with a concentration in creative writing. "Language and writing are something I've always had a passion for," she said, "but teaching was not my call. … Church was always a place where I felt at home and I could be myself." Her goal is to work in parish ministry.

She said she is also passionate about social justice and could see herself in nonprofit work such as a prison ministry. At Eden she co-chairs the Social Justice Council, which organizes activities such as a peace rally or a service focusing on nonviolence. She belongs to the Eden chapters of NAACP and Four Rivers, a gay rights group. Following her mother's example, she sees a mission to help where God's children are suffering.

Suter was raised in St. Louis but now lives in Springfield. Her husband, Cary Suter, does computer network support with the Illinois State Police.

While working three years in day care, Suter developed an interest in early childhood education. She believes churches often do not minister to families as a whole but separately to individuals. One of her goals is to help parents in their role as "No. 1 Christian education teacher and No. 1 guide in how to be a Christian."

Locally, one thing that interests Suter is the impact of distinguished theologian Reinhold Niebuhr as "someone the St. John congregation is proud to have an affiliation with." So often, she added, there is a divide between theologians and churches. She has enjoyed seeing how the two come together here, where Niebuhr was ordained.

Suter spends at least three days a week continuing her coursework at Eden. "Sometimes I feel like Gumby, like a little person stretched along I-55," she confessed.

[Text from file received from Lynn Spellman]

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