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New pastor opens dialogue with his flock

At Christ the King, Tim Orlowski uses conversation to build relationships
Christ the King Lutheran Church’s new pastor, the Rev. Tim Orlowski, leads Bible study Thursday afternoon at the church. He created the group for people who can’t come to Bible study on Sundays.

It’s a major change for a church when the pastor of 18 years leaves for a new posting. In Christ the King Lutheran Church’s case, that pastor was the Rev. John Knutson.

After more than a year with an interim pastor, the Rev. Tim Orlowski, 35, has now taken the reins at Christ the King.

“The (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) understands that churches need to grieve, to decompress and heal before a new pastor comes,” Orlowski said. “It was 15 months before I started, and I’ve had an overwhelmingly positive welcome.”

Christ the King is his second church. He and his wife, Eryn, and two adopted children, Lydia, 3, and Micah, 19 months, came to Durango from a six-year stint at Messiah Lutheran Church in Albuquerque. The Orlowskis arrived at the end of last summer.

After growing up in Warren, Mich., a suburb of Detroit, he decided to venture west and attended Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, where he majored in German. He became involved with the Lutheran Campus Ministry and began to feel a call to serve as a pastor.

Just after college graduation, he spent a year on a volunteer music mission with Youth Encounter, touring the Midwest and Northeast U.S. as well as Denmark and Germany. After he led a mission to Guyana, he and Eryn, now married, headed off to Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio.

He has spent the last few months getting to know Durango and his congregation. Upon their arrival, he sent out emails to leaders in the community asking them to tell him about Durango and what they think Durango needs.

“Eryn’s from a small town, but this is my first experience in a small town,” Orlowski said. “In Albuquerque, getting an ‘audience’ with the University of New Mexico’s president is only a dream. Here, Dene Thomas, the president of Fort Lewis, was so easy to reach and so welcoming.”

The church waited until he arrived before beginning a strategic planning process for the life of the church for the next five years.

“It’s been great to get a sense of who they are and what matters to them,” he said. “I’m getting a sense of the DNA of the church, and I’m seeing patterns of things through the years.”

Orlowski doesn’t intend to make sweeping changes. He began a new Bible study that meets at noon Thursday for people who aren’t able to attend the study offered on Sundays. And he started an “intentional conversation” time of three to four minutes during worship services.

“One of the things people have said to me is that with three different worship services in three different styles, it sometimes feels like three congregations in one building,” he said. “So I ask them during a service to talk to someone next to them or someone across the sanctuary. People who have sat next to each other for years are finally getting to know each other.”

Orlowski hopes to bring intentional conversation to the community, too.

“First, we learn how to talk with one another,” he said, “and then how we talk about poverty, health care and elder care. We’ve lost the ability to have conversations with one another, and I’d like to be a catalyst to provide the opportunity to hold deeper conversations, address more complex issues.”

Whatever ideas he comes up with, he thinks the congregation will give them a try.

“I love their willingness to try new things,” he said. “The freedom to try and the ability to fail may be the greatest blessing.”

He’s also noticed his is a congregation of action.

“When they decide to do something, they do it boldly and trust that God will bless it,” he said. “It’s a great testimony to this congregation. When things are tight, and they could just circle the wagons, they spread their arms outwards.”

abutler@durangoherald.com



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