Small church says outreach is path to growth

 

The Ellisforde Church of the Brethren's community ministry focused on the church's historic commitment to peacemaking, its active support of vulnerable immigrants and its openness to start new things—like an interfaith evening of music—are behind its growth. Daniel Klayton, its pastor, sees new life in the church in an unincorporated community seven miles north of Tonasket in North Central Washington.

He is building on the church's inclusion of different walks of life and its focus on peacemaking, nonviolence and advocacy against war and oppression. Those dynamics drew him to the church soon after he moved to Oroville and started playing music in a rock band at the church.

"I started attending and connected with both the spirit of the open and affirming church and the Church of the Brethren being a historic peace church," he said.

Daniel, who grew up Jewish in Virginia, explored Buddhism and Christianity as a young adult while studying English literature and philosophy at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where he graduated in 2011.

Debbie Roberts, his predecessor who retired in 2021, mentored him along his journey into ministry. In 2017, he began preaching on occasion and, loving to write, found that part of ministry resonated with him.

Daniel started an online graduate certificate program with Bethany Seminary in Richmond, Ind. He earned the certificate in theopoetic and theological imagination—theology expressed in creative writing and poetic sharing of theology and spirituality.

His interest in and call to ministry grew in the two-year program, while he supported himself as a ghost writer and by working at the library.

In 2018, he began dating his wife, Savanna, a Canadian. The two married in 2020 and Daniel moved to Canada soon after.

When Daniel decided to enter pastoral ministry, the Whitestone Community Church of the Brethren, 15 minutes from Ellisforde, invited him to serve as its part-time, licensed pastor in mid 2019. He began ministry training with the Brethren Academy for Ministerial Leadership.

In March 2020, Daniel and Savanna, who works remotely editing books and journal articles, moved to a new home in Osoyoos, B.C., near the international border. The COVID 19 pandemic soon had an impact on his ability to cross the border. So Daniel had to resign as manager at the library, but he could do ministry remotely.

He also started an administrative job with the Pacific Northwest Church of the Brethren District—handling communication, supporting congregations and building ties between the denomination, regional district and local churches. District work was already being done remotely because the area is geographically spread across Washington and Oregon.

After Debbie retired, the Ellisforde church invited Daniel to be their pastor. After working three jobs for several years, Daniel has stepped away from pastoring the Whitestone church and continues to pastor the Ellisforde church and work for the district.

In May, he was ordained.

"In my time at Ellisforde since 2021, the church has faced challenges and declining membership, but in the last two years the trend changed directions," Daniel said. "We have become a small but growing congregation with an average attendance on Sunday of 25 to 30, up from 10 to 12.

He discussed reasons for the growth.

"Our church has leaned into engaging our community with peace, compassion and solidarity with the oppressed," he said. "When ICE started its campaign of persecution and dubiously legal deportation of community members, we started a rapid response group for immigrant neighbors and others persecuted because of their ethnicity."

That group offers ongoing support to keep families safe and together and to bring home family members who have been detained.

"In a world increasingly racked with war, the peacemaking, anti-war focus of the Church of the Brethren and Ellisforde Church has also been a source of growth," he added. "We offer workshops on nonviolence in the tradition of Martin Luther King Jr., our connections with families in Gaza struggling to survive the ongoing genocide."

Step by step the border opened. Daniel, who became a permanent resident of Canada, returned to in person ministry in 2023.

Living in Osoyoos and crossing the border several times each week, he is a familiar face for border agents on both sides, but he is aware that with current U.S.-Canada tension, there is the possibility of issues arising.

Daniel travels to the U.S. for pastoral visits, community events and church programs. He does sermon writing and administrative work from home.

"Even when circumstances have been difficult, the church's resilient hope, openness to new possibilities and active involvement in the community have driven us forward," he said. "The church's passion and commitment to community service continues to inspire and transform us, both congregationally and individually.

"Outreach through service to and events in the broader community express our spirit, values and welcome. We have experienced a turning point through our community engagement. For example, we helped organize a large rally to support immigrant neighbors and express faithful opposition to ways they are treated nationally and locally," Daniel pointed out.

That drew new folks.

In addition, this spring, the Ellisforde church was led by member Ton Rietvekd to organize a community interfaith "Celebration of Spirit," an evening of music and communal singing with participants sharing their "different spiritual paths and the love common to all of those paths," he said.

A Jewish woman led singing, reminding Daniel of Jewish songs he had not sung for a long time.

Other participants included a Baha'i group, Native Americans from local tribes and members of the Pamtingpa Buddhist Center in the Tonasket Hills.

Those who attended from Tonasket and nearby communities expressed interest in having more such events.

"We do ecumenical and interfaith events open to the whole community when we can, because building bridges and learning from different traditions are important values to us," Daniel said.

"We draw from a wider area than most churches. Okanogan County is a rural area and geographically one of the largest counties in the U.S. Most of those who attend come in person. A few come on Zoom to join in worship and events.

"We also build bonds among members at a potluck after worship," said Daniel. "Loving our neighbor as ourselves is desperately needed in our world and in our individual lives.

"Many spiritual traditions hold the value of compassion," he said, aware of this from the values of his parents and a sister who are Jewish, a mother interested in Buddhism, a brother whose family is Muslim and a wife who is not involved in a faith community.

"As a family we know that love is what we need, and there are many pathways to experience it and express faith," he said. "I feel called to live that out in my life and to foster that in the community.

"Our communities need love, and faith can be a powerful, lifelong path to share that," Daniel said.

The diversity in his family has led him to be curious about differences and have an eye to find common ground on "what we share across differences."

The Ellisforde church is an open and affirming congregation, reflecting full inclusion and support of LGBTQ+ folk.

"We live in a world that has become more violent to and discriminatory of people who are queer, transgender or gender nonconforming," he observed, "but at Ellisforde we cultivate an inclusive love that does not discriminate out of prejudice or bigotry."

For information, call 703-618-4948 or email daniel.klayton@gmail.com.