By Maggie Beamguard
Insider Editor
The Rev. Heather Herrin Wong sums up much of Christian ministry in three words: love one another.
This is the message she returns to in John 13 when Jesus instructs his disciples to love one another. It is also a theological principle she hopes will shape her ministry at West End United Methodist Church. She began serving as its pastor July 1 and her first Sunday in worship was July 12.
Love means more than simply being kind, Herrin Wong said. It means recognizing the image of God in every person, including people with whom we disagree, and creating a church where people don’t have to become someone else before they walk through the doors.
“You can come in,” she said. “You are accepted no matter who you are.”
The congregation’s ministry, especially through its food pantry, community garden and summer reading program, already aligns with Herrin Wong’s vision of love and hospitality.
The church’s involvement in the wider community is one of the things that most excites her about her new appointment.
“I think this is so important for churches to do,” she said.
Herrin Wong comes to West End after five years serving at West Nash United Methodist Church in Wilson, NC. Before that, she served six years as an associate at First Cary United Methodist Church, five years at a church in Raleigh and churches in Rocky Mount and Granville County. The move to West End comes at a season of significant transition for Herrin Wong as her youngest child enters his freshman year at N.C. State and her oldest returns for her third year at UNC Wilmington.
The daughter of a Methodist pastor, Herrin Wong began feeling a call to ministry around age 16. At the time, she wasn’t sure she had what it takes.
“I really did not think I was equipped to be a pastor,” she said. “I was too shy, too introverted.”
She earned an English degree with a minor in psychology from Appalachian State University before attending Duke Divinity School. Ministry continued to draw her in, especially through work with children and youth.
The introversion she once viewed as a weakness has become part of what she enjoys about ministry.
She loves preaching and studying scripture, digging into the meaning of biblical words and wrestling with how ancient texts speak to contemporary life.
“I like to learn. I’m a nerd,” Herrin Wong said with a good-natured laugh.
Herrin Wong brings her curiosity to West End and a willingness to listen and learn about what God is already doing in the congregation and community.
She also sees an opportunity to build on the church’s strength as an intergenerational congregation. Rather than viewing older members simply as a demographic a church needs to be supplemented with younger families, Herrin Wong sees them as an important resource for those who may live far from their own extended families.
“How fabulous is it that a lot of churches, just like us, are filled with grandparent-age people who love to love on your family?” she said.
Those relationships can become particularly meaningful as families navigate the challenges of raising children, she said. “How beautiful is it that there are people who can say, ‘Let me walk with you through this,’?” she said.
For Herrin Wong, the church at its best is a community of people helping each other through life rather than a group of people who have already figured everything out before they arrive. She hopes to help create this kind of community at WEUMC.
“I want to be a safe person for somebody who needs to talk,” she said. She describes the pastor’s role as sometimes simply being the person someone feels comfortable approaching for a first conversation.
“You don’t have to be perfect to come to Jesus,” she said. “Jesus is not looking for you to be perfect. Jesus is looking for you as you are.”
West End United Methodist Church, 4015 N.C. 73, West End, worships at 10 a.m. each Sunday. Visit www.westendumc.net for more information.
Contact Maggie Beamguard at maggie@thepilot.
