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Ken Mantler, Intern Minister
I am a life long United Methodist and have attended Christ UMC in Northampton my entire life. Being a Methodist, I served on various committees including worship, mission, program committee, and various others. During my time on the mission committee we established a sisterhood relationship with a church in Nicaragua as part of the New England’s conference’s covenant with Igelsia de Christo. Because of this, I still have a spot in my heart for missions, and always will. Recently I helped lead a mission team of college students to Biloxi, MS to assist in the rebuilding efforts after Katrina.
For the past few years my efforts for God have moved beyond the local church to a different calling. After 3 summers of counseling, I became the Program Director at Wanakee United Methodist Center in Meredith, NH for 3 additional summers. It was here that I found my calling to serve God. It was an amazing gift to be part of the spiritual growth of the young people that came to Wanakee. As time moved on, I found just as much joy in guiding the spiritual lives of the staff, most of which were 18-22 years of age. Through all of this, I came to the realization that in many cases the local churches were not serving the spiritual needs of the new generations. As much as I wanted to serve God through the camping ministry, God wants me to serve Church through pastoral ministry. For this reason, I am in the Master of Divinity program at BU.
The decision to become a pastor was not an easy one. Since the end of high school I have thought of and tried several different careers. I started off as an accountant, but unfortunately I didn’t care for the business world. I then decided to try my hand at being a high school history teacher, but realized I didn’t really enjoy the politics of public schools. However, teaching did show me that I love working with youth. Teaching is probably where I would have ended up if God had not called me to elevate my leadership at Wanakee. It was there, at Wanakee, I found what God has in store for my life; it is being a pastor in a local church.
I look forward to becoming part of the ELUMC community. I would greatly enjoy the experience of the daily life of a pastor. It’s one thing to see the duties of a pastor on paper; it is another to experience it. Life in seminary is very theoretical and it will be nice to see the practical application of the theories in the church setting. The more I can learn now before being thrown in the deep end, the better pastor I will become for you. So I welcome the beginning of this experience.
Grace and Peace,
Ken Mantler
For the past few years my efforts for God have moved beyond the local church to a different calling. After 3 summers of counseling, I became the Program Director at Wanakee United Methodist Center in Meredith, NH for 3 additional summers. It was here that I found my calling to serve God. It was an amazing gift to be part of the spiritual growth of the young people that came to Wanakee. As time moved on, I found just as much joy in guiding the spiritual lives of the staff, most of which were 18-22 years of age. Through all of this, I came to the realization that in many cases the local churches were not serving the spiritual needs of the new generations. As much as I wanted to serve God through the camping ministry, God wants me to serve Church through pastoral ministry. For this reason, I am in the Master of Divinity program at BU.
The decision to become a pastor was not an easy one. Since the end of high school I have thought of and tried several different careers. I started off as an accountant, but unfortunately I didn’t care for the business world. I then decided to try my hand at being a high school history teacher, but realized I didn’t really enjoy the politics of public schools. However, teaching did show me that I love working with youth. Teaching is probably where I would have ended up if God had not called me to elevate my leadership at Wanakee. It was there, at Wanakee, I found what God has in store for my life; it is being a pastor in a local church.
I look forward to becoming part of the ELUMC community. I would greatly enjoy the experience of the daily life of a pastor. It’s one thing to see the duties of a pastor on paper; it is another to experience it. Life in seminary is very theoretical and it will be nice to see the practical application of the theories in the church setting. The more I can learn now before being thrown in the deep end, the better pastor I will become for you. So I welcome the beginning of this experience.
Grace and Peace,
Ken Mantler
Ken can be contacted by e-mail at ken@elumc.org.