Welcome, Margaret - Busy pastor serves four area churches

By Kim Hurley

Register Freelance Writer

“Small and rural is truly beautiful!” This is how Margaret Yackel-Juleen describes her love of ministering to a small rural parish. “I appreciate the rhythm of the seasons that you are connected to in an agricultural area – the fact that everyone is tuned into the earth, the weather, how well crops are doing.” In a similar way, she believes, small congregations create their own rhythm in how they relate to one another, care for each other, and are accountable to one another. 

This last July 1, Pastor Margaret started her journey ministering to a small parish here in Northeast Iowa, One in Faith. This parish consists of the four cooperating congregations of St. Paul, Volga; St. Sebald, Strawberry Point; St John, Arlington; and Hope, Littleport. Currently, she leads worship at two of the congregations on Sunday morning while other area trained people lead worship at the other two congregations. Another area pastor is helping her with visitation of shut-ins. In the next year, it is hoped that either another part-time trained church leader or a seminary intern will be recruited to assist Margaret with work in the parish. 

Pastor Margaret grew up in Circle Pines, Minnesota, a northern suburb of St. Paul.  It was as members of the Centennial High School speech team that Margaret and her husband, Mark, met. After Margaret graduated from Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in 1981 with an English/Speech/Theatre/Secondary Education major, she and Mark were married and went on a three-year missionary teaching experience in Hong Kong. It was there that Mark felt called to go to seminary and become a pastor. So, when they returned in 1984, Mark started seminary while Margaret taught junior high English in several Catholic Schools in Minneapolis and St Paul. 

Mark’s first call as a minister was to a rural two-point parish in Dundee, in southwestern Minnesota. While there, the couple was blessed with some early inheritance money that they used to purchase some land and begin Shalom Hill Farm, a rural education and retreat ministry near Windom, Minnesota. During this time, Margaret began seminary studies, graduating in 2009. She was ordained that same summer and began a call to a six-point ministry, which included five rural congregations and Shalom Hill Farm where she was the Associate Director. She ministered there as part of a team of three ordained pastors (two part-time) and an intern pastor.

Last May, Margaret completed a two-year training course in Spiritual Direction through Christos For Spiritual Formation in Lino Lakes, Minnesota, and she’s now certified to offer spiritual direction.

While Margaret believes that her four congregations are fairly strong individually and even stronger when they work together, there are some things she would like to innovate, such as strengthening the youth program. She is already planning to take the youth members of her congregations on an annual summer servant trip. Next summer, they’ll be going to Milwaukee where they’ll be working in homeless shelters, soup kitchens, and with youth- and elderly-related programs. “I have seen many young people deeply shaped by these experiences and grow tremendously in their active faith life,” she attests.

Margaret would also like to encourage the reactivation of the former parish choir that met regularly to prepare special anthems and lead other worship music. “Music is such a vital part of our worship life; [it] draws us together as Christians and lifts our spirits!”

This energetic church leader has already instituted her two other innovations, both of which are open to the public. Whenever a month has a fifth Sunday, all four congregations worship together. These worship services include non-traditional music, new liturgies, and a potluck. She has also begun having a monthly bible study at her home in Elkader on the third Thursday of the month. Margaret and Mark are the new owners of the former Elkader Bed and Breakfast. They are using the spacious, historic home as a retreat center.

Margaret admits that it’s pretty cool to do all these enjoyable things and more -- lead music and worship, teach confirmation, write and deliver sermons, and take kids on servant trips -- and get paid for it! “Many days, what I do doesn’t seem like work.”

Being with people at some of the most deep and profound times in their lives – at births and deaths, baptisms and funerals, and everything in-between – is another “cool thing” Margaret sites about ministering. “You have the deep privilege of sharing these sacred times with people and bringing Christ and God’s word into the setting.”

As with any occupation, ministering has its challenges, all of which Margaret views as interesting and exciting. One of these challenges is ministering to a wide range of ages that are part of the church community. “Like every church, we are a family made up of people from birth through 90 plus folks; and not only each age group, but each individual, has different needs at different stages in their faith growth and understanding.” Hence, she finds it fun to discover and implement things that draw everyone into the life of the church and help them grow more deeply connected to God. 

A similar challenge is finding new and innovative ways that encourage people to worship and to be part of the life of the church and exercise discipleship in Jesus Christ.  Margaret explains that, up until the 1970s, the traditional programming, worship services, and bible study that were offered seemed to be helpful and desired by everyone. Our society has changed, however, and the church is also slowly changing and reforming so as to keep up with what motivates people to grow in their faith.

Rural parishes continually lose congregants as farms get larger and people move to metropolitan areas for jobs. This, in itself, presents the challenge of maintaining church buildings and programming. “There may be some traditional things we’ve always done that we may need to let go of,” Margaret states, “and some other things we may want to implement that will help people access the church and the gospel in new ways.” 

She’s appreciative of her new colleagues, co-workers, parishioners, and community members. “The people in these small towns and in this rural area are salt of the earth folks - so friendly, warm and welcoming,” she alludes, “There seems to be a great spirit of cooperation and drive to work together to do what needs to get done for the work of the gospel.” 

Margaret isn’t the only one in her family who gets to enjoy the drive time between her churches in this rural area. Mark is the Director for Rural Ministry Education at the Center for Theology and Land at Wartburg Seminary in Dubuque. “The rolling hills, bluffs, and farmland are such a lovely backdrop to the ministry I’m doing here,” Margaret revels, “The drive time gives me great time to pray and think!”