By Mary Owen
Knowing and loving people both inside and outside of the church is what motivates Stayton United Methodist’s new pastor, Janine DeLaunay.
“We live in times that are often stressful, and church is a place where we can come together to experience love and acceptance as we worship together and experience the grace, healing and forgiveness Jesus offers,” Pastor DeLaunay said. “Once we experience the amazing grace of God, we get to go out into the community and share it.”
Born and raised in Grand Rapids, Mich., DeLaunay and her twin sister were born seven weeks early. Too much oxygen in the incubator damaged their retinas resulting in blindness, a disability that never stopped DeLaunay from reaching her goals. After getting a master’s in counseling at Western Michigan University, she came to Oregon in 1975.
“After my marriage of 31 years ended and my two boys were out of high school, I began attending seminary classes to further explore and deepen an already profound faith in God,” she said. “While each of my jobs, whether in nonprofits or state government, provided me with meaningful, important work, I wanted to do something that allowed me to talk openly about my faith and to share the power of a living, active faith that could truly transform people’s lives.”
DeLaunay began working as a full-time pastor in 2008, serving two United Methodist churches in West Portland and the Metzger area of Tigard. She moved to the Methodist church in Aloha in 2012.
“In the United Methodist system, pastors are appointed and placed by the bishop according to the pastor’s strengths and a church’s needs,” she said. “I was offered the opportunity to come to Stayton, and believed this would be a good place for me to build community in a smaller town. I am able to walk around town fairly easily, and am excited to be working with the folks I have met through the elementary school, the library, Rotary and other wonderful partners that care deeply about the area and the people here.”
DeLaunay hopes to learn more about opportunities and needs of the community.
“My goal is to spend time outside the church walls and meet people where they live and work and play,” she says.
Acknowledging “all the work the folks do at Stayton UMC,” DeLaunay mentioned the church’s outreach via GED, ESL and Citizenship classes. “The church has helped raise money for the local swimming pool, the police K-9 program, Habitat for Humanity, and dozens of other programs,” she added.
Stayton UMC calls itself “an open, welcoming, and active inter-generational church with a heart for spiritual growth and service, both in our community and across the world.”
Closer to home, music is what fills her soul and DeLaunay loves to “sing, lead music in worship, and pick a little on the guitar.”
“I also enjoy listening to most any kind of music that doesn’t blow out my ear drums,” she said. “When I’m not doing music, I’m reading or knitting prayer shawls.”
Visit www.staytonumc.org. for information.
