Childcare Leadership and Spirit of Life

A message from Pastor Marietta

Beloved of Spirit of Life,
​
In the midst of this Holy Week, I am giving thanks to God that this is the fourth Easter I will celebrate with Spirit of Life. So much has changed and evolved over the past few years, and yet God’s loving presence and steady hand is clear and generous in the ministries and the people connected to Spirit of Life. This congregation continues to be a vital part of the Olalla and South Kitsap communities because, as one of our folks often says, God wants us here! 
God’s generosity has provided many ways in which to continue this ministry, from safety and security improvements, to people willing to step into leadership and servanthood roles, to financial gifts, to the abundance of new members. We’ve strengthened Spirit of Life structurally, adding new and more leadership in worship, music, Bible study, building and grounds and nursing, while continuing to celebrate teams that ensure LifeCare Food Bank, Mustard Seed Prayer group, and Lutheran World Relief efforts remain strong. All of this is central to how we follow God’s command to love our neighbors as ourselves and to care for those who are suffering. 
It is time in 2025 to turn our attention to Spirit of Life’s childcare ministry, Little Doves Children’s Learning Center. 
This ministry is vital to our neighbors, especially those with young children. For more than 30 years, Little Doves has provided a safe, Christ-centered environment for children. Little Doves is one of the ways that you, the people of Spirit of Life, have answered the call to care for the least of these. On a practical level, from a financial standpoint, Spirit of Life and Little Doves are completely interconnected. We rely on each other to ensure we are fiscally responsible and solvent and that we are using the generosity of God for the best and most faithful purposes. It is important to continue to shepherd the childcare ministry and this relationship between church and childcare center well.
Spirit of Life’s executive team consists of President Bonnie Ruehs-Lutz, Vice President Pam Thiemann, Secretary Heather Schoone, and me. We have been working together for about the past eight months to identify and implement ways to operate and improve the childcare ministry and further integrate it with the church and its members.
Little Doves now has two leaders, Director Maggie Miner and Program Supervisor Anastasia Money, who are working together to create a loving, safe atmosphere for children and staff. Little Doves is currently fully staffed and fully enrolled with 50 children. It is financially stable. Several congregation members are well connected to Little Doves. Alicia Wells and Becky and Norma Brown help to lead weekly chapel, providing music and fun for the children. And Drew Brown keeps our vacuums running - nearly a full time job! Louie Boe began as a classroom volunteer and has now become a substitute staff member. He is present at LD to cover a shift or two when regular staff are absent. Carol Colburn has been a consistent volunteer in classrooms for over a year. She is currently working weekly with our Pre-K upstairs classroom. Nate Schoone, who works in HR for a large local hospital system, is meeting with Anastasia and Maggie and the childcare staff to train them on leadership basics. He’s also working with the LD staff on communication and teamwork. Bonnie Ruehs-Lutz is a penpal for the Pre-K upstairs classroom, creating relationships with ten 4- and 5-year-olds. Heather Schoone has coordinated efforts to celebrate LD staff with notes from the congregation, birthday and work anniversary cards and treats, as well as volunteering at LD events. Pam Thiemann has also volunteered at events, and spent two days with Maggie and Anastasia learning more about their jobs. Church and childcare volunteers have worked together to host fun events like the Easter egg hunt, Fat Tuesday, graduation and Trunk or Treat. Building and grounds team volunteers have fixed many structural and maintenance issues associated with the childcare. And the people named here are just a few of the many folks who have worked with Little Doves over the 30 years. Many of you have shared stories of walking the school-age students to Mullenix Ridge, volunteering in classrooms, making lunches, painting classrooms and serving on the previous Board of Education. There is a rich history of connection between the church and childcare.
In many ways, Little Doves today is operating as well as it can be, given the pressures of economics, culture, and life in general. Operating a childcare in 2025 is a complex and sensitive job that brings with it all the joys and difficulties of life.
The Executive Team has come to understand that there is currently a disconnection between the childcare ministry and the members of the congregation when it comes to the operations and leadership. This is where I serve as a bridge between the two entities. I am involved in many aspects of this ministry. Each week on Thursdays I help to lead chapel for the children and staff. I meet weekly with childcare leaders and two other staff members, Finance Steward Kim Rohr and Administrative Assistant Michelle McMillan. I am often a go-to person for LD staff for everything from building issues to upset parents to questions about schedules to staff concerns to my office serving as a storage space for LD equipment. I try to be present to staff and children in classrooms periodically, especially if I see or am told that someone is struggling.
In the staff handbook, I am included in the responsibility for the areas of tracking staff members’ working time; monitoring sick/paid leave, whether children can be pictured on social media; monitoring staff appearance when it comes to dress, tattoos and piercings; parent communication; and settling staff grievances. It is fair to estimate that, on average, 10-12 hours of my week is spent on Little Doves matters. This can be important work, especially in terms of safety and security. It is also a hindrance to the things that I am called to do as your pastor. It means that core pastoral work gets pushed to hours beyond a normal work week. This includes: spending time in prayer, studying scripture and theology, preparing sermons and Bible studies, making pastoral care visits, discerning where God is calling me and where God is calling Spirit of Life, attending meetings of Spirit of Life groups. A regular work week for me has often gone well beyond 50 hours over the past three and a half years. This has been fulfilling in some ways, as those core pastoral duties are where I feel God has called me and where I get deep joy. But it’s clear to me and those close to me, that this level of work is not sustainable.
To help us understand how to navigate this challenge, we as an Executive Team engaged the services of a ministry coach provided by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The ELCA has provided us with six free sessions with Coach Janny Franken, who has expertise in children, youth and family ministry, as well as church operations. We have met multiple times with Janny as a committee. I also meet with her individually in my role as pastor. Janny has helped us to discern that the next step in stabilizing, growing and improving Little Doves is to establish a team that will serve in a leadership role for the childcare. 
If adopted, this team could consist of congregation members and LD family members. It would be much like the teams we have in place for the food bank, music, building and grounds, and nursing. Pam Thiemann and Heather Schoone have been working in recent weeks to craft ideas and language for this team. They have researched best practices through the Evangelical Lutheran Education Association (the professional association we belong to as a church with a childcare), as well as reading through historical records of Spirit of Life, talking with congregation members and working with Coach Janny. We are currently thinking and talking about ways to shift to a new education team some of the LD leadership responsibilities that currently fall to me. This shift could give me more time for pastoral duties, as well as some time for rest.  
The Executive Committee shared our initial ideas with Spirit of Life Church Council at the April meeting. More details will be forthcoming at the May Council meeting, as well as at the May congregational meeting. There may be a need in the future to adjust our governing documents around this proposed change. If that is the case, we will follow the rules and requirements to do so properly. 
We give thanks for those of the congregation and Little Doves who have entered into this conversation, as well as all the people who have over the years dedicated time, attention, resources and faith to the establishment and ongoing operations of the childcare ministry. This has truly been a labor of love on behalf of God through the people of Spirit of Life. I encourage you as a member of this community to continue to pray for the children and staff and for each other as we move into the future together.