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June 14, 2023
Dear First Congregational Church,
One of the dreams that surfaced in our Strategic Plan is the development of an internship program, an opportunity for us to support young adults or seminarians in their vocational discernment and leadership development, while they share their gifts and energy with us, focusing their attention and activity especially on helping to move our social justice commitments forward. While at first it seemed difficult to imagine how to bring this idea
to fruition by this summer, a Spirit-filled confluence of events have come together in recent weeks to make it possible for us to proceed with an internship program starting later this month with Bry Brannan and Sophia Hayden, two exceptional seminarians from Iliff
School of Theology in Denver.
Bry Brannan (they/them), a second year Master of Divinity student, is a graduate of
Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington. They have a decade of faith community organizing including work with The Church Council of Greater Seattle, the
UCC Pacific Northwest Conference’s Justice Witness Ministries, and the Southwestern Washington Synod of the ELCA (Lutheran). Bry enjoys accompanying congregational leaders to deepen their practices of solidarity with marginalized communities and to form long-lasting regional partnerships for collective liberation. They have benefitted from many youth and young adult programs over the years, including the UCC Justice Leadership Program and the Krista Foundation for Global Citizenship in Seattle and Peace Jam in Colorado Springs.
Sophia Hayden (she/her) is a third year Master of Divinity student with a concentration
in chaplaincy and spiritual care. A 2020 graduate of Kent State University with a degree in Religious and Jewish Studies, she is a member of Kent UCC in Ohio, where Patrick Mason, our interim choir director, also belongs. For the past year, Sophia has served as
a Pastoral Resident at First Plymouth Congregational Church in Englewood, where she led an immigrant emergency shelter project, facilitated contemplative spaces, co-led weekly youth group, and participated in the church’s worship and visitation ministry.
Starting the last week of June, Bry and Sophia will join us for twenty hours a week for eight weeks, working on a variety of projects with an emphasis on voter engagement efforts, hands-on service, communications, mental wellness, CU campus relations,
and young adult activities.
A grant from the Collegeville Institute will fund a significant portion of their summer stipends. The rest will come from an Internship Fund, newly established by Church Council at its May meeting using the proceeds we received from the sale of property
once owned by PRISM, the collaborative CU young adult campus ministry, when
it closed a few years ago.
In the midst of all of Sophia’s and Bry’s activities and our shared reflection with members of our Social Justice Ministries, we also hope to develop a meaningful and sustainable internship program that will serve the congregation and community for many years
to come.
With anticipation and joy,
Rev. Christina Braudaway-Bauman
Senior Minister
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