Charge to the Congregation

On Sunday, August 17, 2025, Rev. Dr. Kristin Riegel was installed as the Pastor of St. Luke Presbyterian Church. At that service, Adele Lennig Sullivan of the Pastor Nominating Committee (PNC) delivered this Charge to the Congregation:

My name is Adele Lennig Sullivan, and I had the privilege of serving on the Pastor Nominating Committee that introduced Kristin to St. Luke. And as soon as the congregation met her, you joyfully and unanimously called her to be our pastor.Therefore, we are charged to be the church and to let Kristin be our pastor. But how can we do that?

Rev. Dr. Kristin Riegel is installed as pastor of St. Luke Presbyterian Church

First, we can truly welcome her by embracing all of who she is. The Reverend Doctor Kristin Riegel is a learned, intelligent, and creative thought leader. She is open, empathetic, and a really good listener. And she is bursting with love and compassion for us, for Christ’s church, and for the world. We are charged to open-heartedly invite her to be a witness to God’s presence in our individual lives and in our congregational life together.

Next, we can open ourselves fully to Pastor Kristin’s leadership on our journey to become the church that the Holy Spirit is leading us to be. We can delight in discovering with her what the future holds for us—intentionally welcoming change (even though that is sometimes hard for us). We also need to recognize that Kristin will be leading us through a new challenge. St. Luke has never had a one pastor model before. We can’t have the same expectations for our leadership that we have always had. There is only so much one person can do. But we can support Kristin as she guides us through this change. We can come to church a little bit more, give a little bit more, and volunteer a little bit more. Many hands make light work, right?

As she leads us to envision and then accomplish St. Luke’s mission and ministry, we can remember that success and failure lies with the team not just the leader. Some things will work; others will not. If we fail, we fail together and, if we succeed, we succeed together. We can remind her that it is okay to be less than perfect, that there will always be work to be done, and that we will do it with her.

And we can give Kristin the gift of honest, thoughtful feedback. We owe her both praise for her accomplishments and suggestions for improvement. Positive feedback is the easy part of the assignment, right? But the hard thing with positive feedback is actually remembering to take the time to give it! Sharing a suggestion for improvement is harder. This kind of feedback needs to be planned carefully, provide specific guidance or proposed solutions, and be delivered directly to her—never to a third party.

Finally, we are charged to pray for Kristin, her husband Mark, and her precious son Phillip. The Riegel-Wilkins family has moved to a new city, And Kristin is embarking on her first opportunity to serve as head of staff. I am sure they welcome all of our prayers as they navigate this transition.

St. Luke’s mission is to become “a joyful, inclusive and compassionate community on a spiritual journey seeking to do justice, make peace, act mercifully, and to walk humbly with God.” We are committed to fulfilling that mission, and we have chosen Kristin to lead us in that endeavor. So, our role in this shared journey is clear. We are charged to truly welcome her, fully embrace her leadership, joyfully join with her in the work of our church, and actively support her with honest feedback and prayer.

We can do it, beloved community. And Kristin will be there with us—every step of the way.