When Duke Divinity student Lucas Zurita began attending Christ Our Life in Raleigh, N.C., he didn’t know the church plant was hiring. Truth be told, neither did they. But the Revs. Tanner and Kara Griffith soon discovered the Chilean student in their midst had an incredible pastoral heart and was looking for field education to complete his MDiv. The Griffiths already had a passion for cultivating multiethnic leadership opportunities.
There was only one problem.
“We didn’t have the finances to hire him,” Kara says.
A few weeks later, Kara and Tanner had a conversation with the Rev. Canon Dr. Jin Cho, leader of C4SO’s Racial Diversity and Justice team. Listening to the Griffiths describe their desire to hire Lucas and cultivate other young BIPOC seminarians, Jin realized this could be a new focus for The Multiethnic Church Development Fund. C4SO started the Fund in 2022 to support the work of C4SO churches committed to becoming diverse congregations in the image of God.
“My conversation with Kara was the catalyst for a new ‘on-ramp’ fund for the hiring and development of young leaders of color,” Jin says. “I’m excited to announce that we are partnering with Christ Our Life to support the hiring of Lucas for a year-long pastoral internship.”
The Fund enabled Lucas to begin his internship at Christ Our Life in September. As expected in a church plant, he is doing a little bit of everything: helping with setup, leading worship, teaching Bible studies, doing admin tasks, preaching, and teaching bilingual kids’ classes. Those classes have been a huge blessing for a Spanish-speaking Bolivian family who recently joined the church.
“The context of a growing church plant specifically calls for the development of a pastoral imagination that I believe will be beneficial to my context in Santiago, Chile, after graduation from my MDiv program,” Lucas says. “I’m excited to learn from Kara and Tanner how to faithfully embody Christ as a leader, and I’m hoping to apply what I learn from them in order to continue the mission for the sake of others in the Global South.”
Other C4SO churches can now apply to receive the donor-supported Multiethnic Church Development Fund for one of two purposes:
1) Hiring BIPOC clergy called to a senior staff position. Previous recipients of the Fund include Trinity Tampa, Restoration Abbey, and Church of the Resurrection L.A.
2) Hiring young BIPOC seminarians, ministry interns, etc. This will help young leaders like Lucas gain real leadership experience at a C4SO church and be sent out for the sake of others.
“Lucas will learn to preach with us, to lead with us,” Kara says. “It will teach our congregation to be a gracious listening and learning community. Having his eyes and ears and creative perspective will bring a lot of life to our church.”
In the future, as Lucas graduates from Duke and discerns where God is leading him to serve, Kara and Tanner will be his advocates, whether for a role in C4SO or somewhere else.
“The Spirit did this,” Kara says. “Our hope is that Lucas would be able to speak into the life of our church in all the ways God has gifted him. In turn, we will be enriched by him and come alongside him to give him pastoral mentorship and training.”