Pastor Rachel Knoke

IMG_5285Letter from Reverend Rachel Knoke dated February 2, 2015

Dear Brothers and Sisters of Trinity Lutheran,

With deep gladness and a good amount of excitement, I am writing to officially accept the letter of call to Trinity Lutheran Church of Green Bay, WI. During this process I have been struck by the hospitality and kindness of the congregation and I truly look forward to getting to know you better.

In my very limited knowledge, I have seen and heard a group of people who care for one another and desire good relationships as the body of Christ. I have also seen and heard a group of people who are genuinely interested in wrestling with the question “Who is my neighbor?” I look forward to joining you as we wrestle together with this and other questions of faith.

And I thank you all for the leap of faith you have made in this process. I know that the calling of a new pastor comes with a fair mix of excitement and a bit of trepidation. I wish I could make promises about what the future holds, but I can’t. What I can promise, though, is that God will be with us in all things!

In peace,

Bio from Rachel Knoke

.   Merry Christmas, Trinity Lutheran! I am very pleased to have this short opportunity to introduce myself to you. To begin, my name is Rachel Knoke. I grew up in Nauvoo, IL, a very small town of about 1,100 people right on the bank of the Mississippi River. I’m a life-long Lutheran and my mother was (and still is!) the church organist. Around the age of 15, I started to discern a call to ministry. Little did I know, it would take another 18 years to follow through on that discernment! But that hope took me to “a good Lutheran school”, Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, IN, where I graduated with a degree in Social Work. After graduating I decided to take a year off (which turned into seven) between college and seminary and joined the Lutheran Volunteer Corps (LVC) for a year of service.

.   LVC shipped me off to Tacoma, WA where I worked with adults with developmental disabilities at a non-profit organization called L’Arche. As it turns out, I loved the work and ended up staying with L’Arche for almost 7 years, working as a caregiver, prayer planner, development director, volunteer coordinator, and a host of other odd jobs.  I am grateful to this time for teaching me what it means to be human, what it means to live a life of joy and authenticity, and for giving me the opportunity to meet my wife, Erin. But God was not done with me yet and I discerned, finally, that it was time to fulfill that call to ordained ministry from so many years ago. Which brings me to today. Currently, I am living in Tacoma, WA with Erin, my wife of three and a half years, waiting to see how the Spirit will move. We are both excited about the possibility of moving half-way across the country to Wisconsin! And I, personally, am very excited about the ministry you all are doing in Green Bay. Our recent visit was truly a joy and however the Spirit moves in this process, know that I am holding your community in my prayers.

Grace and peace,

Rachel