Terri Stewart accepts the 2012 Gertrude Apel Pioneering Spirit Award
on behalf of The Youth Chaplaincy Coalition.
Stewart and Youth Chaplaincy Coalition awarded by The Church Council of Greater Seattle
By Ellen Johanson, Photo by Jonathan Assink
Terri Stewart, The Youth Chaplaincy Coalition recognized with The Church Council of Greater Seattle’s Gertrude Apel Award for transforming the lives of struggling young people.
“Today we recognize the creative energy, profound commitment and path-breaking ministry of the Youth Chaplaincy Coalition led by Terri Stewart…” so began Michael Ramos, executive director of The Church Council of Greater Seattle. He announced the winners of the Gertrude Apel Pioneering Spirit Award on Sunday, November 18, 2012 at Seattle First Baptist Church.
About Apel
The awards ceremony is in its fourth year honoring individuals and organizations that exemplify the pioneering spirit of the Rev. Gertrude Apel. Apel was a United Methodist clergywoman, who in the 1930s became the first General Secretary of what would eventually be known as The Church Council of Greater Seattle. Apel was an organizer, a tireless ecumenical leader who fostered cooperation among diverse groups of people, and a woman who “got things done.” Likewise, by the comments of many colleagues in ministry, Terri Stewart, exemplifies that same pioneering spirit and ecumenical leadership in her ministry with incarcerated youth.
Spiritual Gifts and Transformation
Joe Cotton, a lay minister with the Archdiocese of Seattle, attended Seattle University with Stewart and has worked with her at the King County Juvenile Detention Center. He identified her gifts of compassion, leadership ability, commitment & willingness to work ecumenically. Cotton also recognized her wisdom in developing faith-based prevention & follow-up programs that meet the needs of youth in South King County as key reasons she deserves this award.
Through their work they have met, as Cotton says, “young people who have done some pretty horrible, awful things” and yet they will also tell you that they “have yet to meet a bad kid.” On a daily basis, they meet “young people who are suffering at levels hard to comprehend…they are struggling with abuse, poverty, neglect, gang affiliations, family breakdowns and unimaginable difficulties. But unfortunately they are trapped in a cycle where they transmit their pain and suffering into the broader community,” says Cotton. “The chaplaincy program is designed to invite these young people to transform that pain into something beautiful and blessed. That’s what our faith calls us to do…and Terri is somebody who embodies that quite beautifully,” says Cotton. “I have had the honor of working with her, wandering the detention halls, bearing witness to her meeting one-on-one with these young people; she has the ability to see that goodness in them, to see their light…and be able to reflect that back to them, so that they can come to know who they really are as children of God.”
A Holy Invitation
Not only did Stewart develop the Youth Chaplaincy Coalition, but she has also played a key leadership role in reaching out to the community at large, inviting more and more people to become part of this ministry. She made an effort to worship with congregations all around the community inviting people to care about these young people who are troubled and struggling, to be in relationship with them, share meals and invite them to be a part of this ministry, always asking the question “who is not at this table” and then extending an invitation to those people; so she has formed a coalition that includes Catholics, Baptists, Methodists, Lutherans, Muslims, Jews…you name it…everybody has been invited.
MAP and NYMT: A Holistic Approach to Mentoring
Stewart’s approach to ministry is holistic; she cares about mind, body and soul. Her vision has expanded beyond the “what-can-we-do-for-incarcerated-youth” phase to “what do we need to be doing for these young people outside of the detention system?” How do we make our work preventive and ensure that when young people leave the detention system they have positive faith-based communities to plug into for support and guidance? As a result, she is involved in a mentorship program called MAP or My Action Plan. Incarcerated youth begin to think about what they want for their lives, to make a plan for how to achieve that, to put the plan into action and to have support and follow-up once they leave the detention system.
Another important part of achieving these goals is the creation of Neighborhood Youth Mission Teams. As relationships are developed within the detention setting, young people are invited to join regionally-based small groups that focus on worship, service, and study. When youth leave detention they now have intentional communities where they can discover their mission for life, pray together, develop a sense of longing and purpose, learn what their gifts and talents are and how to offer those to the world. They are invited to be of service in the community– to serve others–which as Cotton says, “is exactly what the church is all about.”
Not only does the MAP and NYMT minister to troubled youth, but the volunteers also find a sense of transformation, peace, satisfaction and accomplishment. Stewart provided an anecdote that illustrates this perfectly: she had met a young man in detention and they started creating his action plan. When he left detention, they lost track of him. But, because of the holistic vision of their work, Stewart was able to find him in a group home and she was able to bring him to the neighborhood youth mission team “so full circle, we are wrapping our arms around him” said Stewart. “He lives in that neighborhood and he will walk forward with us and hopefully God will transform all of our lives.”
Interrupting the Cradle-to-Prison Pipeline
It is this kind of experience that makes Stewart grateful – for God’s call, for the young people placed in her life, and for the United Methodist Church supporting her work. She is also thankful for her home congregation at Bear Creek UMC for “launching” her and Rainier Beach UMC for “catching” her. Stewart thanked her family, husband and the coalition that surrounds her and joined with her in creating a broad ministry where individuals are noticed, help is provided and systemic change occurring in the community to interrupt what she refers to as the “cradle-to-prison pipeline.”
The Rev. Monica Corsaro, pastor of Rainier Beach UMC, is exuberant when she talks of her church’s participation in the Youth Chaplaincy Coalition. “(Stewart) is a perfect recipient to get this award…and we at Rainer Beach United Methodist Church cannot be more proud to be a conduit for this ministry to happen…with Terri’s endless and abounding energy, this ministry…is going to change the neighborhood, transform lives and at the end-of-the-day, make disciples of Christ, not just for those young men, but for those who are serving the young men.”
Terri Stewart serves as an unpaid associate minister at Rainier Beach United Methodist Church in Seattle, Wash. For more on the Youth Chaplaincy Coalition, check out bit.ly/youth-chaplaincy.
For more info on Rainier Beach UMC, visit rainierbeachumc.org and check out facebook.com/RBUMC.
Ellen Johanson serves as the manager for the Regional Media Center.
This article will be featured in the upcoming January issue of Channels. Visit www.pnwumc.org/channels.
