Hello, I'm
Kristen
Hanna
Pastor / Writer / Helpless Nerd
About
I'm an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church (North Carolina Annual Conference) with over 10 years of experience working with adults in the local church in a variety of settings: from odd-ball musical ensembles to Sunday school classes, small groups, lay leaders, and beyond. No matter what area of church work I have engaged in, there is nothing I love more than connecting and equipping people for the journey of faith and witnessing how they experience the goodness of God. Whether it's planning for and a leading a small group in the wildly creative Ignatian reading of scripture, or teaching a new member class about the Wesleyan Way of Salvation, there is truly nothing greater than those little "a hah!" moments. Every person deserves to have the tools they need to draw closer to Christ and one another.
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Outside of my pastor-y loves (teaching, preaching, writing, reading, leading worship, and making far too many Google Docs), I am an avid crafter with a serious coffee addiction. My hobby research interests include the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (who would not approve of the coffee addiction), the British Royal Family's tiara collection, and weird factoids about Church history. (Did you know that there's a hymn to Mary associated with the Camino De Santiago De Compostela about a miracle pork chop?)
Published Writing Samples
Below is a sampling of some of my written work. Three are taken from Thinking Through Christianity (no longer active). TTC was comprised of ecumenical pastors, lay people, musicians, professors, and poets from a wide swath of the Christian tradition. Topics included Christian doctrine, discipleship, book reviews, Christian and church history, world events, politics, pop culture, spirituality- essentially anything the light of Christ can touch, we probably wrote on it!
The fourth article is one of two that I have written for NC COSROW'S "Encouragements" newsletter.
Curriculum & Training Samples
Below are some examples of curriculum, devotional materials, and training that I have organized for the local church. The New Members Curriculum and Lay Leader Training was aimed at adults ages 25+ and the Advent @ Home Devotionals were intended to be used either by adults or families with children during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Please note: for the sake of brevity, these are snippets and not the entirety of each work.
Vision & Strategy
Below is an example of discipleship visioning and strategy from congregation where I served. This was a collaborative effort among the pastoral staff and ministry leaders in 2015 that yielded some great fruit in terms of participation in small groups, clarity of "where we're going," and a deeper understanding of United Methodist membership vows.
While I might design it a bit differently now (graphically, it's a lot!), it gives an idea of some of the visioning processes I've participated in and helped implement.
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Graphic Design by Patty Anthony Mercer
