Jae Bates, the new pastoral intern for Jubilee Collective, received a warm welcome from the Messiah Community at a pair of meet and greet events on Nov. 22. 

Pr. Jae will be splitting time  between Peace Lutheran in Tacoma and Messiah and Jubilee Collective in Vancouver at least through May while finishing Masters of Divinity studies.

The introduction also served as an opportunity for Messiah and Jubilee to get reacquainted with one another after a time of transition.

"What I'm spending time doing...is getting a sense of the community and its connection to the community," Pr. Jae said. "I want to listen to the foundational members of the launch team and local communities who are in need of service, to show up for them and be of service."

Pr. Jae said that the opportunity to minister with Jubilee Collective was exciting because of the chance to reach people who share  life experiences and who may have felt marginalized or hurt by the church.

"Getting connected into Jubilee Collective has been amazing because that's one of the central parts of the ministry is reaching out to people with experiences like mine," Jae said. 

Jubilee Collective hopes to continue to put a focus on helping groups already doing work in the LGBTQ+ communities and to help and serve with them however they can.

"Jubilee has a lot of places we can go and there really are so many places we can go because we believe in flexibility," said Jubilee launch committee member Megan Dilitto.

As Jubilee and Pr. Jae move forward, Pr. Jae hopes that that Messiah and Jubilee will continue to mutually support each other however possible. 

"Anti-racism and being welcoming to LGBTQ people and those on the margins is something God calls the whole church to do," Jae said. "To support Jubilee Collective is to integrate their mission into your own life." 

Learn more about Pr. Jae here.