A new chapter has begun for the congregation of New Life Evangelical Lutheran Church, New Tripoli.

Members recently welcomed the Rev. Lauren Applegate into their fold as the new pastor.

New Life is Applegate’s second call as pastor. Her first call was to New Jerusalem Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lower Saucon Township from 2015-2020.

Applegate was raised in Freehold, N.J., where she attended Hope Lutheran Church.

She lives in Bethlehem with her husband and two children and the couple is expecting a third.

Ordained in 2015 after graduating from United Lutheran Seminary in Philadelphia, she also received a Bachelor’s degree in social work from Ramapo College of New Jersey in 2009.

Applegate said growing up in a positive, supportive church community was influential on her aspirations to become a pastor.

“I belonged to a church where I knew that I mattered from a very young age,” she said. “I had older folks in my life from the church who I knew cared and loved me.

“I had a pastor who would bend over backward to teach me what pastors did, and would share stories about going to seminary and being in ministry.”

Applegate traveled seven times to Bosnia-Herzegovina as a ministry team member with the New Jersey Synod of the ELCA to promote peace, friendship and reconciliation efforts between ethnic groups, an experience she found deeply inspiring.

“I spent about 10 years as a part of that ministry and it was really eye-opening for me, life changing for me,” she explained. “Hearing the words of Jesus come from the mouth of a Muslim woman was really eye-opening for me to see.

“It’s not all about you. It’s not all about what you believe. It’s about God being at work in all people.”

Applegate was in a “rough place mentally, emotionally and spiritually,” in 2011.

She was encouraged by her mentor to visit the seminary, after which she decided to become a pastor.

“I’d always felt called to be a pastor,” she said. “I ran from it for a long while, and then in all of these experiences there were little moments where God would show up and keep calling me back.”

Seeking to broaden her horizons, Applegate came to Pennsylvania to apply her experience gained in New Jersey to “help in terms of the Lutheran Church, come into today’s day and age.”

Her conversations with New Life’s call committee lasted three months, from October 2019 to January 2020, before she was chosen as pastor.

Applegate described how she arrived during a transitional period.

The church had been without a pastor for over two years and conflicts had arisen within the congregation but now that “the dust has started to settle” and with a pastor in place, the future looks bright.

The authenticity and “eclectic-ness” of the congregation, Applegate said, is her favorite aspect of her new call.

“It just feels right, they’re in a very authentic place, they’re in a place to say, ‘this is who we are’ … you really have an opportunity to learn, grow and take on new life,” Applegate said. “It’s not about the tradition here … this has an opportunity to be a place where we do what we feel called to do and if that means it looks a little different, it looks a little different.

“When I came here and saw what they did here, who they were, I fell in love and made it work.”

She appreciated how “every new person coming through the door makes this community different, and that’s how it’s supposed to be; new gifts, new strengths, new talents, new complications, God will get us through it.”

Regarding future plans, Applegate said she would like to expand New Life’s rapport with the community, especially with programs for local children and students.

“I would like to start being in communication and being in a relationship with the community more directly,” she explained. “This congregation has a history of having a Wednesday afternoon program for the kids in the schools. That was a big thing.”

Applegate said she was interested in bringing back the afternoon program, either in its original form or with updates to reflect the modern community culture, describing how it could lead into Wednesday evening worship.

Applegate also proposed changes for Wednesday worships, noting how for the majority of the current season of Lent, Wednesday evening sessions will change each week and offer different opportunities.

She encouraged community members to partake and provide feedback, adding that in the summer, “probably around July, we’re going to re-kickoff what Wednesday worship will look like on a regular basis.”

The pastor also said she would also encourage cross-generational communication between members of the congregation to promote personal growth.

“I want to start conversations around what it looks like to have intergenerational, experiential learning. I think that’s needed, we need to build relationships,” Applegate said, noting how these experiences were important for her to find her authentic self.

“It wasn’t about ‘those are the old people and these are the young people,’ I knew they cared about me, and I want to build those relationships and be a place where those relationships can be built in a healthy and nurturing way.”

Finally, regarding fundraisers, community programs and celebrations such as the New Life Easter Egg Hunt, Applegate said she will keep such events that have the passionate backing and dedication of the community and congregation.

“No tradition is left to be done just for the sake of doing,” she said, “We’re doing things because we’re excited about it and because we have passion for it.”

Applegate’s Installation service will take place 4 p.m. March 15 at New Life.

She looks forward to welcoming members new and old and exploring opportunities together.

“We have this framework, this base of who we are… we invite people in and allow them the time and the space to bring their gifts and talents, and to bring glory to God and keep making this community.”

“God is up to something cool here and I’m excited to get to know people in the community, welcome them into worship and into relationship in a way that is authentic to them.”

New Life holds contemporary worship services 7 p.m. Wednesdays and traditional services 8 a.m. and 10:15 a.m. Sunday mornings.