Funds
awarded to Sarah Ross ’25 supported internship with a United Methodist
congregation affected by disaffiliation
Sarah Ross gives a presentation reflecting upon her Workman Grant-funded summer 2024 internship.
CONWAY, Arkansas (December 4, 2024) — When Sarah Ross ’25
accepted a $2,600 Elizabeth
T. and John S. Workman Summer Project Grant awarded through the
Hendrix College Office of Religious Life, the religious studies major and
Bryan, Texas, native was eager to explore her calling to serve others through the
United Methodist Church.
The Workman Grant supports summer projects by Hendrix
students pursuing careers in the United Methodist Church, social justice, the
news media, or writing. While the grant provided Ross a stipend so a church in
need of additional staffing, First United Methodist Church of Frisco, Texas, could
hire her for the summer, the benefits to both her and the congregation went
well beyond the financial arrangement.
After a contentious process where more than half of the
congregation left the denomination through a disaffiliation process designed
for those who disagreed with the church’s stance on inclusion of LGBTQ+
laypersons and clergy, First UMC Frisco now has a single employee, licensed
local pastor and recent SMU Perkins School of Theology graduate Luke Thomson. The
congregation meets at a local Presbyterian Church’s building and is making its
way through a season of healing, renewing and deepening its sense of community while
building and strengthening relationships.
Ross entered this landscape as both a leader and learner. She
had four opportunities to preach, which included receiving guidance from
Thomson about major and seemingly smaller elements of putting together a
worship service in a way that unifies the people and teaches them more about
their beliefs and their need for community.
“I learned a lot about the way we write prayers, and that you
have to be intentional about word choices,” she said in her November 13 campus presentation
about her internship, noting that using a particular name for God in a fitting
context may help worshippers make stronger faith connections beyond that single
worship service. And while Ross had preached at Hendrix’s Greene Chapel worship
services before her internship in Frisco, she recognized she still had much to
learn about how to research, write, and present a sermon. Thomson’s recent
seminary experience—at the seminary where Ross has now been accepted for Fall
2025—helped him mentor Ross in these elements and in the more relational
aspects of clergy life, too.
“I received great mentoring on what it is to be a pastor, and
the value of small-church ministry,” she said.
Beyond the pulpit, Ross helped the congregation by fostering
relationships through a range of activities, including leading a weekly
intergenerational Bible study with a 60-year age span among the participants
(“It became this beautiful community that got to lift each other up,” she said);
starting a hospitality ministry and a care team that extends beyond the
congregation into the community that surrounds it; elevating the church’s
social media presence with posts and videos designed for those already
attending worship as well as for reaching out to those who hadn’t yet engaged;
and even forming a pickleball league as a way to connect with the neighborhood.
While Ross helped First UMC Frisco, its members also helped
her. She spoke of a particularly strong connection with one of the senior
members of the church, who she worked with to make a video about the woman’s
faith story and the value of finding First UMC Frisco at an important point in
her life.
“This whole experience reinforced my calling, and I’m looking
forward to starting seminary and discovering more of what my life in ministry
will look like,” she said. “The Workman Grant helped me take some really
important steps in that process, and I’m incredibly grateful.”
About the Workman Grant
The grant honors the late John S. Workman ’50, who died in
2014. As a Hendrix student, Workman founded Campus Kitty, the student
philanthropic organization that still exists today, and was student body
president. A United Methodist minister and journalist, he was the fifth in a
line of Methodist ministers in the Workman family stretching back to the
earliest days of Methodism in America.
Workman served in the U.S. Army in the Pacific, Japan, and
Korea. He earned degrees from Hendrix and Southern Methodist University and
received honorary doctorate degrees from Hendrix and Philander Smith College
(now Philander Smith University). He served on the Hendrix Board of Trustees
from 1987 to 1993, and in 1992, he received Hendrix’s Ethel K. Millar Award for
Religion and Social Awareness. He served as religion editor for the Arkansas
Gazette and was one of Arkansas’ most respected and influential voices on
religion and its importance in American life. The grant is made possible by a
gift from Workman’s wife, Elizabeth T. Workman ’50 (1928-2022) and her
family. Read
more about the Workman Grant
About Hendrix College
Founded in 1876, Hendrix College is featured in Colleges That
Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About Colleges and
celebrated among the country’s leading liberal arts colleges for academic
quality, engaged learning opportunities and career preparation, vibrant campus
life, and value. The Hendrix College Warriors compete in 21 NCAA Division III
sports. Hendrix has been affiliated with the United Methodist Church since
1884. Learn more at www.hendrix.edu.
“… Through engagement that links the classroom
with the world, and a commitment to diversity, inclusion, justice, and
sustainable living, the Hendrix community inspires students to lead lives of
accomplishment, integrity, service, and joy.” —Hendrix College
Statement of Purpose