Anna-Lynn is a nursing major at Pitt and is set to graduate this upcoming spring, class of 2025. She serves as a resident assistant for Pitt’s Residential Life and has been a devoted member of the campus ministry’s student group for almost her entire time at college.
Anna-Lynn grew up in central Pennsylvania, where she had been part of two Lutheran congregations, both of which she loved. The first congregation was a congregation with vibrant worship life and Anna-Lynn served regularly as acolyte, crucifer and the like. The second congregation, while not as liturgical in worship, helped her engage her faith in a more “spiritually provoking” manner. When Anna-Lynn got to college, she says “I found it weird to find it on my own. I didn’t have to do much thinking when my family switched churches in high school. Now I had to purposefully search out a church group.”
Having checked out a few other faith groups, which were somewhat vague in their identity, Anna-Lynn emailed the campus pastor under her own initiative, figuring it was good to stay with what was familiar. She could tell an immediate difference between the different groups. At one group, Anna-Lynn said, “They were nice but no one wanted to take the extra step to get to know me.” When she walked into the community at the Lutheran Campus Ministry in Greater Pittsburgh she said, “It felt like a safe environment and I felt welcomed. But here it felt like everyone wanted to know more about me and interact. They seemed real.”
Having spent most of her college years with the campus ministry, she says, “I really like our GodTalks, because I feel like we learn something new every week. It comes from a place of understanding what was going on in the past, and it makes things today make more sense.” This learning has also helped Anna-Lynn in her vocation. As she trains to be a nurse, she has served as a peer minister where people feel comfortable coming to talk with her. This trusted position makes a difference in the way she will be a nurse. “I feel like learning about Jesus and what he says, there are hard truths I need to tell them. I feel like Jesus is a good example in balancing what a person needs and finding a way to do it compassionately.” Anna-Lynn’s faith has found a place to grow and mature in her faith that will continue to help her in her continued servant vocation. The Lutheran Campus Ministry in Greater Pittsburgh cultivates vocational discernment so that our students’ education is not just academic. They learn to reflect on where God is calling them in their future work.
