Written Karina Kosmala

On February 22, 2020, Senior Emilie Stoller received her calling to serve at the Ascension Lutheran Church in Montreal, Quebec, Canada as part of her internship portion of the deaconess program at Concordia University Chicago.

After spending the first four years earning a bachelor’s degree in theology, the final year is spent interning. Students fill out an application with preferences of where they want to serve and Deaconness Kristin Wassilak, Director of the Deaconness Program, will have an idea or what service the student is best aligned with (whether it is gerontology, deaf ministry, etc.).

The church that Stoller is interning at is the Ascension Lutheran Church in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, located in a neighborhood of 30,000 people in a 1/2 square mile, with two-thirds of the inhabitants being immigrants. Stoller will be assisting with helping immigrants work on their English as part of the Another Language program, while also interacting with people in the community and finding other resources that can assist the people.

In addition to that, Stoller said, “I’ll also be helping to expand their children’s ministry and outreach to college students nearby. Those will be my main responsibilities, but I’ll also visit members of the church who are unable to come to church, aid in planning fellowship activities, and be in charge of responding to internet inquiries about the church. As part of that, I love diving into the Scripture and learning as much as I can in order to share that with others. Telling people who God is for them according to the Bible is a rather fun part of the job.”

Stoller looks forward to working with the local church community, “Getting to know people, pointing them to the forgiveness that Christ offers, and serving them while they are in this vulnerable place is a real privilege, one that I hope to never take for granted.”