by Sarah Maney

Pamela Vue was knee deep in the study of childhood development and family relationships for her undergraduate degree in child and family science at California State University in Fresno, Calif. It was her junior year, and she was wondering about her future career.

“I knew I wanted to work with children and families, and I wanted to include faith in my profession,” said Vue.

Vue longed to find a way to serve the Lord and His people and share the rich, life-changing Scriptural truths that she learned about in The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS).

But she wasn’t always Lutheran.

Vue, who is Hmong, grew up attending a Hmong Assembly of God church with her mother. Many congregants were refugees who did not know how to read.

“If you don’t know how to read, you’re not going read the Bible. And so, you’re dependent on a pastor who is supposed to know the Word of God,” said Vue. Much of the preaching was about outward appearance; one’s own works.

“It was very Law heavy,” said Vue. Even as a child, she realized that the people in the congregation, including her mom, were filled with guilt, believing that they were never able to “be good enough for God.”

But the Lord was at work in her life. At the invitation of her uncle, she began attending Peace Lutheran Church in Fresno, Calif., a congregation that served both Anglo and Hmong communities. Her uncle, Khai Lee, was a student in Concordia Seminary’s Ethnic Immigrant Institute of Theology (EIIT) Program, which provides specialized preparation for men seeking to serve as pastors or women who want to serve as deaconesses in immigrant and ethnic minority communities across North America.

When Vue was 12 years old, Lee was called to serve as pastor at Peace Lutheran Church.

Vue increasingly became more involved at Peace Lutheran, but also continued to attend a Saturday service of the Assembly of God church with her mother. As she grew into her teenage years, she began to distance herself from the Assembly of God church. “I felt like the teachings were very shallow and they didn’t teach the way that the Bible describes God’s love.”

During college, she continued to grow spiritually at Peace Lutheran and in her desire to use her faith in her future career. But she wasn’t sure what that looked like. Thankfully, Janett Lee, her youth director at church, asked if she had ever thought about becoming a deaconess.

“I was like, what’s a deaconess?” said Vue.

Lee reached out to Dr. Gillian Bond, the Seminary’s director of Deaconess Studies at the time. Over a Zoom meeting, Bond shared what a deaconess does and talked about the deaconess programs offered at Concordia Seminary. Vue thought it was a neat ministry role, but she had never thought about church work. Yet, she continued to feel the pull toward vocational ministry as she sought the Lord in prayer.

“The Holy Spirit works in unusual ways. Just a few months later, I started filling out an application to enroll at the Seminary,” said Vue.

She was impressed with the Seminary’s friendly admission staff. Sarah Seying, a former admissions officer, and Monica Rhodes, the Enrollment office manager, patiently helped her through the application process. “They were encouraging and extremely helpful, kind and so patient with me and my questions,” said Vue.

During her application process, she also started listening to “Under the Fig Tree,” the Seminary’s podcast geared toward helping people learn about the Seminary and vocational ministry.

“That solidified everything,” said Vue. “There was an episode with deaconess students Alyssa Choate and Lara McComack, who talked about life at the Seminary. I didn’t have a concept of what the Seminary was like, so having Alyssa and Lara share how their studies benefited them and how they’re doing at the Seminary was reassuring to me.”

Now in her second year of deaconess studies, Vue sees the importance of deaconess ministry in the church.

“There are issues that women face and go through that men don’t or cannot necessarily understand or empathize. I’m thinking of abuse, domestic violence and sexual trauma. God gives women a gentle approach that is nurturing and protective in a unique way,” said Vue.

She also sees the value of her Seminary education and appreciates that the professors, while academically rigorous, have also served as pastors and are very pastoral with the students.

“Concordia Seminary is different from a public institution where the student body is so large and connecting with your professors is not really realistic,” said Vue. “Here they really do care for your spiritual wellbeing.”

Sarah Maney is the manager of communications at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis.