Thirst for More: A Refugee Worker Finds Satisfaction at Seminary

Adrienne has served in refugee services for over 16 years. This work began long before, as she traveled internationally on mission trips and focused her collegiate and professional degrees on international development. She was serving and interacting with people in deep need. And when the time came to choose between seminary and social services, she found herself at a crossroads. What should she choose? She chose social services, but the desire for seminary education never left her. As she continued her education and career, providing practical resources such as water, hygiene, and sanitation to vulnerable communities, she began working with refugee and immigrant children and youth. Now, not only does her work include direct work with these young ones, but also training others to do the same. To hold stories, to navigate systems, to get them the resources they need. Adrienne is on the frontlines of caring for those who would easily get lost.

Her second crossroads in education and her own development came when she found herself deeply stressed by work and the changing policies for immigrants and refugees. She was also in midlife asking, “What am I going to do with the second half of my life?”

Physical, emotional, and spiritual exhaustion set in, and she found herself parched and full of thirst. Not the thirst of physical sanitation that she literally provided for so many, but a spiritual thirst — heart, mind, body, and soul. 

With these pressing questions and her deep thirst, Adrienne went looking for water. Remembering God’s invitation to deeper theological education, she knew it would be found in seminary, a place of theological depth and care for her soul. She immediately went to Fuller’s website because she values the diversity it offers. And in her search, she found the Certificate in Spiritual Formation. A cohort that would give her the rigor and robustness of a master’s level course. One step towards water.

Through the certificate, she found robust learning, deep community, and satisfaction in following God in one of the ways God was inviting her into – deeper learning and care for her soul. She now has tools for when she is depleted, as well as modeling for refugee and immigrant children and youth what it looks like to rest. A well-nourished leader nourishing future generations.

Adrienne continues her learning and remains a wellspring for the vulnerable God brings to her.