Morningside’s Finest: Pastor Christopher Bodley

We are excited to feature a wonderful member of our community in this month’s newsletter: Pastor Bodley of Bethany Lutheran Church. Many of you may be familiar with the welcoming space that Bethany Lutheran provides for our monthly meetings, but you may not know much about one of its key leaders.

Pastor Christopher Bodley is a Chicago native who lived in Orlando, Florida serving his community there for over 20 years. After hearing about an opportunity to further Bethany Lutheran’s mission in Detroit, he was called to move here with his wife and five sons. Over that past 12 years, he has been serving and growing Bethany’s community.

Initially, the opportunity in Detroit started with the idea of Bethany Lutheran being connected with a charter school. Pastor Bodley saw this as a key opportunity for outreach with students and families at the school. However, after moving to Detroit the opportunity with the school fell through.

Despite this setback, Pastor Bodley and his family decided to stay in Detroit. At that time Detroit was going through emergency management, and they saw a great need for connection and community. They knew it would be challenging to create meaningful outreach in new ways but were up for that challenge. Bodley tells me, “What I really love is that when many people outside saw Detroit as brokenness, I saw the connectedness of people. People were really working together. In Orlando I didn’t really see that. People here were really dedicated to supporting each other.” For this reason, he was determined to stay.

Bethany Lutheran has a history of 135 years in Detroit. Continuing under the leadership of Pastor Bodley, the congregation is approximately 100 strong. Day to day his job consists of meeting with community leaders and building a culture of gracious hospitality. Today, we live in a society of indifference where people can be just nice. He says, “Nice is great, but nice is not gracious.”

Pastor Bodley is striving to create a deeper community. To him, one of the most exciting new endeavors is a partnership with the English as a Second Language (ESL) community. ESL has partnered with Bethany Lutheran to be a hub for new immigrants to learn English as well as help them become more familiar with American culture. This program helps individuals learn skills and context to become more successful.

Recently, over Thanksgiving, Pastor Bodley and his family welcomed participants from the program into their home to share in the American tradition. There were people from the Congo, Rwanda, and Mexico. The experience was fruitful for all and a testament to the importance of connection, especially at this time of the year.

Pastor Bodley’s hobbies include reading, especially on the topics of leadership and reconciliation. He enjoys walking and, most recently he has taken up archery after experiencing it at the sports summer camp the church runs every year. His favorite part about what he does is “seeing people encouraged and inspired”. He says, “In a world full of takers, it is beautiful to see givers”. His vision for Bethany Lutheran is to be a light in the community and to lift the voices of all.

It was a pleasure to get to know Pastor Bodley and I can’t wait to see how he continues to grow community in Morningside and beyond! He wanted to be sure to invite all neighbors to Bethany Lutherans Jazz Service taking place on the fifth Sunday in December. The service will be Sunday, December 29th at 12:00 PM at Bethany Lutheran. Hope to see many of you there!