Leadership Team
The Leadership Team is a sub-set of the larger membership of Abbey Way. They have committed to gather twice a month to discern and dialogue about the needs of the church. Serving as listeners and collaborative creators, their task is to help lead and guide Abbey Way into living out its mission and vision.
Leadership Team members include: Douglas Dart, Peter Lacey, Caroline White, David Wenell and Pastor Jan Bros.
Pastor
The pastor of Abbey Way is Jan Bros. Jan received training as a spiritual director at Christos Center and Shalem Institute and graduated from Bethel University and Seminary with a BA and MDiv. She served at Church of the Open Door in Maple Grove, Minnesota for many years, both as a lay leader and on pastoral staff, before beginning Abbey Way. Jan is an ordained minister of the Evangelical Covenant Church. She serves on the local Clergy Care Committee and the Northwest Conference Spiritual Director’s Network.
Jan is married to Bob and they have four grown children, Jess, James, Isaac and John; one son-in-law, Andy; daughter-in-laws Amber and Connie; three beautiful grandchildren, Jorden, Samuel and Teagan; and a playful Miniature Schnauzer named Porter. In her free time, Jan loves to hike, bike, quilt and garden.
Blog: Sacred Threshold
Children’s Ministry
Jaime Gjerdingen is Abbey Way’s Children’s Ministry Director. With a love of great literature, all things Benedictine, and of course, the life of God in the young child, she has an unique capacity to create child like wonder and holy encounter with our children.
As a wife and mother of three, Jaime knows first hand the joys and challenges of attending to the formation of those entrusted to her day to day. With this in mind, her passion is to both equip the child as well as the family to notice and respond to God in all of life.
Jaime is married to Craig and lives with her family and cat and dog in an active, creative household. Jaime holds a BA in English from the University of Minnesota and is discovering her voice as a writer of literature and poetry.
Blog: Release the Good
Worship
Brenton Haack is Abbey Way’s worship leader. He is a gifted and accomplished musician. Brenton comes to us as graduate from Biola University’s Music in Worship degree program. As an accoustic artist extraordinaire, he has expanded Abbey Way’s worship vocabulary and added depth and delight to our corporate worship experience.
He and his wife Missy and their daughter Bailey Lou are a very beloved part of Abbey Way’s family. As a couple they have a burgeoning music career, sharing their gift of song in local coffee houses and other gathering places. If you are lucky, you will hear them sing together during worship. We are so glad they both are with us.
Atrium: Catechesis of the Good Shepherd
Connie (Linnertz) Bros serves as the lead catechist of the Atrium: a place of formation for the our little ones, ages 3-6+ years. She comes to us with a degree in Elementary Education from Concordia College in Moorhead and sincere love for our children. She teaches third grade in a local public school. Her gentle kindness fits well with the Montessori-based formation program.
Connie and her husband Isaac live in Northeast Minneapolis.
We are excited to offer the Atrium as a foundational part of what Abbey Way is all about and have Connie as its teacher. The Atrium meets late September-May.
Youth and Pastoral Intern
Laura Anderson is Abbey Way’s Youth Minister and Pastoral Intern. She brings a youthful vigor and charm to her relationship with our students while growing in other aspects of pastoral ministry. Laura first came to Abbey Way in 2009 as our summer intern. She holds an undergraduate degree from Bethel University and is continuing her theological education at Bethel Seminary in the Master of Divinity program. We love our Laura.
Laura also makes her home in Nordeast.
Nursery
Our lead nursery worker is Dawn Norman. As person trained in the Cathechesis of the Good Shepherd, she brings not only a desire for the safety and protection of our littlest members and guests but also a care for their souls and formation in Christ. We are glad Dawn and joined Abbey Way’s staff in this capacity.
Dawn and her family have been with Abbey Way since its beginning in September 2006. She was a part of Abbey Way’s Advisory Team for four years. She, her husband Mike and their son and daugter are sweet spots of our life at Abbey Way.
Preaching / Teaching Team
At Abbey Way we value a multi-voiced approached to our life together. We believe that God is at work in and through all of us. We desire to make space to hear well and receive from each other in every part of our part of our experience and especially in worship.
Here the pulpit and the teaching ministry of the church is shared among a team of people who commit to meeting on a regular basis for prayer and dialogue. Together we grapple with the application of the weekly scripture text as it applies to us as today’s Christ followers. With a number of different teachers and preachers, we can listen to the truth of God’s Word through the lens of different lives and experiences.
The current members of the Preaching / Teaching Team are: Laura Anderson; Pastor Jan Bros; Douglas and Heather Dart; and Tonya Toutge. The team is co-led by Pastor Jan Bros and Laura Anderson.