Rev. Tammie Grimm, PhD

My Christian journey began in the presence of family members and the congregation of Dunellen United Methodist Church when I was baptised as an infant. Through those persons, especially my maternal grandmother, I was raised and nurtured in the faith. Psalm 23 is foundational to my understanding of God as I have trusted God to be the caring and loyal Shepherd since childhood. The imagery of sheep safe in God’s fold has always been significant to me. With sincere deliberation as an adolescent, I confirmed the baptismal vows my family took on my behalf to be a faithful follower of Christ. As a native of New Jersey, growing up Methodist in a predominately Roman Catholic and Jewish area, I am grateful to God for the variety of ecumenical experiences I had as a child and youth, attending community wide worship services, often times with the Girl Scouts.

My relationship with Jesus Christ through the presence of the Holy Spirit is vital to my faith. In college, despite the familiarity and comfort I had with different faith traditions, I discovered how my faith journey differed from many Protestant evangelical students I met on campus and in campus ministries. For a period of time, I wrestled with my faith as new friends questioned my Christianity since I lacked the dramatic testimonies and stories of radical transformation they experienced. Eventually, I understood, just as Peter grew in faith in the presence and company of Jesus, which made his faith no less than that of Paul’s by his Damascus Road experience, my faith had been continually nurtured and supported by the loving body of Christ even when I have encountered hardship and experienced heartbreaking loss.

In college, I experienced a riveting moment in which I knew clarity about God’s purpose for my life. Though I lacked theological vocabulary at the time to articulate that God was calling me to a vocation of teaching, I still refer to that experience as my “Helen Keller Moment.” The climatic scene of The Miracle Worker best describes what occurred to me. In that scene, Helen Keller finally comprehends language and can communicate with the world around her as her tutor, Annie Sullivan, spells the word “w-a-t-e-r” while it splashes into Helen’s outstretched hand. For me, after what seemed like years of anguish over what career path was right for me, I cried aloud in prayer and suddenly was flooded by the word “teaching” that washed over me. I view teaching as my life’s calling and have never known employment to not include some aspect of it.

As a young public school teacher, the lifelong nurture of my faith prepared me to take on leadership roles within the congregation, serving on a variety of committees and helping to lead worship on a regular basis. But it was participation in a small group based on Wesley’s class and band meetings that fostered a deepening transformation in Christ and prepared me for a leap of faith I could never have predicted. At the prompting of the congregation to consider seminary and pastoral ministry, I entered into a time of discernment and eventually followed God’s leading to leave public school teaching and enter into formal theological education on a full-time basis at Asbury Theological Seminary. Often, during that time of discernment, I heard with the call of Abraham in Genesis 12:1, to leave the security of the life I knew and to venture into a new land — to the Bluegrass of Kentucky — to where God was showing me. Stepping out in faith was at once both slightly terrifying and positively exhilarating — and this Jersey Girl learned how to pump her own gasoline!

Formal theological education and my teaching background definitely prepared be to inaugurate the position of Minister of Adult Discipleship at St. James United Methodist Church in Greenville, North Carolina. I am forever grateful that God lead me there after seminary and for my time there, as it is where I pursued ordination as a deacon in The United Methodist Church. And whilst the blessings of being in parish ministry were and are wonderful, and no matter how much I adapted Wesley’s words for my own context, ‘the world is my classroom’ I truly missed the energy that comes from working with students. So, back to the classroom for me and further education! 

Earning a terminal degree was never a dream of mine and one I often wished I hadn’t been called to! However, I can say, it was an adventure because of the steadfast faithfulness of God. Through my doctoral work, I have lived in different states and attended different schools, both in the United States and in England, I got to see how expansive and diverse God’s Kingdom is, even as we are all unified in Christ. In times of real struggle and doubt, I was reminded how incredibly rich and textured my life is because I was obedient to follow God away from the security of an established career into Christian ministry — and I even learned how to drive on the left side of the road whilst in England!

Through the work of I never seriously considered returning to public education because God continually answers and responds to my prayers through the support of and confidence from family, friends and mentors, many of whom I have met along the way, and any number of other remarkable occurrences that I could never have orchestrated on my own. Indeed, my first encounter with Wesley Seminary was divinely directed as dear friends who are also colleagues came here and first put it on my radar. And though I knew it existed and was part of the broader Wesleyan and Methodist tradition AND I knew I was called to work with seminary students preparing themselves for deeper theological engagement in their ministry settings, it wasn’t for years before God provided the opportunity for me to apply and become part of the Wesley Seminary family.

It has been a joy to be here in Marion, Indiana even after this East Coast, Jersey Girl survived her first winter in the Midwest! Teaching in the area of congregational spiritual formation brings together my passions for forming people in faith, congregational ministry, and Wesleyan spirituality’s commitment to nurturing disciples in the transformative grace of God. I am beyond blessed to inherit a position that brings together so much of what has been a part of my journey. I am excited that I have been able to dream with my colleagues and help contribute to a new degree concentration in Wesleyan studies. I look forward to living into all that God has in store for me here in this gathered and dispersed community. Surely, the imagery of sheep and Psalm 23 still resonates in my heart as I affirm that the Lord is my good Shepherd and I shall not want as I travel the pastures and valleys He directs.