FindingMINISTRY a path to

PAT BARTLEY FELT A CALLING TO SERVE GOD LONG BEFORE SHE ARRIVED AT THE LUTHERAN SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY AT CHICAGO. It wasn’t the sort of calling that would lead her to the pulpit to become a pastor, or the field to work as a missionary. Yes, she would know many people in her life who would go on to take such routes, serving in global ministries, leading congregations, ministering to the sick, and feeding the hungry.

Even as a child, Bartley knew a traditional path in ministry was not what God had in store for her. Still, she also knew God was calling her to do something more. She had always felt grounded with a sense of destiny that one day her life would ignite change for many people on God’s great earth.

That inciting moment came for her one day in 1985 when she saw an ad in the Chicago Sun-Times for

By Keisha T. Dyson

a position at LSTC. For more than a year, Bartley worked as assistant registrar at the Keller Graduate School of Management, but felt her skills were being undervalued. She needed to move on.

The ad described a position at LSTC as secretary to the dean. When she interviewed and was offered the position, it was proposed that she work as secretary to the dean and assistant registrar.

Bartley wanted the position, but her history with the Lutheran church was tainted by a bad experience in her youth.

“My family was the first Black family to move into Englewood in 1959,” she said. “The night before moving into our home, the pastor of the Lutheran church that was five houses down from our home was with those who set our house on fire.”

Before accepting the position, Bartley said she had a long talk with God, and then she said, “Yes.”

Studies Office, had an idea. What if they created a special program to celebrate Martin Luther King Day during chapel? How would this service be received in what was then a predominantly white community?

They invited two choirs from two black churches in the area to come and sing for the MLK service, but at the last minute, they both cancelled.

“It’s not a King celebration if there’s no gospel choir,” Bartley said. “So, we typed up a memo and put it in all the mailboxes of faculty, staff, and students asking if anyone else was interested in forming a choir for the MLK service. More than 50 people showed up, and it was a wonderful multicultural, multiethnic group of singers. That’s how the gospel choir began at LSTC.”

More than three decades later, the LSTC gospel choir continues with an alumni base of more than 300 members. The gospel choir has toured in Tanzania and South Africa. Two student scholarships—

Pat Bartley, retired in 2020 after 35 years of service

HOW LSTC’S GOSPEL CHOIR BEGAN

Bartley loved the combination of working in academia and being able to go to a chapel service daily. Still, she felt something was missing during the service.

“I’m a Christian. I’m a church person,” she said. “However, I would go to chapel, and as an African American I just didn’t relate.”

Bartley and a colleague, Irene Connor, secretary for the Graduate the Grover Wright Scholarship and The Rev. Carole A. Burns Memorial Scholarship—have supported the education of more than 45 students. Bartley retired in 2020, but remains connected to LSTC through the gospel choir and special programs.

“It was a distinct honor and joy to work for this institution for 35 years,” she said. “It meant everything to me. Moving forward, I pray that LSTC continues doing the great work it started.”