Clarkston pastor returns to spread the good word of faith

Clarkston pastor returns to spread the good word of faith

BY MATT MACKINDER
Clarkston News Editor

The Rev. Amy Mayo-Moyle has come home.
After previously serving as the associate pastor at the Clarkston United Methodist Church from 2010 to 2015, she was appointed pastor this past July and has excitedly jumped back into the local church community after being in Farmington Hills the past six years.
“Right now, we’re focusing on planning for the fall and just kind of coming back and responding to all the latest with COVID, trying to offer as much as we can to the church and community,” Mayo-Moyle said. “We’re a church that has always been very engaged in the community and we want to make sure we are providing opportunities for that.”
Mayo-Moyle added returning to a familiar area is something she was enamored with when the chance arose to be appointed at the church, which is located at 6600 Waldon Road.
“It’s hard to go anywhere in this town and not know someone, and I missed that in Farmington Hills,” Mayo-Moyle said. “The first time I went to the grocery store here, I saw someone I knew, and I have always appreciated that community aspect of knowing your neighbors and the importance of friendship and caring about your community.”
On the flip side of that equation, Mayo-Moyle noted during the pandemic and in society in general, there are challenges she realizes are out there.
“Our job is to help people find God,” she said. “And when there is a negative focus all the time, that isn’t always productive. If we want to be faithful people, believing in the good, believing in love, and believing in what’s possible, that is part of what I believe it is to follow Jesus. It doesn’t mean that you don’t respond to the negative, and certainly I have concern in general about depression and anxiety that has come about because of COVID, but we have to help people with the resources to support them.
“Our focus as a church right now is remembering who we are, coming back together, reviving ourselves, and just always being connected. That’s our mission statement – to vitally connect people to people and people to God.”
Looking back, Mayo-Moyle said she felt her call to ministry back in high school, some 30 years ago.
“The church was always important in my own life, and it was where I felt like I could use my gifts,” Mayo-Moyle said. “I always had my closest friends from church and doing mission trips as a kid and being involved was something that was really important in my life and part of who I am.
“Helping people to serve God and their community and making the world better is a passion that I have always had, and this is a church that is very much committed to making the world better.”
Mayo-Moyle noted moving forward, the plan is for the church to be fully open and operational.
“We have an excellent youth program and a music program, and we’ll have several large community activities,” said Mayo-Moyle. “We have the tradition of the trunk or treat every year that is kind of our annual event and this year, we’ll have a fall festival with that. We’re also looking forward to some fall programming and a Wednesday night altogether program from the end of September through November that will include dinner, activities and different aspects of health classes, things like that. Of course, our mission is ongoing that includes a food pantry that is widely used. We’ll be planning some youth mission trips as well.
“Everything kicks off for us on September 12 and we’re looking forward to some evenings of mission and just knowing that there is something here to do every day. We really pride ourselves on being a community church.”
On the family front, Mayo-Moyle’s husband Mike is also ordained in the United Methodist Church and works in IT for the conference.
Together, the couple has a daughter Allison, who is a freshman at Albion College, and a son Ben, who is in ninth grade at Clarkston Junior High School.

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