It all started when four mainline pastors in Ramona, California, decided to meet up. Though that sounds like the setup for a classic joke, the results thus far have been anything but a punchline.
Let’s rewind the clock to about two years ago when the pastors of the Ramona-based congregations of Spirit of Joy Lutheran, Ramona United Methodist (RUMC), St. Mary’s in the Valley Episcopal, and First Congregational Church decided to form a group of mutual care and support. Included among those were Pastor Kristie Grimaud of RUMC and Pastor Larry Hand, then the interim pastor at Spirit of Joy.
“We got together monthly for lunch and formed a good relationship and partnership to care for one another,” said Grimaud, “and that started a conversation about how our four churches could partner in ministry.” That kicked off the idea of the Ramona Youth Collaborative, where all four churches combined their resources to share youth ministry together. It was a hit. “When I saw how great that could be,” said Grimaud, “I saw the Spirit’s movement and was inspired to say, ‘There’s a lot of potential here if we continue to form partnerships.’” A few months later, that spirit of partnership would get much more involved.
“Spirit of Joy found themselves in a place where they were looking for a new building for the church,” said Grimaud. “They approached RUMC and asked if we were open to giving them space to rent, our sanctuary for them to hold a worship service. We were very open to that.”
And so, last summer, Spirit of Joy began holding separate worship services at the RUMC building.
“Pastor Larry and I continued in conversation and building our relationship—we’d even sub for each other—so through that partnership, we kept exploring other ways we could work together.”
The two congregations began experimenting with a shared worship service once a month. Something clicked.
“The energy changed,” said Grimaud, “because we were combining our music folks and our tech folks, and our entire volunteer pool. It reenergized us. It fed a renewed energy in worship.”
Feeling that energy and wanting to feed it, the two congregations of Spirit of Joy and RUMC decided that meeting monthly wasn’t enough. With summer of 2025 approaching, they made a plan to spend those three months meeting as one, with the intent of going back to separate services after Labor Day.
They’re still meeting together.
Around this same time, Hand’s interim contract was up, leaving Spirit of Joy in need of a pastor. And since the congregation was already knee-deep in this collaborative style of worship, they decided they might as well get fully submerged: they asked Grimaud if she would be interested in taking over the role, pastoring both congregations.
“I prayed on it and, seeing the Spirit bring us together all year, I felt it was the right thing to do,” said Grimaud.
But why stop there? Grimaud and the two congregations feel like there might be even more in store.
“We’re now in a visioning process to see if we’re called to have a shared vision for ministry, not just sharing people, pastor, and staff,” said Grimaud. “So we’re fellowshipping on Wednesday nights and having really good conversations about where we think God is leading us in a shared mission.
“We went from sharing space to sharing worship to sharing spiritual leadership to a place where now we feel like we’re being led to have a shared vision.”
Where might that lead? No one at either congregation knows, but they’re excited to find out.
“We see hope and possibilities when we look to the future,” said Grimaud. “We see potential. Before, both of our churches were stuck in not seeing a fruitful future or a hopeful path forward, but now that we’re working together, we may not know what the end result is going to be right now, but there’s hope and there’s excitement. “Just walking in the door and feeling that difference in energy, that is inspiring and contagious. That’s what the people want more of. I believe that’s the Spirit’s presence, and whatever is happening there we may not know, but we know the Spirit is here.”
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