Welcome to the team, Christina!
We are excited to introduce Christina Ekholm as our Program and Outreach Coordinator serving our neighbors in Portland!
Christina has a background as a local church ministry leader and urban community work in Hartford, Connecticut where she also graduated from University of Connecticut.
She sees several ways the God has “refined” and prepared her for ministry at The Root Cellar. “Every day that I'm here I notice something new that He has been growing in me. Even just working with teen mentors for our summer program, I have noticed how I relate to them when I was that age, but also how different I am from my younger self.”
After being on the job for a few weeks, it’s clear that Christina is excited about this opportunity. “I love that my job includes having relationships with everyone in our greater community -- local churches, neighbors, non-profits, new Mainers, area motel staff, chefs, volunteers, and children.”
For Christina, serving within such a diverse community in so many unique way has a direct connection to the way of Jesus. “I feel like I get to experience a very holistic, tangible model of the kingdom on a day to day basis and I find that I understand a little bit more of what heaven on earth looks like.”
“I want to see churches crossing existing divides and be the Church in really tangible ways.”
A native of South Portland, Christina’s hope for the city and the surrounding areas echo so much of our prayers for this community, especially over the last few years. “My heart continues to beat for unity. I continue to pray and believe for greater unity and community for greater Portland. I want our definition of neighbor and community to expand to include so many more people. I want to see churches crossing existing divides and be the Church in really tangible ways.”
Long-time staff and volunteers of The Root Cellar tend to describe the ministry in a similar way: “We are focused on the people,” many say. Or sometimes a simple, “It’s about the relationships.” Christina’s hopes for our community fit right in line with these statements, expressing that she wants, “people to come together and get close to one another for the sake of love, empathy, and understanding.“
Please join me in welcoming Christina to The Root Cellar Family. Please pray for her as she starts this journey, taking a step of faith into a new ministry at a critical time. She asks that we would pray for God to sustain her as she seeks to love her new neighbors in the way that God does - “without exception or presupposition” and that she would seek His will and not hold on tightly to her own.
Welcome to the team, Christina! We are so glad you are here!
