The Rev. Bich Thy “Betty” Nguyen
COURTESY PHOTO
One of the greatest challenges United Methodists face, says the Rev. Bich Thy “Betty” Nguyen, is “how to articulate and live out our callings in a way that edifies one another.”
“We can coexist in our differences,” she asserts.
Nguyen grew up in The United Methodist Church after her parents, who emigrated from Vietnam to the United States, became pastors in Grand Rapids, Mich. Nguyen’s father was ordained in the early 1990s after serving a group of Vietnamese Christians through The United Methodist Church. Her mother was licensed as a local pastor in the early 2000s.
Nguyen, an elder, graduated from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in 2007. Her journey to ordination evolved as she witnessed United Methodism empowering women for ministry.
She continues this empowerment as pastor to 60-member Bethany United Methodist Church in southwest Denver. Nguyen describes her parishioners as “fearless in their ability to discover and rediscover their faith.” Their common goal is to “hope to be a good neighbor,” which accurately reflects Nguyen’s own deep-seated willingness to learn. The congregation lives out its neighborliness through partnerships with community ministries, including Extreme Community Makeover and One Book 4 Colorado and a monthly distribution of lunches in the neighborhood. Bethany opens its building for community meetings and regularly facilitates conversations with local organizations and leaders to strengthen the neighborhood.
Nguyen appreciates what she sees as unique to United Methodism: trying hard to be faithful and inspired, accepting that it does not know everything and being willing to ask hard questions and work through them together. She uses this same outlook to approach the future of her diverse congregation.
At 32, Nguyen sees hope in the differences among United Methodists and is inspired by new ministries that welcome people who have been rejected by the church and meet people wherever they are. She appreciates “the new energy and hope brought to and planted in places that have experienced much hurt and pain.”
While she calls the decline in church membership in the United States “heartbreaking,” she says, “My hope for the future is that despite the statistics, we will still discern what it means to be United Methodist and pursue our calling.”
Lydia Johnson, a former intern with United Methodist Communications, works at The Women’s Foundation of Colorado.