One of Lexington’s oldest churches chooses first woman pastor | Opinion

The Rev. Dikiea J. Elery’s formal installation on Sunday as pastor of Lexington’s East Second Street Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) will be a milestone both for her and the 172-year-old congregation.

It will mark Elery’s first time as a senior pastor, and she will be the first woman to fill the church’s pulpit as a permanent, official leader.

However, this groundbreaking job doesn’t mark a new locale for Elery, 45. She grew up at East Second Street, was mentored there, and previously served in various positions.

East Second Street is the only predominately African-American Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) congregation in Lexington.

“This is my home church that I have come back to, so it’s pretty rewarding,” Elery said. “My family is here. My husband, my children, my mother, my siblings. They’re all here.”

Elery had last served East Second Street in downtown Lexington as associate pastor under the Rev. Donald K. Gillett II, then the senior pastor. He left in 2021 to become regional minister for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) denomination in Kentucky.

After Gillett left, Elery departed also. She’d felt a call to become a lead pastor, but hesitated to apply for the open job at East Second Street.

She didn’t think the congregation looked to her as Gillett’s replacement. Since its 1851 founding, the church had never had a woman in that post.

Also, she’d grown up in that church, and thought it might be hard for some to envision the kid they’d once known as their spiritual leader.

She couldn’t face the idea of applying for the position only to be rejected.

“Part of my leaving was a sort of running,” Elery said.

She became assistant director of religious and spiritual life at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio. She stayed there about a year-and-a-half.

Meanwhile, East Second Street temporarily filled Gillett’s position with a woman as interim pastor, the Rev. Toni R. Colbert.

“I think that kind of helped to break the ground” for a woman as permanent pastor, Elery said.

She liked Capital University, but “I just kept feeling a tug” toward East Second Street that wouldn’t go away.

“I put my hat in the ring,” she said. “I held my breath the whole way.”

The chair of the pastoral search committee, Juanita A. Greene, is a long-time member who’s known Elery from her childhood.

“She has always more or less been a leader,” Greene said.

When Elery applied to become senior pastor, she stood out from the other candidates.

While others touted their educational qualifications or their successful programs, Greene said, “it was different with her. She’s just very big on prayer and on seeking God’s guidance for everything she does.”

Greene said she’d never anticipated during Elery’s younger years that she’d one day become the pastor.

“It really is amazing to see how God works things,” Greene said.

Gillett, the former lead pastor, spent 22 years at East Second Street and along with his wife – Charisse L. Gillett, president of the Lexington Theological Seminary – encouraged Elery and several other women to pursue religious education and avenues of ministry.

The church made the right choice in calling her, Gillett said: “She’s passionate about ministry, passionate about God’s people and she’s passionate about God.”

Elery holds a master of divinity degree and a bachelor’s in social work. She’s currently working on a doctor of ministry degree at Lexington Theological Seminary.

She came on board at East Second Street in June, even though Sunday is her official installment. She’s had a couple of months to get a feel for what lies ahead.

She said being a woman perhaps will give her ministry a different tenor from that of a traditional male minister. For one thing, she allows people permission to be honest with their emotions.

“I’m willing to shed a tear if a tear comes to my spirit,” she said. “I’m going to live and stand before you real.”

Also, she and her husband, Douglas Elery Sr., have two sons: Douglas Jr., who is 22 and a student at Eastern Kentucky University, and DeVaughn, 15, a 10th grader at Carter G. Woodson Academy.

“That, too, is a blessing, because I preach about my kids.”

She’s been buoyed by the respect and support she’s received since she arrived – or re-arrived: “It firms up my confidence to be able to do the work.”

But the congregation faces challenges, as do many urban churches (and churches generally).

Attendance has waned over the decades. It’s down from the 100 to 125 who used to come on Sundays in the 1980s. Members have moved away from the neighborhood. Greene, the historian, said no one who attends now lives within walking distance.

Shutdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic certainly didn’t help. When the church returned to on-site worship, attendance had dwindled to as few as 10 people. It has since rebounded to 30 or 35.

There are serious problems with the aged building.

Then there’s the issue of trying to convince seasoned members of an historic church to adapt to a new administration with a fresh approach.

“That history is a blessing and it’s a challenge in a way,” Elery said. “People don’t want to change.”

Nonetheless, for Elery the possibilities outweigh the problems.

She wants East Second Street to connect with other downtown churches and reconnect with its surrounding community, where a lot of hurting people live.

But to help others heal, she said, you first have to be healthy inside the church’s walls. That means refocusing on the basics of Bible study, prayer and acting like Christians.

“This is where I learned about God. This is where I learned about loving my neighbor as myself,” she said. “It’s invaluable to me.”

Paul Prather is pastor of Bethesda Church near Mount Sterling. You can email him at pratpd@yahoo.com.