About

Located in the heart of downtown Seattle, the congregation of Gethsemane Lutheran Church is dedicated to being a presence, “In Christ, In the City.”

Committed to…

Created from the heart of God and clothed in Christ’s compassion, we commit ourselves to forming and reforming as a community shaped by the Spirit.

  • that we worship in the land of the Duwamish; that this church was founded by immigrants; that this country is scarred by racism; that God’s love encompasses all.

  • the diversity that enriches the cosmos; the love we are privileged to share; our stories and passions and gifts; God’s generous presence with all.

  • the warnings of harm to the earth; the cries from the wounded among us; the needs of our children and elders; God’s desire for justice and peace.

  • the creative love of God; the enduring love of Christ; the surrounding love of Spirit; our resistance to forces of destruction.

Leadership


  • Since 2011, when our physical location was mostly a “big hole in the ground,” Joanne Engquist has served as Gethsemane’s lead pastor. Our early years together worked at finishing construction and major financial commitments; since 2017 the congregation has prioritized our life together in worship, study, play, and service. Service and justice emphases include immigration accompaniment (a sanctuary congregation since April 4, 2017); improving food security (with partners we’ve packaged and distributed 466,000+ shelf-stable meals; concern for the environment; and addressing housing insecurity (especially through partnerships embodied in the building being shared with the Mary's Place Day Center and an affordable housing complex, Dekko Place, that is run by Compass Housing Alliance).

    Pr Joanne loves the community we are becoming, and the commitments we have to show up for one another, both neighbors we know and ones who invite us into relationship.

    Pr Engquist previously served congregations in Maine and Massachusetts; and she taught at Harvard Divinity School. In addition to work in Seattle, Joanne serves on various boards and committees for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Outside work, she and Pr Kari Lipke share home and hearts with a fun-loving ten year old Aussie-lab mix and two wonderful cats.

  • Kari Lipke joined the Gethsemane staff in 2019 having previously served as a mission developer nurturing a ministry with and for emerging adults (20s and 30s). She loves Gethsemane’s commitments to work for justice in the world and to perform service in the community; and its openness to be transformed by people from a variety of ethnicities, sexual orientations, gender identities, family structures, incomes, ages, and more. Pr Kari also notes, “I appreciate the ways the congregation supports worship that builds on a foundation of ancient rhythms while speaking to modern life in all its complexity.”

    In 2023, Pr Kari began working weekdays as a therapist at a community mental health nonprofit that serves low-income clients. Her professional focus in that context is complex post-traumatic stress disorder. She continues to serve at Gethsemane primarily by presiding at worship, preaching every six weeks or so, and providing pastoral care on Sunday mornings.

    Kari has a life-long love of animals (though she admits to being afraid of snakes). She has studied Buddhist practice independently and at divinity school, and finds that those practices enrich her faith. She has spent many years as a student and teacher of mindfulness-based yoga; she enjoys contemporary poetry, singer-songwriters who lean into the folk genre; and Legos. Kari lives with and loves her spouse, Joanne; cats, Raja and Jyoti; and dog, Narrah.

  • Over the years, Jon has played a key role at Gethsemane Lutheran Church, creating significant media projects and managing the church's website. His approach combines innovative storytelling with community engagement, effectively extending the church's message to a wider audience. This blend of traditional and contemporary communication styles has marked Jon's contributions.

    Now stepping into the role of Media and Facility Coordinator at Gethsemane, Jon will leverage his skills to ensure that both the digital presence and physical spaces of the church accurately represent the values of the congregation.

  • John Paulson joined Gethsemane as the Cantor in Spring of 2016. Through 2019 our musical life regularly included adult choir and welcoming many congregation members to contribute in various ways: liturgical singing, instrumental accompaniment, and musical offerings to name a few. Sprinkled in each year were handbell choir, ukulele group, folk band, and special guest musicians. This changed in fundamental ways in 2020. We’ve now become familiar with remote recording and streamed services. The common thread through all of this has been the ongoing emphasis on musical variety and a fundamental belief in the importance of congregational members’ inclusion in all aspects of GLC’s musical life. John loves the continued expansion of our musical repertoire that has come with the increased cultural diversity of the GLC community.

    John’s musical life includes significant time spent composing music, mostly for choirs. He is the 2023 winner of second place in The American Prize in Composition—choral music (professional division—shorter works) for Dream Land.

    John also works as a Graduate Student Advisor in the Department of Epidemiology at the UW. His two boys, Rowan (13) and Jude (10), keep him busy outside of work through their various activities. His wife Brenna teaches music to little kids and their families and occasionally performs with vocal ensembles in various places across the US.

  • Rachelle Dolan has been accompanist at Gethsemane since the beginning of 2023. She loves the inclusiveness at GLC, the diversity of musical styles incorporated into worship, and the ‘boots on the ground’ approach to service. She notices that Gethsemane does so much good in the Seattle area and is filled with so many kind people.

    While she played piano professionally and studied music in college, Rachelle taught middle school humanities for ten years at both private and public schools before turning her attention back to music. She has accompanied several choirs in the Seattle area, and works as a music teacher and freelance musician in addition to her role at Gethsemane.

  • Rachel Segerhammar has been a part of the Gethsemane community since 2005. She initially came to Gethsemane after college looking for a community that would feel like a family. Almost twenty years later, she feels so lucky to still be a part of the community that was with her when she got married, jubilantly celebrated the arrival of her two children (and all that comes with having the youngest of people around), and has so warmly cared for her family through the smooth and rough parts of life. Rachel is so proud of the radical welcome this community makes possible and the justice they work for on behalf of those that Jesus would most want us to pay attention to and care for.

    As a church leader, Rachel tries to stay alert to how God is at work making things new at Gethsemane. She cares deeply about hearing voices that are quieter than others or that are sometimes overlooked, and hopes to nurture the community's ability to adapt and remain flexible in changing times.

    When she's not at church, she teaches music in the Renton School District, plays in the dirt, and lavishes affection on her cat and family.

  • With his wife, Ann, Andy Leal returned home to the Pacific Northwest after their lengthy sojourn in New England. Having explored the congregation online, following an initial visit in 2017 they had a sense of belonging and chose to connect with Gethsemane; they have been active members ever since.

    Andy is the congregation’s treasurer, keeping watch over how the financial resources support the mission of our church. He also serves on the board of the Hope Center, the nonsectarian nonprofit that collaborates with Gethsemane to address issues of housing and food insecurity by engaging with its downtown Seattle neighborhood to provide healthy food, informative programs, and a space for the work of Mary's Place Day Center. During GiveShareEat events, you'll see Andy doing it all—on the assembly line packing food, hauling the big bags of ingredients, vacuuming the day's many crumbs, and more.

    When he can tear himself away from their two felines, Boo Radley and Charlie Bucket, Andy enjoys cheering for the Huskies, exploring the Salish Sea by kayak, and a day on the links.

  • Alex Ruth has worked in and around Gethsemane for many years. He has been GLC’s Sexton (a fancy church word for a person who looks after a church) since 2012. His love for the people of Gethsemane is evident in the warm welcome he offers to folks arriving for service and enthusiastic support he gives to help people make helpful connections at the church and around the neighborhood. He previously worked as security for big names in the music industry. We are glad that Alex settles for the rest of us without fame—looking after not only a building, but looking after all of us as a church.

  • A member of Gethsemane since 2000, when she moved to Seattle from Phoenix, Nancy has been active on the church council and various committees, including the GROW committee, which reinvested funds from the sale of its former parking lot into sustaining Gethsemane's future as a downtown congregation, remodeling its physical property, and fueling its mission of providing a place for affordable housing and community connections. A lifelong musician, she has been an active member of the choir and other vocal and instrumental groups. She volunteers as a guitarist for worship services.

    A former high school English teacher, Nancy currently manages a dental practice. She is an avid Mariners (and Diamondbacks) and Seahawks fan, and loves to golf. She and her husband Ed have four wire fox terriers and enjoy working on remodeling projects on their mid-century modern Madison Park home.

Stories

Faith and Science

Derby Lessons for Life

Family & Forgiveness

Life in Technicolor

End of Life

Connections

Gethsemane is a Sanctuary and Reconciling in Christ (RIC) congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). This means we shape our life together emphasizing God’s love for all creation shown to us uniquely in the person of Jesus. We believe Jesus became one of us to be both with us and for us. Jesus lived and taught that nothing and no one is beyond God’s love. As the church, then, our identity is to live in ways that value each person as a beloved child of God.

With Reconciling Works, we share a vision to
• continually expand the welcome that liberates all who are forced to live in the margins 
• keep dismantling barriers and building bridges
• keep working until all of God's beloved have equity.

To do this important work, we partner with the larger church (ELCA) especially through The Northwest Washington Synod (that’s a regional expression of the ELCA based in Seattle). We also collaborate closely with these organizations: Mary’s Place, Compass Housing Alliance, Safe Route Immigration of Lutheran Community Services NW, 

The Church Council of Greater Seattle, and Faith Action Network.