In July, members and friends of the Hollister United Methodist Church (521 Monterey St., Hollister) welcomed the Rev. Martha Milk.
Milk was born in Cuba; her parents were lay Methodist missionaries who taught at an agricultural school operated by the church. As conditions in Cuba changed with the tightening of the U.S.-imposed trade embargo against the Communist nation, her family moved to Durango, Mexico, when she was 10 years old.
In her teen years, Milk left home to live with family friends in San Jose; she graduated from Campbell High School and then studied at Whittier College in Southern California, graduating with a degree in sociology.
While growing up, she accompanied the school nurse on her rounds into the Cuban countryside; in later years she saw her mother meet the needs of the poor through activities such as dispensing nutrition and family planning information.
These experiences influenced Milk, and after graduating from Whittier, she entered the University of North Carolina to major in public health. She also earned a Ph.D in adult education from the University of Minnesota.
Her public health career spanned decades, including a stint on the staff of the Peace Corps, supervising nurses and health educators in Honduras.
Milk took early retirement in 2005. Her interest in helping people and her background as a member of a missionary family directed her interest into how she could use her skills in a faith-based context. She began attending courses offered by the United Methodist Church in preparation for ministry.
Seven respected schools of theology across the United States offer a program for licensed local pastors. The course of study includes classes on campus for one month per year with extensive follow up.
Her first church experience as pastor was to briefly assist the pastor in the community of Greenville in Plumas County. This was followed by a five-year pastorate in Yerington, Nev., a town of 3,000 near Carson City.
Milk enjoyed her ministry in Yerington. There she began an innovative outreach ministry at the local Curves gym, meeting with women to discuss “Bad Girls of the Bible,” a series of books featuring stories about female biblical characters and reflections about them in contemporary situations.
In the United Methodist Church, ministers are assigned to positions by regional bishops. When the previous long-time pastor in Hollister – the Rev. Ardyss Golden – retired, the California-Nevada Conference Bishop assigned Milk to Hollister.
Milk’s business card reads, “We can bring hope to those around us, and we can work together to build a better world.” She says she has come to Hollister, “not to judge, divide or seek new members, but to share a piece of God’s Kingdom.”
She hopes to advance the sense of community between the congregation and other local residents. Congregation members and past visitors have been invited to a series of informal dinners to share opinions about making the Hollister UMC a “community welcome center.” Some ideas are already being discussed:
• Establishing some kind of “midweek gathering,” different from Sunday’s 10:30 a.m. worship service and 9 a.m. Sunday School classes
• Presenting an impromptu live Christmas pageant that wouldn’t require rehearsals
• Developing bilingual services to include the Hispanic community
• Updating the church’s website to make it more welcoming
• Expanding the successful preschool
• Welcoming more community groups to use church facilities, including the licensed kitchen.
For more information about the Hollister United Methodist Church or to reach Pastor Martha Milk, call (831) 637-4240.
