The Rev. Laura Aase Called to Gustavus Adolphus College

June 1, 2019 by Grady St. Dennis

The Rev. Laura Aase has accepted the call to the Gustavus Office of Church Relations to serve as the Program Coordinator of the Gustavus Continuous Growth Pathway. Aase will join Rev. Grady St. Dennis who serves as Chaplain and Director of Church Relations at Gustavus and the Director of the Gustavus Continuous Growth Pathway. “We are very fortunate to have a leader like Pastor Aase join our team as we move into the next phase of developing the Continuous Growth Pathway. Her creativity, leadership skills, and wide network of colleague relations will bring an immediate level of excellence to our work.” said St. Dennis. 

Aase comes to Gustavus from River of Hope Lutheran Church in Hutchinson where she served since 2011 as the Mission Developer Pastor. Prior to her call at River of Hope she served for 10 years in outdoor ministry. Her education background includes a B.A. from Concordia College and Master of Divinity from Luther Seminary. 

She will manage the recruitment and oversight of the roughly 30 rostered leaders who will serve as the core leadership team of the Gustavus Continuous Growth Pathway. Together with this team of leaders she will lead the efforts to plan and implement a wide menu of personal and professional development resources designed especially for the ELCA rostered leaders in Southern Minnesota.

“I am excited to help lift up existing resources and to bring in additional resources to leaders in Southern Minnesota.” said Aase,  “Ministry is rewarding and frustrating work, so to support these leaders is an incredible opportunity.”

Continuous Growth Pathway is a comprehensive leadership development and ministry support outreach of Gustavus Adolphus College in partnership with the Southeastern and Southwestern Minnesota Synods of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America for the rostered leaders of the synods and made possible by a generous grant from the Thriving in Ministry Initiative of the Lilly Endowment, Inc. Created in 2019, the Continuous Growth Pathway is an expansion of the Pastor-to-Pastor Program which Gustavus Adolphus College established in 2004 in partnership with the Southern Minnesota synods as a part of the Office of Church Relations outreach ministry of the college.