In this episode Luke sits down with Ulrica Stenstrand, pastor at Lifecenter Church in Sweden. Ulrica is also Luke’s mother-in-law, which makes for a fun dynamic in this conversation.
This discussion kicks off with an overview of Ulrica’s background, starting from when she was a child growing up in a family that were committed volunteers and leaders in their local church in the south of Sweden. Ulrica then shares a story of how a new family moved into town - the father being one of the new ministers, and the oldest son, Per-Johan (PJ), a new classmate who happened to have almost the same birthday. Ulrica shares that her and PJ celebrated their fifteenth birthday together, and eventually started dating.
Sidenote: PJ, if you recall, was the first guest on On Point. If you haven’t listened to that episode yet we recommend you do. Hearing the story of Ulrica and PJ’s ministry journey from both perspectives further illuminates the power of God’s pull in people’s lives and how he can shape the direction to make an impact.
Ulrica talks about how God had a calling on PJ’s life for ministry, and at the time, Ulrica was not thinking about ministry for herself, but that as this path became more clear for PJ, and their life together became more clear, that became a direction that Ulrica started to lean into more.
Luke and Ulrica then go on to talk about Ulrica’s journey contributing full time to ministry while also balancing motherhood and a full time job in media. Ulrica went on to work in media for 25 years while raising two kids. Ulrica talks about how she was able to perform in these three areas and how God provided both opportunity and energy. There is a lot of good wisdom in this conversation with practical tools and a lot of encouragement to anyone out there balancing work, family, and church.
Ulrica and Luke then unpack the ways in which people can contribute to the church and how many people begin, and sometimes stay, in a position where church is not a full time vocation. This is a good reminder that the church was built on people who had full time professions and balanced family commitments as well.
Ulrica does a great job sharing wisdom on how listening to God’s calling and pursuing excellence in all areas of life have led to a lasting impact. There will be pulls on priorities at times but there is a way to make it all work.
This conversation is full of practical lessons and encouragement for people contributing in all ways to the church, and for those who are building a family.
No matter what stage of life you are in or to what degree you are involved in leadership inside or outside of church, there is strong wisdom in this discussion and we are sure you will get a lot out of this.
