In 1986, when Pastor Bruce Osterhout accepted his first call as a youth minister at Christ Lutheran Church in Roanoke, Virginia, he brought with him all of his experiences growing up in Southern California that inspired him to choose a career in ministry.
“I was active in the church my entire life, as were my parents and siblings. My experiences at summer camp during my middle school and high school years were very formative. While working on the staff, teaching and taking care of kids, I realized my passion for this type of ministry.”
One summer at camp working as a lodge keeper, responsible for 21 meals per week, washing dishes, and keeping the kitchen stocked, Pastor Bruce, as he is well known, discovered his true calling. “The camp director, Pastor Henry McKay, showed me what a pastor could do in an outdoor ministry. I was around college students then, and thinking about seminary. Around this time we moved to Thousand Oaks, California where I attended high school. I visited UCLA with the intention of studying political science, but I questioned whether I wanted to go to this big school. My Pastor, Roger Anderson advised me to consider California Lutheran University if I was inclined toward ministry. When my family moved to New Jersey, I stayed in California. In Thousand Oaks my part time job during college was co-youth director at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church. Our youth program was very active, and we raised money for good causes around the world and had a lot of fun doing it. I declared a major in Religion and got to hang out with students from seminary. After two years I was part of the Youth Staffer program for the Lutheran Church of America. I was interviewed and was placed to do youth ministry in Roanoke, Virginia by my supervisor Pastor Dwayne Westerman. By the following summer he had me leading worship at three-point parishes in the Shenandoah Valley. I was twenty and I considered that my first internship. As a youth staffer we received training at Elizabethtown College, and I was part of the first National Youth Gathering at Purdue University in 1981 which hosted 6,000 students. I made the choice to join my family in New Jersey and ended up finishing my degree at Upsala College in East Orange, NJ, the most diverse Lutheran College in a very urban setting. When I graduated from Upsala, my professor/advisor was chair of the examining committee as I was completing the process to enter into seminary.”
Ministry in Reading begins
Pastor Bruce Osterhout received his first official call to ministry in 1986 as an associate pastor at Christ Lutheran Church in Roanoke. After a few years he had the desire to move his young family closer to extended family. “In 1989 I started looking for a church up here, and Bishop Harold Weiss directed me to a church in the Glenside neighborhood of Reading with sixty people in worship and four kids. People told me I’d have to be crazy to go to a housing project neighborhood, but we sold our house in Virginia and moved here.”
The congregation at Christ Lutheran Church gave him his assignment: go and get kids. The church which once thrived, with families living within walking distance, began to change as the demographics of the neighborhood became more diverse. “When I see kids, I see kids; not Black, White, Hispanic. Soon I started an afterschool program at the church. I would walk the kids down from the Glenside school to receive tutoring after school and a snack.”
A growing neighborhood presence
The program was a success, and the children easily related to Pastor Bruce’s bubbly and funny personality. He had a way of turning anything mundane into something fun. Homework, reading, and learning became something to look forward to after a long day at school. He was a very visible presence in the community, leading the kids down to the church after school, visiting families in the neighborhood, always on foot. He was soon known by everyone in the community.
“The congregation became engaged with the Glenside school through our tutoring program, and we established a good relationship with them. RACC was looking for opportunities to do programming in the Glenside neighborhood, so an Evenstart Family Literacy program was initiated at the church to support 10-12 women with ESL while providing childcare. I applied for grants to support a Women’s Center where women from the community gathered to set goals for themselves and received the support and encouragement to achieve them. We partnered with the Greater Berks Food Bank to set up a neighborhood food pantry, and we actively became involved with Habitat for Humanity.”
The church becomes a hub
The church became a community hub and a welcoming place for all. On certain days it seemed to be the place to be, with children busy with tutoring and activities, mothers working on their personal goals in another area, which eventually morphed into a full evening of mothers making dinner and children helping to serve it, often hosting up to 100 people. With the public housing project located directly across the street, the church was never at a loss for kids who could often be found hanging out in the church yard just to be there.
It was at this point that Pastor Bruce partnered with the YMCA to host a seven-week summer camp which flowed for 20 years. The church became a second home to so many children and youth during that time period and produced leaders both in the church and in the community at large. Pastor Bruce Osterhout is known for his strong focus on youth ministry here in Reading with a unique ability to create opportunities and engage youth and families, particularly in the Glenside neighborhood. He is presently working with the third generation of some families.
A long-lasting connection
How were you able to established such a strong connection to the people of Glenside? “I would say the longevity of my ministry in this place, which spans 35 years, working with families, and their children for generations.”
Serving a changing community
How can churches best serve the communities where they are located? “Know your community, know your neighborhood. Pay attention to the neighbors; the congregational membership has to reflect the community. Glenside became diverse, and it is a diverse crowd, very multicultural every Sunday in worship.”
Pastor Bruce is also involved with the other Lutheran churches in Reading through the Pretzel City Parish, working collectively for the betterment of the city. “Diversity is a blessing in every way ,and we need to lift that up. I think Reading is the real America, and appreciating that is celebrating that. We have got a ways to go.”
