PERRYSBURG — When Grace Warren was serving as a secretary at Falconer United Methodist Church, she was able to work with the church’s pastor and get a unique perspective concerning the ins-and-outs of leading a congregation.

She had possessed an interest in God growing up, but it wasn’t until just a handful of years ago that she realized she wanted to become a pastor. Now, she’s leading two United Methodist Church congregations — one in Forestville and one in Perrysburg.

“I was 40 before it was clear to me that I was going to be a pastor,” she said. “I think I have the advantage because I was a church secretary for four years and I really saw ‘behind the scenes’ the weekly life of the church and realized there was more to do than just leading worship on Sunday morning.”

Although Warren became a church secretary in 2005, it was years before that — growing up and being active in her own church’s youth group — that she really developed an interest and relationship with God, she said.

“I probably drove my youth group crazy because … they wanted to do events like go bowling or whatever and I wanted to have discussions about ‘what does it mean to follow God’ and ‘what does it mean to be a church member,’” she said.

Once she heard God’s calling to become a pastor after serving as a church secretary, Warren took a class to become a certified lay minister in the United Methodist Church, which allowed her to preach and lead worship in the church.

Now, she’s on her track toward ordination – a multi-year process — and graduated in August 2016 from Asbury Theology Seminary near Lexington, Ky.

Warren started working for the Forestville and Perrysburg United Methodist Churches on Nov. 7 and led worship for the first time on Nov. 13.

As a pastor of two different churches — and living on the other side of Chautauqua County in Jamestown — Warren said she has been working to make sure she provides sufficient time to meet and get to know both her congregations.

The double-duty, in a sense, begins on Sunday mornings. The church service in Perrysburg is at 9:30 a.m., followed by having to lead worship in Forestville beginning at 11 a.m.

“I’d rather have time to talk to the people and get to know them and be able to be the pastor they deserve,” she admitted. However, she’s working with the time constraints she is given. “My husband and I are getting to Perrysburg a half hour before service starts to be available to the people. They also have my cell phone number and I am encouraging them to call me if they need me.”

At roughly two dozen people each, both congregations are relatively small in comparison to many United Methodist Churches. And while those numbers won’t necessarily fill a lot of church committees or provide large community outreach like other churches can, it has plenty of advantages, Warren said.

“You really get to know the people and the people know each other,” she said. “It’s kind of like a big family you go into. We can encourage and support each other and get to know each other as individuals.”

Warren spends the majority of her time during the week in Jamestown, but also visits the Forestville church office once a week. While away from the church, she spends time working on her sermon so when she is at the office she can focus on calling people or doing visitation if necessary.

Right now, Warren admitted she is still in the transitional stage and hasn’t set any specific long-term goals. Her overall vision, she said, is obviously to help the congregations grow in their Christian faith.

And that sole purpose is her favorite part of the job.

“(My favorite part is) being able to journey with other people to show Jesus’ love to the world,” said Warren. “God can transform people’s lives in amazing ways, and when you are a pastor you get to be a part of that.

“You can see where they are growing spiritually, you can see where they are overcoming the dark parts of their life — either their past or poor decision – and how they are becoming more Christlike,” she continued. “It’s such a privilege and such an honor to be part of that.”

The Perrysburg United Methodist Church is located on Main Street near Peck Hill Road.