by Gail Beran Neils

This year marks Dianne’s 30th year of ministry to young people and families in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Though one would wonder if she might be tired of the position, that is definitely not the case. Dianne loves her work at Bethany and sees her calling to Christian ministry as exactly that—a lifetime calling.

Dianne is passionate about her work; particularly where it relates to integrating the whole body of Christ in fulfilling their baptismal vowsShe seeks to weave children’s faith experiences into every aspect of church life—whether in worship, service or mission. This is most evident during VBS, when people from all ages at Bethany are encouraged to share their faith with, and gain insights from, the children. It is moments like these which blend Dianne’s passion for kids to come to Christ and grow in faith with her love for encouraging youth and adults to discover and use their gifts for the kingdom of God.

Such integration doesn’t happen automatically. Dianne spends a lot of her week behind-the-scenes coordinating schedules, training and recruiting teachers, and meeting with Children’s Ministries teams and interns to facilitate the ministry. She also meets frequently with Bethany members one-on-one to plan, converse and pray, and responds to inquiries which come to her from people of other churches who read about Bethany’s Children’s Ministry programs via the website.

Thankfully, Dianne thrives on this, and many of her dreams for the future are related to her work with Children’s Ministries. She would love to teach and equip more gifted leaders to become biblically trained Children/Family Directors and pastors. She dreams of finding ways for entire families to participate in mission trips together. She wants to see more families making choices to raise their children in radical Christian living that gives alternative options to America’s materialism. Even more, she would like to see justice and peace in the West Bank, where her sponsored child resides.

Someday, Dianne hopes to fulfill her own dream to visit New Zealand. In the meantime, she is happy simply living in the Pacific Northwest where, with her husband Chris, she can enjoy the outdoors and spend summers watching the sunset over the Olympic Mountains from the deck of their apartment.