Margaret and Joel both followed God to the margins. Third in a series of stories, “Passing the Mantle,” about Michigan people called into ministry.
JOHN E. HARNISH
Michigan Conference Communications
The lives of the Rev. Joel Fitzgerald and the Rev. Dr. Margaret Martinez couldn’t be more different.
Margaret has lived her life in the inner city African American community and worked for 30 years in social work before entering the ministry as a second career. Joel grew up as a “PK”, the son of a clergy couple in West Michigan, and entered the ministry as a young adult.
Both called. But their experience of call was strikingly different as well. In 1982 Margaret was a social worker with the State of Michigan, but one day in her sewing room, she experienced a “bright white light”, a ray of sunlight shining through the window and she heard the Lord saying, “I want you to go and preach.” Her immediate response was, “You must be joking. That’s for a man, not for me!” because in the African American community preachers were predominately male. Margaret says, “For three years, I did the Jonah thing!” After three years of running, she says she, “ran up against a brick wall,” and finally said, “Yes” to the call. This spring she will retire as a Local Pastor from Resurrection United Methodist Church in Detroit.
Joel, now serving as the pastor at Sterling Heights United Methodist Church, says his calling was more “evolutionary.” Since both of his parents are pastors, he grew up in the church. In their home the language about one’s gifts, calling and vocation was familiar. Living in a parsonage family, he saw the church at its best and its worst. Two key events helped clarify his direction. After college, he spent a year in Belfast, Northern Ireland working in a church where he preached, taught Bible study and worked with the youth. Near the end of the time, he was reflecting with his mentor about his future and said, “…but I don’t think I want to be a pastor.” However, as he described what he enjoyed most, his advisor said, “You know, the things you enjoy are the things a pastor does.”
The second turning point came during his ministry placement while he was a student at Vanderbilt Divinity School. The church he worked in served the homeless and poor of Nashville. Again, the word of affirmation came from his mentor who said, “You can fulfill your calling to social justice in the place which also includes worship and community—that’s the local church.”
So, in spite of their unique backgrounds and experiences, Margaret and Joel share in common a passion for social justice and ministry to people “on the margins” of society. For Margaret that has meant appointments within the city of Detroit, and for Joel it has meant engagement at Motown Mission and Cass Community Social Services in Detroit, and Metro Ministry in Grand Rapids. When he was serving at Wyoming Park United Methodist Church in Grand Rapids, Joel had a particular ministry with youth who were adopted, dealing with mental and social issues, and struggling as teenagers, all “on the margins” in their own way. Margaret’s commitment to the inner city and her desire to touch the lives of others in that setting has enlivened her work and inspired her ministry.
Joel’s calling is closely connected to his wife’s calling, as well. The Rev. Erin Fitzgerald is Associate Pastor at St. Paul’s UMC in Rochester, MI. Joel says they live out of three covenants: their covenant with the church, their covenant with each other, and their shared covenant with their son. Observing his parents as they negotiated the life and work of a clergy couple gives him guidance as he and Erin manage theirs.
Margaret offers this word of advice to younger clergy: “Never forget your call. Never forget what God has called you to do. Always use the gifts God has blessed you with, and never let them idle or atrophy.” She says it is easy to become so mired in the minutia of ministry that you lose sight of what God called you to do at the beginning.
For both Margaret and Joel, that means ministry to the people on the margins.
~no photo of Rev. Dr. Margaret Martinez was available.
Last Updated on September 21, 2022