Life & Work with Diane Sonda of Southeast

Today we’d like to introduce you to Diane Sonda.

Hi Diane, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
We left our previous congregation because the overall leadership of the association of churches that we were a part of, wanted to fire one of our pastors, Emily Swan because she came out as gay. The founding pastor, Ken Wilson, was told that if he didn’t fire her, the parent organization would fire him. Emily was a beloved pastor who had been serving in that role for years. So about 25-30% of the church left to form our own church. The new church is Ann Arbor Blue Ocean Church. We have been in existence for 11 years now. We are a thriving, fully inclusive church. We have an online group of attenders from across the country who watch each week. We get new people every single week visiting us. They often comment of how warm and welcoming we are as a church. We have a large group of young families and children and youth – approximately 30 each week. We normally have about 120 people in attendance and another 30 or so online participating.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It has been relatively smooth. We created a new Board of Directors right away, a Children’s Ministry Director to set up Sunday School classes for kids and recruit teachers. Ken and Emily decided to be co-pastors, instead of having one lead pastor. We formed a band immediately of excellent musicians. All this from the people who left the old church with us. Ken and Emily wrote a book, Solus Jesus, that speaks to our approach and our philosophy.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I taught school for 25 years, while raising 4 children. Then I began working for our previous church as the Children’s Ministry Director..for 5 years. I left that role when Blue Ocean split off and began as the Children’s Ministry Director for Blue Ocean. For the past few years I have been doing outreach and administrative pastoral work for Blue Ocean. I’ve worked for Blue Ocean for a total of about 11 years. I am most proud of the way our church welcomes and cares for people who have had negative experiences at other churches. LGBTQ+ people, divorced people, families with neurodivergent children have all been welcomed at our church after being not welcome other places.

Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
Blue Ocean is not only very welcoming, but all of our sermons are based on the Bible. Our pastors research history , Biblical writers and new interpretations to explain Bible content. You don’t have to check your brain at the door. It’s like having a short Ted Talk each week. Also, we are not expected to all believe the same thing. Each individual is respected for their own beliefs.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://a2blue.org
• Facebook: blue ocean church ann arbor