Live a Life Pleasing to God
May 15, 2024
An Interview with M.Div. Student Jorja Porter ‘24
There’s a particular feeling when you talk with someone whose love for God radiates to the point where it’s infectious, even across a computer screen. As I speak with Jorja Porter, who graduates from Garrett with her M.Div. this May, passion for sharing the gospel flashes behind her eyes. “I recently pulled out my statement of purpose from my Garrett application and one of the things I wrote was that my love for God and my faith is everything. It’s everything,” she shares.
While her gratitude for God’s goodness is abundant, she also recognizes and names the obstacles and barriers many Black women encounter in the institutional church in trying to pursue ministry. “My thesis is about nurturing transformative leadership in Black clergy women,” Porter says. “I thought about some of the experiences that I’ve had receiving help and being nurtured—not just as a person but particularly as a Black woman. There is help and then there is being nurtured. Being nurtured means providing care and access to resources that can elevate me spiritually, financially, and professionally so that a path towards a transformative trajectory of success is attainable.” Too often, she says, Black women’s gifts and labor go unacknowledged. “When I think about all the conversations I’ve had about this with other Black women,” she laughs. “We can finish each other’s sentences when it comes to that.”
This chronic underappreciation has cumulative effects. “Removing self-doubt has been essential for me as a Black woman,” Porter notes. “I didn’t even realize I was feeling unvalued because I accepted the way people treated or discredited my experience in the past.” It’s an experience she knows many other Black women share. “We have so much inherited trauma that make it hard for many of us to even talk about these feelings. Because of the prejudicial treatment and emotional stress we carry, we’re still trying to mentally maintain while exerting our voices,” she names. “We’re trying to take care of our families when we are sometimes economically disadvantaged, and we’re trying to put on a great face because God has been good to us—despite the mistreatments and despite not receiving the leadership roles our counterparts are receiving.” For Porter, overcoming these pernicious forces is a deeply spiritual battle. “Our faith is what allows us to be able to accept and forgive and continue with the call God has placed on our lives,” she says.
Now, she wants to use her own experiences to bring attention to the need to nurture other Black women in ministry. Porter suggests that Black clergywomen should have the freedom to excel without judgment or roadblocks because they believe in the same God who created every human being. “Our talent, skill, and wisdom should suffice for leadership positions in the church and beyond,” she says. “We should not be disfranchised because of race or gender.” Again and again, the theme of nurturing Black clergywomen—offering individual attention to particular historic struggles—prompts the need for resources to help elevate their gifts. “Many Black clergywomen are always focused on ‘How can I help?’” Porter observes. “People often forget to ask us, ‘What do you need help with? How can we help you?’ Meanwhile, we have been leaders in our communities serving God and God’s people with faithful commitment.”
Even in that pronouncement, you hear Porter’s conviction in the future God ordains—both in her personal ministry and the Church. “One of the things I’ve loved most at Garrett is my work with Dr. Mark Teasdale, on how we actively engage people to spread the good news,” she says. “I actually ended up getting a certificate in evangelism and church planting, because I love the idea of discipleship.” Dr. Teasdale’s approach, she describes, centered on the kind of embodied faith that sustains her. “He was someone that went beyond the academic,” Porter notes with gratitude. “He encouraged our ideas and wanted to hear about our personal experiences, and he would always relate them to something from his own experience.”
Indeed, talking about her past, you powerfully hear how Porter’s experiences shape the kinds of ministry she will pursue. “When I was a kid, there was a time my father—the late Rev. Dr. John R. Kwame Porter, a Garrett alumnus—didn’t have a church, so my brothers and sisters and I would gather in my parents’ bedroom and we would have church,” she recalls. “We would sing together, have bible study, and hear a sermon.” Other treasured memories include meaningful fellowship at her current church. “We have a beloved community gathering, where twice a year we gather in each other homes after church for a meal and intentional time of positive fellowship,” she says. “It reminds me of the nontraditional and informal spiritual gatherings that I hear a lot of people are starting to do now, meeting in cafés, in the park or renting out high schools.”
Ultimately, what matters to her most isn’t the trappings of a building, but the kind of life-transforming faith that’s nurtured. “Right now, people are in need of community, they’re in need of religious comfort, and in need of God’s love,” she concludes. “I just want everyone to understand what it means to live a life pleasing to God. It doesn’t matter who you are, where you’re from, what you look like, what you’ve been through. Do you want to live a life pleasing to God?” She knows that will look different for every person, just as the ministry is its own calling—discerning where one’s unique gifts and passions meet the world’s pressing needs. But Porter feels a powerful summons to provide sustenance. “I can offer encouragement, nurturing, some care and love along the way,” she says with feeling. “Hey, I might even throw in a meal .” Wherever this potent faith takes her, one thing is clear: loving God and God’s people is her purpose and priority.