Everyone’s Pastor

Few people on campus are as radiant as University Pastor Babette Chatman ’06. Her heart for the Augsburg community is revealed through her strong hugs, easy smiles, and gentle prayers. She’s a consistent presence at core campus events in her white robe or Auggie swag, eager to cheer for students at opening convocation, commencement, and every chapel service, symposium, and campus block party in between.

Pastor Babette knows the importance of showing up for students, especially since she was once an Augsburg student herself. She promised her family that she would finish her undergraduate degree when she moved from Detroit to Minneapolis in the early 2000s, and Augsburg’s former Weekend College program allowed her to take classes around her regular work schedule as an adult student. Many of her credits transferred, and a major in English literature made the most of her previous academic experience, helping set her up for what came next.

Her next steps led her to ministry and eventually back to Augsburg, thanks to some divine orchestration. Here, Pastor Babette shares what she loves most about being part of the Augsburg community and what she has learned about herself along the way.

How did you stay connected to Augsburg after graduation?

After I graduated, Campus Pastor Emeritus Dave Wold, who was the then-director of ministry, and then-Associate Pastor Sonja Hagander were having conversations about an intentional collaboration between Augsburg Campus Ministry and a north side parish. I worked at Redeemer Lutheran Church at the time, and my supervisor and brother Pastor Kelly Chatman helped me begin a collaboration with Redeemer and Augsburg Campus Ministry in 2007. There, I offered the Ministry of Presence, which is about being physically and emotionally present and relational. This collaboration really fed me. During this time, my sense of call felt concrete for both my work at Redeemer and at Augsburg.

What drew you to ministry?

Originally, being a minister was just who I was and what I did. While on professional staff at Redeemer Center for Life—Redeemer Lutheran Church’s nonprofit—I did outreach, youth development, and evangelism work within the community. I was invited to be a council member on the Minneapolis Area Synod. While on the council, I chaired a committee and joined several others in service to the Synod and community. All the things I said yes to were solidifying to me that I was actually doing ministry. After presenting to a group of college presidents, my brother told me I should go to seminary to be a pastor. I was hesitant for a long time, but then I did an accelerated path to my master’s degree, which fit my life better.

When Pastor Dave retired, I was invited to take over Doing Theology With Girlfriends, a Bible study group for students, and to just be more present. That’s when I realized that God might be up to something. In 2018, I applied for and was extended the call to be the associate pastor at Augsburg. Then, when I was onboarded, then-Pastor Justin Lind-Ayres made a decision around equity that we would no longer be identified as senior pastor and associate pastor. We would both be pastors equally.

Augsburg has a way of creating belonging. I don’t say yes to opportunities if I don’t believe I belong or can bring something to the community. I am unapologetically a Black woman, and I feel like Augsburg never once asked me to minimize myself or decrease myself to acculturate to an identity. I felt like the invitation was always to be my true, authentic self, which honors the fullness of the student body.

What have you learned about yourself through ministry?

Faith is all about relationships, and it is about spirit. In some ways, it’s a relationship of a mothering spirit. These young adults come here, and they don’t know what they don’t know, but I hope that being proximate to me could give them a sense of home.

There are two things that have always been at my core. I tend to notice the person that’s not belonging. Even as a child in school, I usually noticed the other classmate that was sitting by themselves or one that might’ve been bullied or ignored, and I made my way to them. I’ve also always been drawn to working with young people—middle schoolers, high schoolers, and young adults. With me, young people get to practice challenging adults; I have capacity for that. They challenge me as much as anybody, but in them challenging me, I don’t reject them. Instead, I wait them out, and I do the work to make them fall in love with me as I am falling in love with them.

How do you think Augsburg’s roots as a Lutheran institution inform the student experience?

I think the church is at its best when it turns towards the marginalized, not away from them. I have had my own marginalized experiences in the sanctuaries of this tradition that I belong to. Because of that, I think Augsburg is so unique in its approach to Campus Ministry. Pastor John Rohde Schwehn, my co-pastor, knows that we are university pastors to the whole of Augsburg. The believers and the nonbelievers, the atheists, the agnostic—they are all ours because we are called to pastor. We’re the ones trained to touch the suffering, and suffering comes to everybody. It’s important that everybody experiences radical love and hospitality through Campus Ministry.

Do you have any words of encouragement for the Augsburg community?

We acknowledge the suffering in our world. We don’t deny it. We acknowledge it, and sometimes we’re at a loss for words. But then we get this blessed assurance: God is with us. Come visit us in the Foss building, and we’ll remind you that God is with us. God enters our suffering with us daily. No matter what happens, we’re not alone. On Augsburg’s campus, both physical and virtual, we’re in this together.

Also, specifically for the students and their families, our work is a promise that somebody is thinking about their child. Somebody is thinking about your child and their best interests. Provost Paula O’Loughlin, President Paul Pribbenow, Dean of Students Mike Grewe, Pastor Babette, Pastor John—we’re all thinking about the students and the staff and faculty. Because no matter what, we’re together. We’re an intentional community. We are intentionally Augsburg.

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Top image: University Pastor Babette Chatman ’06 at Opening Convocation, August 2024 (Photo by Courtney Perry)