NUrturing Faith

Sharing Stories from LCMNU

January 2025

Faith Transformed: Carolyn and Dave Utech

When Carolyn and Dave Utech arrived at Northwestern, they each carried their own set of hopes and fears. Carolyn (’65), the first in her family to graduate high school, faced the unknown of college with anxiety and a tight budget. Dave (’65), already rooted in a college-educated family, felt the weight of expectations as he embarked on his pre-med journey. But one thing they shared was their commitment to their faith. Both of them knew they would find a Missouri Synod Lutheran church to attend on Sunday mornings. “I was a good church girl,” Carolyn said, laughing at the memory, while Dave added, “I was a church-going person from way back, and my father worked for the church as a teacher, and the assumption was that I would go to whatever campus ministry there was.”

Both of them attended the Missouri Synod campus ministry for a few weeks, but both determined this ministry was a “dud,” according to Dave. Carolyn gave up and started attending a local Evanston church, but Dave stuck with the campus ministry because he was involved in their music program. They remained friends and participated in some campus ministry events together but went their separate ways on Sunday morning. While so much of college was new, Sunday morning services were comforting and familiar.

In their senior year, the Missouri Synod ministry (under the leadership of a new minister) accepted an invitation by the LCA campus ministry to share the center at 2204 Orrington Ave. Both were mission congregations supported by their parent church bodies. As the two ministries began sharing the space, something unexpected happened. While they still worshipped separately on Sunday mornings, they enjoyed social and educational programs together. Dave said, “That’s when campus ministry became exciting.” Just as the LCA ministry had already become University Lutheran Church, the Missouri Synod ministry decided to become a regular congregation called Gloria Christi. Carolyn was elected president of the new council, a feat for a woman almost unheard of in the Missouri Synod and uncommon in other church bodies. Carolyn said, “I learned at the ripe old age of 21 that I could become a leader in my church.” Dave began his lifelong interest in church constitution and by-laws through this emerging congregation. Carolyn said, “We learned that we could be the church at our age… and that was the transformation I saw.”

However, the real gift of this relationship between the two campus ministries for Carolyn and Dave was for them to be open to other Lutheran bodies, Christian denominations, and other faiths worldwide. Dave spoke of carrying the leadership he learned into a subsequent congregation where he introduced a by-law to permit women to vote. Carolyn and Dave’s relationship grew in this new environment, too, and they married.

After leaving Northwestern, Carolyn and Dave’s commitment to faith and leadership only deepened. As they raised their own family and became active leaders in their local church, they often looked back at their time at LCMNU as the foundation of their lifelong journey – a journey that taught them to embrace change, lead with conviction, and remain open to the evolving expressions of faith.