MacLaurin Staff

Sara Joy Proppe, Program Coordinator email

Educational Background:

• B.A. English Literature, Texas A&M

Growing up in South Texas, for as long as I can remember, my Sunday routine included going to church with my family. Being raised in a covenant family was and continues to be a blessing. That being said, my story lacks a pivotal conversion moment; rather, it has been a journey of questions and answers.

The question of the relevance of theology to my worldview really began to germinate during my senior year of high school. Attending a private Christian school, I found myself asking harder questions of how my life and my world fit into the larger picture of Jesus. While I was well-versed in basic Bible facts, the integration of faith into my everyday life and the world around me was lacking. Sadly, I can’t say I found many answers in my small Christian school. Wanting to expand my horizons, I chose to attend Texas A&M University. Almost immediately, I became involved with an on-campus ministry, Reformed University Fellowship. Being more of a meat and potatoes campus ministry, I was encouraged to start reading more theology and philosophy which, in turn, provided me with a clearer picture of my calling as a Christian to be active in the public sphere. Seeking out professors in my field of study, English literature, I began engaging the world around me. Being openly a Christian with them, yet listening to their perspectives was incredibly refreshing. My thinking was stretched and I gained the respect of my professors despite my conservatism.

By the end of my college career my ideas of Christianity’s relationship to culture had begun taking root; however, I still had questions about my role in politics and the plural social order. It seemed that no one questioned things like I did--until I discovered the Witherspoon Fellowship. As a semester-long academic program in Washington DC, this fellowship provided rich, deep soil for me into which I could sink my roots. Studying topics from natural law to the state, family, and plural social order, I was introduced to countless Christian scholars whose works provided deeper answers and deeper callings to engage in the public sphere. It was at this time that I encountered the Christian study center concept, and my desire to be a part of something along those lines really sprouted.

Following my time in Washington DC, my life has taken many different side trails, bringing me to minister to college girls on the University of Florida campus, and then to Peru to teach ESL for a year. Through these experiences that included much poverty and brokenness, my vision of the gospel and its power to redeem community and offer hope has continuously grown and I feel even more called to integrate my faith with the culture around me. Being that I love academics, the university setting is where my heart is most happy. I’m thoroughly excited to be working with the MacLaurin Institute as we seek to reveal the glory of God on the University of Minnesota campus.

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