I am pleased to announce that the Rev. Manisha Dostert has accepted the call to join the staff of Christ Church Cranbrook as Associate Rector for Youth, Mission and Outreach. Pastor Manisha will be responsible for participating in the worship and pastoral ministries, coordinating and developing the church's mission and outreach activities as well as overseeing and assisting the ministry to children and youth.

"The Spirit is moving mightily throughout Christ Church Cranbrook.  With Father Bill's leadership and vision, you are transforming metro Detroit with the good news of Christ.  You are forming both young and mature disciples and they are fulfilling God's dream for them. Plus you are eagerly partnering with other churches to explore how you can love one another more effectively.  I want to be part of your vibrant life with God!  Bless you for welcoming me as your sister and your priest" says Pastor Manisha.

Pastor Manisha Dostert grew up as a Jain (a religion from India) and was baptized in the Lutheran Church- Missouri Synod (LCMS) at the age of twenty-six.  After working in a lab at Duke University researching the immunological characteristics of sickle cell anemia (she has a B.S. in Biology from Penn State), she received a Master of Divinity at Duke and was ordained in 2002 in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).  She has served various congregations in North Carolina and Michigan.  Most recently, she was part of Spirit of Grace Church in West Bloomfield, MI, a Lutheran-Episcopal community formed from three churches.

Pastor Manisha loves the Church.  She believes there is no better way to live than being part of a community that is diverse, universal, subversive and transcendent.  She sees it as a place where all can operate out of the joy, hope, mercy, forgiveness and love that God abundantly gives.

She is married to Troy, a history teacher at Cranbrook Schools, who has a Ph.D. in Political Philosophy from Duke and reviews free jazz in his free time.  Their son is Miles.

I am simply overjoyed to have a pastor at Christ Church Cranbrook who is so faithful, so joyful, so brilliant, so passionate, so alive. Pastor Joyce Matthews, Father Jonathan Sams and I are blessed to have Manisha on our staff, and we ask God's blessing on her ministry at CCC.

Pastor Manisha will begin her ministry here at CCC on June 15. A special Coffee Hour to welcome Pastor Manisha will be held at a later date.  

Faithfully,

The Rev. Dr. William J. Danaher, Jr.