Spacemaker
Storyteller
Storycatcher
Tend-er
Authorpreneuer
The Rev. Melissa Guthrie is a queer Christian minister ordained by the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) with Lutheran heritage and a commitment to ecumenism. She has certification in faith-based nonprofit management from Wake Forest University Schools of Divinity and Law, and completed an Embodied Social Justice Certification with Transformative Programs.
Currently the Founding Director and Pastor with Salvage Garden and formerly the Executive Director + Minister with AllianceQ – the Disciples LGBTQ+ Alliance, Melissa is continually engaged with health and social service organizations who, like her, want to celebrate the inherent worth of every body and paint the world with more beauty and love. (Melissa can’t really paint. Ask her friends who couldn’t interpret her artwork at a painting party. “It’s whatever you want it to be,” Melissa offered.)
Among her many identities, Melissa loves her role as a mom. Melissa’s three-year old is in a tattered Elsa dress — the child has multiple other ones without tears and stains but this one is the favorite — and the child calls out to Melissa, “Mama Queen!” Melissa knows the admirable label won’t last and this season’s opportunities to play won’t always be the case (she has two adult children), so she spends a lot of time playing with her littles (also chasing, cleaning up and sometimes cursing!).
From home, work, and the world (!), Melissa has plenty of stories. In 2024, she was selected for Tehom Center’s Ministry from the Margins Book Program and signed a book contract with Tehom Center Publishing. Beyond Hope is a must-read book about the life-giving experience of giving up hope. Are you curious? Are you concerned? Uncomfortable? Melissa hopes so! Well, Melissa invites you to imagine moving Beyond Hope.
