Pastor Emily Norris
Colorado Native, proud Midwest Transplant, turned Southern Belle by way of drinking Cheerwine and using “Y’all” in everyday conversation.
Passionate about faith, service, relationship-building, learning, and love. Thrives on kindness, travel, advocacy and justice, hard work, community organizing, creative and effective communication, organizational systems, fun stationary, and Diet Coke.
Adores her dogs and tolerates the cat. Currently balancing life as a mission developer, pastor, and full-time human. Actively trying to be her best self, all while loving her neighbor.
Emily Norris was ordained as a Pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) in May of 2020 and serves as the Lead Pastor and Developer of this new community of faith, The Dwelling.
Since 2013, Emily has worked alongside persons experiencing homelessness through the City with Dwellings Emergency Overflow Shelter at Augsburg Lutheran Church in Winston-Salem and the City with Dwellings Community First Center. She also was one of the founding board members of City with Dwellings and continues to serve as an advisor to the organization.
During the last seven years, Emily has provided pastoral care to her neighbors and has heard their requests for a deeper community of faith. So, here we are.
Contact: emily@thedwellingws.org
DEACON BROOKE De JONG
Brooke (she/they) is a proud Minnesotan who still unironically uses ufda and ope. And she is glad to be adopted by the people of North Carolina to escape the cold winters and be closer to the mountains.
Brooke is an avid hiker and backpacker and they love trying new ways to stay active. She has done everything from Mau Thai to aerial acrobatics to rugby. But for the past two years you can most often find them in the gym training for their next powerlifting meet. Brooke also loves crafts and on Sundays you might catch her working on her latest crochet project while listening to the sermon.
Brooke’s call to ministry was discovered among the trees and around campfires in South Dakota, shaped by the people and contexts she served in Chicago and informed by her work in education and public witness across the ELCA with ELCA World Hunger.
Brooke’s passion for serving alongside her neighbors experiencing homelessness comes from her time as a hospital chaplain in the southwest suburbs of Chicago and as an administrator and grant writer for HUD and Ryan White grants with Heartland Alliance Health in Chicago.
Brooke is an ordained deacon in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Brooke received their Master of Divinity from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. Brooke’s call as a deacon is to help tell our shared story in Christ and activate others to help to live out that story to create safe, sustainable, thriving, livelihoods for all. They have a passion for faith formation that is culturally sensitive, trauma informed, socially responsive and aimed at creating lifelong, engaged faith leaders.
Contact: brooke@thedwellingws.org
Vicar Brittany perry
Brittany is originally from Concord, NC but most recently has spent a few years in a castle in Iowa, where she is completing her Master of Arts in Diaconal Ministry at Wartburg Theological Seminary. She serves as the Diaconal Intern at the Dwelling and is a candidate for Word and Service Ministry in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
Brittany is passionate about hiking, social justice, Star Wars, and Cheerwine. She can often be found enjoying God’s creation while reading in her hammock, putting together puzzles, and snuggling her four-year old cat. She is always ready to go star gazing and can tell stories about the constellations and planets for hours.
Contact: brittany@thedwellingws.org
Paul anders
Paul is a midwest native that found his love of god and Mother Nature on the Christmas tree/sheep farm established by many generations before him that he grew up on. Moving to North Carolina, Paul found a deeper call to share his love of god through liberation and womanist theologies. He has made a home for himself here in North Carolina through deep community, leading a community garden, and constantly searching for liberation for himself and others with his wife and four cats.
Paul is serving with The Dwelling as the Young Adult Fellow from September 2023 -August 2024 through the ELCA Young Adult Vocational Fellowship Program. Paul is also a candidate for Word and Sacrament in the ELCA.
Contact: paul@thedwellingws.org
