What I don’t know about life in Ballard will always be greater than what I know. Since I’ve made it my practice to wander the streets and write about the neighborhood for six years I may be able to feign above average knowledge, but it’s an act. Unless I could be allowed inside every apartment, every business, every home, and somehow become privy to all the lives and stories that have taken place there, I’m basically an ignorant outsider.

Of all the establishments in Ballard, I’m perhaps the greatest outsider when it come to churches, of which Ballard has many! Until this last week I had never been inside the sanctuary of the Trinity United Methodist Church, even though I have lived within two miles of it for 25 years. I’d been into the gymnasium to attend events and to work the polls. I haven’t been inside most of the churches of Ballard, unless they have been converted into an event venue.

On a Wednesday night I first entered the front doors on 65th NW for the Coal Hard Truth Forum and got to see still-lit stained glass windows as they patterned the skin of audience members. The following afternoon, by coincidence, I sat across from Trinity’s pastor, Reverend Kathleen Weber, in the parlor and realized what we have in common: weekly writing. She writes a sermon; I write a column.

The reader board mounted on the knoll of NW 23rd & 65th has always been a good indicator of Trinity United Methodist’s focus under longtime pastor, Reverend Rich Lang – an emphasis on social justice. That won’t be changing as Reverend Weber completes her first year as pastor of this healthy church in Ballard, but one of her goals is to make Trinity less pastor-centered and more program-centered. This will soon include more family programming and transforming the grounds into one of Seattle’s first non-residential rain gardens.

I knew Trinity United Methodist Church had a Saturday Soup Kitchen and a shelter. I didn’t even know they had a choir. “This church loves their music,” Weber told me. I didn’t know that some Ballard clergy, from various churches, try to have lunch and conversation together monthly. I didn’t know about the annual program called a Month of Sundays or the Book Club. It wasn’t until the flyer for the Rachel Carson “embodiment’ on May 5, 2012 that I thought to stop passing the church and make an appointment to go inside.

The “new” Reverend Kathleen Weber grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, “Church was my second home.” When she was in kindergarten her mother entered the seminary and became a pastor. Her father’s professional life also involved the United Methodists. Weber first came to Seattle as part of a church youth group and fell in love with the area. After attending seminary in Atlanta she moved to Seattle in 1995. The first place she lived in Seattle was at Earl and 65th NW; she used to coach basketball, softball and soccer in the neighborhood.

Until last year Weber was Associate Pastor at Blaine Memorial on Beacon Hill; with an emphasis on the youth programs. With the changing demographics of Beacon Hill that church had become a commuter church, with more members living on the Eastside than the neighborhood. Trinity United Methodist Church is the opposite, although it has a few ‘long distance members,’ Weber suspects, “Most of our congregation lives within walking distance.” Weber loves the fact that the church is intergenerational, welcoming up to one newcomer a week to Ballard, many with young families moving into the neighborhood.

Reverend Weber believes there is a deepening hunger for face-to-face connections, even as people connect electronically. “I think many people desire to live differently than the way society encourages us to live.” She would like to provide leadership direction, “To empower members to take their vision and do whatever it is they want to do. And why not extend it outside of the congregation?”

Weber has her own goals as well, which will include starting a lay visitation team, in order to be able to reach more people in need of companionship whether due to crisis, transitions or ordinary needs. She will also be rotating onto Ballard Food Bank’s board. As she continues to acquaint herself with the congregation she has been reading the directory and taking five names into her heart each week.

I’ve been into Trinity’s parlor now -- and the sanctuary too. But the lives and stories of the congregation are still mostly a mystery, from those who prepare lunch every week, sleep in the shelter, sing in the choir, or preach from the pulpit. But there are at least two things I’ve learned since meeting Reverend Weber: her Southern accent is a bit stronger than she thinks, and she reads her sermon from her iPad. This is not the church of my forefathers, but it’s one where I suspect everyone feels welcome.

Trinity United Methodist Women present Debbie Dimitre as Rachel Carson. May 5th, 4-6 p.m. Tickets $20. RSVP to 206.367.1562. Trinity United Methodist Church, 6512 23rd Avenue NW.