Rev. Elizabeth Moseley

After 18 years of working at HPUMC and Uptown Church, Rev. Elizabeth Moseley, Associate Minister at Uptown Church, will be taking her ministry to First United Methodist Church in Dallas in May, after her last Sunday at Uptown on April 30.

While at HPUMC, Rev. Elizabeth Moseley and Rev. Paul Rasmussen got Small Groups started, a precedent set by John Wesley and the Methodist Movement. Elizabeth said the endeavor didn’t quite get going at first, but she didn’t give up. Small Groups slowly became a staple at HPUMC, in addition to the Sunday Morning Classes already in place.

“The Spirit was in that place, and folks got into groups, and that started the path of a regular opportunity for people to get connected into community,” Elizabeth said. “What a blessing to feel like you can walk through the joys, the mountains, and the valleys together with somebody else. It’s about growing in faith together and believing that when people gather, Jesus is there with them.”

Elizabeth met some of her closest friends at HPUMC. She also met her husband, who was a fellow staff member at the time. The couple now has three kids.

“I am very grateful for all the ways that this church has been a blessing to me and to my family and has affirmed the way that God worked in my life,” Elizabeth said. “To be reminded of those touchpoints and to be reminded of the way that God's been at work in my life, through the people here and through this place has been really sweet.”

At HPUMC, no matter who she worked with or spoke to, Elizabeth aimed to carry the Lord with her in the way that she connected with people.

“Jesus saw individuals, Elizabeth said. “He saw the folks that everyone else didn't see. He saw the folks that everybody else tried to ignore. And he would stop what he was doing over and over and over again just to listen to a person. That’s how we honor the God, the spirit of God in someone else.”

After over a year of Elizabeth and Rev. Joy Gonzalez building out the vision for a new campus while working together at HPUMC, Uptown Church launched its first services in December 2020.

“Joy was called to church planting,” Elizabeth said. “Her passion and excitement and vision, it was contagious. And I've always appreciated that Highland Park is willing to try new things and willing to go into new places and willing to take a risk.”

As Associate Minister at Uptown Church, Elizabeth was able to connect with a new group of people—those who may have never heard the message of the love of God, had forgotten it, or were told the opposite by others.

“When people are hurt, they need extra love and they need careful love,” Elizabeth said. “There were a lot of people who came to Uptown that had been hurt by the church. Just like if someone had been hurt in a relationship and they were skeptical of entering a new one, that's how a lot of people walked into Uptown.”

Elizabeth’s way of relating to people offered the congregation at Uptown Church a new perspective on the love of Christ.

“What Jesus did was he addressed a lot of wounded people,” she said. “A lot of them were physical, but Jesus healed a lot of emotional wounds as well, and Jesus healed a lot of societal wounds. We want to create a place that's safe, where you can heal, where God can heal you.”

While she is now moving on to First United Methodist Church in Dallas, Elizabeth aims to stay connected to HPUMC and Uptown Church in whatever way she can.

“I'm not great with change, so it takes me a while to ramp up to it,” Elizabeth said. “But God is with me, and that's the best news ever. And I'm not a minister only in one place. I'm here and I'm available and I'll always be around. And that's what I love about our system in the United Methodist Church—we're connected.”

Elizabeth has left a lasting legacy at HPUMC and Uptown through her connections with people and her ability to share the message of Christ.

“I've walked with lots of families in through good things—weddings and babies being born and baptisms—and I've walked through families through difficult times. I hope that they have felt the love of God in my presence with them in the words that I've been able to share with them. I hope they felt God's love through my work here.”

There have always been open doors, and if there isn't an open door, then it's a ‘wait.’ Me saying ‘yes’ to God is always recognizing where God is. The Spirit is at work, the Spirit is inviting. The Spirit is creating new space. The Spirit is creating new opportunities. - Elizabeth Moseley.