C.N. Hostetter, Jr. Fellowship Program
Elizabeth Laribee

Baltimore Maryland is home for Liz Laribee, for now. Being the daughter of an Episcopalian Minister, her family has moved around fourteen times. Over the years, she has seen first hand how deep brokenness can be within church families. As a result, Liz dreams of spending her life working towards reconciliation within the church.

 What is pressing on her heart right now is the grave need for reconciliation between the Protestant and Catholic Church. “The church would be so effective if we stopped criticizing our different expressions of worship,” Liz says, as she illustrates the beauty that can be found in both glorifying God within a magnificent cathedral, and also within the intimate setting of a protestant church. “We are misunderstanding each other and our motives for worship.”

Liz is also incredibly concerned about generation gaps that are so prevalent among churches today. She believes that this may be the result of her generation becoming more vocal than generations past. Youth today long to break free from the tradition of church, and are not afraid to express such opinions. Liz realizes that “there needs to be a new voice.” She adds however, “But not in rejection of the old.” She sees that because there is so much dissention between generations, youth are not stepping up in church involvement. This may pose a bigger problem than the church realizes, and until it is remedied, “we can’t move the world into any direction.”

Until Liz goes into the world, she is a Senior Resident Assistant for Mountain View. Her hands are full, as she juggles being a full time student, SRA and Hostetter Fellow. Yet, she wouldn’t trade in her experiences at Messiah for the world. As she explains it, it has been “a matrix of influences,” that has shaped her into the passionate woman she is presently.