Covenant’s teachings place a strong focus on the concept of calling. However, that calling can be a difficult thing to find. Noah Wiersema ’16 felt that tension when he first came to Covenant College. As a double major in math as well as philosophy and religion, going to seminary was the last thing on his mind. He felt right about what he was studying but experienced a lack of direction.

An Unexpected Calling

The call to seminary came through a few chief experiences. A member of the soccer team during his time at Covenant, Noah recalls times when Covenant would gather athletes together to talk about faith and sports. Before one particular meeting, someone read a Psalm, and something clicked in Noah’s brain. Within the next three days, Noah attended chapel talks that discussed equipping leaders for ministry and discerning God’s call and felt a strong internal call towards teaching God’s Word. “The God of the universe who created all things, and is all powerful and all knowing, has given us His Word, with which to know Him… and if He’s done this, then what else should I be doing than trying to understand this Word and teach it?” 

After experiencing this internal call, Noah looked for an external call to affirm what he felt God stirring up within him. That came when he told his then-girlfriend and now-wife, Amy (Morris) ’16, that he was thinking of going to seminary. Her immediate response was “I’ll go with you.” After becoming ordained in 2019, he remembers sitting down in his office and thinking, “I’m getting paid to study God’s Word, and that is amazing.” He loves how his internal call to ministry unifies with the external call of the church body and how that reflects the calling he experienced in school.  

A Well-Rounded Education

Noah looks back on his time at Covenant with gratitude.  The rich theological background and  heavy focus on God’s Word in all subjects were a great encouragement to him. His majors, instead of conflicting with seminary, actually provided a strong foundation to engage with the world from multiple perspectives. He loves how Covenant classes gave him a full-circle view of differing schools of thought, and would often connect, even unintentionally. He remembers taking drastically different classes, like Continental Philosophy and Modern Theology, that would seem to be in direct dialogue with one another. Nothing was wasted during his time at Covenant—he was even a math tutor on the side during seminary.

Community During and After Covenant

While at Covenant, Noah enjoyed the rich community fostered during his time on the soccer team and on his hall. Even after college, he looks back at his time in Covenant communities as a portrait of the brotherhood within the body of Christ. Hall life mirrored the richness of living amongst believers, just as connecting with people outside of his hall reminded him of the importance of connecting with people outside of your comfortable circle. Covenant’s community was a place where Noah felt safe, no matter his stage of life or state of mind. “There are just times in your college experience where you do things the wrong way and sin. Having a place where you’re built back up again, and picked up by friends and professors, is really helpful. [Covenant is] a place that recognizes our need for grace and wants to help you pursue that, even despite your weaknesses.” 

At present, Noah serves as the senior pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church in St. Louis, Missouri. He talks about the tension that comes with the many hats a pastor wears as he works to serve his staff, session, and congregation well. However, through his multifaceted studies, God was preparing him to faithfully serve in his role well.

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