Krolak serving two area churches

The Janesville and Waseca communities are welcoming Pastor Sarah Krolak of Faith and North Waseca Lutheran churches, who has recently completed her first month of service. 

Krolak is a recent graduate from the Lutheran School of Theology Seminary in Chicago, receiving a Master of Divinity and began the first call of her ministry on July 11.

Both Faith and North Waseca are affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the church body in which Krolak was ordained on Saturday, August 20. 

Krolak grew up in Rochester, Minnesota and previously received a bachelor’s degree in English and Educational Studies from St. Olaf College in Northfield.

While Krolak was a college student, her mother became an ELCA pastor and soon comparisons were drawn between the two.

“People started asking if I was gonna be a pastor just like my mom and I said ‘absolutely not’,” Krolak recalls.

While she first dismissed the suggestion as stereotyping, Krolak later realized the question had a deeper source: “It wasn’t because of my mom, it was because of me.”

After graduating from college, Krolak spent a year teaching English to students in Slovakia. Though this position focused more on English education than any interest in pursuing the ministry, her teaching was through the ELCA and she was beginning to tiptoe closer to her eventual path in the ministry. While in Slovakia, Krolak said she had an “aha moment” in which she heard a voice telling her it was time for her to become a pastor; she enrolled in seminary soon after.

While starting as a pastor at Faith Lutheran and North Waseca, Krolak said she is most excited to get to know her members and see God’s work through people in the communities she is serving.

Upon starting as a pastor, Krolak noticed her members’ eagerness to expand her congregations’ reach through new faith-based activities and has been working with them to turn their ideas into reality. On the second Sunday of each month at both churches, Krolak is now doing “Young At Heart” services, which are still for all ages, but especially written with children in mind. Krolak said that this new type of service aligns with the desires of her congregations, who “really value children” and want “everybody to have a place of worship here.”

The number one goal of Krolak’s ministry, she says, is to “make sure people are loved really well.”

“If people leave church and don't know that they are loved, we have missed the point,” said Krolak.

Krolak recommends that young people with an interest in joining the ministry find people to talk to who will encourage and support them through self exploration and allow them to feel comfortable asking “big questions.” 

Weekly Sunday services take place at North Waseca at 8:45 a.m. and Faith Lutheran at 10:15 a.m. Additionally, Pastor Krolak is available at her church office in Janesville from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Wednesdays and Thursdays, for those who would like to stop by and meet her.

Additionally, Sunday School begins on Sunday, September 11 at Faith Lutheran. 

“I’m really excited to be here and welcome visitors,” said Krolak.