Grace Haah is the wife of Kevin Haah, founder and  lead pastor of New City Church of Los Angeles.  She has a B.A. in English from Bryn Mawr College, a law degree from Cornell, practiced law in upstate New York for a few years, and later worked in publishing before becoming a stay-at-home mom.  In her spare time, Grace enjoys playing the piano and completing crossword puzzles.

What is your familial status and what are the challenges as well as rewards?

I am married with three children – a girl who just turned 10 and twins, a boy and a girl, who are 6-1/2 years old.

As for challenges, it’s only recently – the last few years, really – that I’ve been able to get significantly involved in ministry, and I think that’s largely because of my kids – because of their young age and the time it takes to take care of them.  It’s a lot of juggling.  There are also emotional challenges, such as challenges to my patience.

However, as a parent, you can see a little of what it might be like for God to be our Parent, how childish we can be – bratty, messed up, and in need of a lot of help – and how amazingly patient and forgiving He can (and we need Him) to be.  In that way, it helps me understand God a little bit better.  Hopefully, the demands of parenting will shape my character overall as well to be more like Him.

What are your ministry passions?  How did you discern these passions in your life?

I’m not really a big-group person – I don’t enjoy speaking in public in front of a lot of people – and I wouldn’t say I’m really a mid-size group person either.  I like relating one-on-one or with just two or three people, so I like ministries like discipleship or having conversations where I can let other people talk openly, making sure their voice is heard.

Also, I’m totally not “Martha Stewart”-y and not much of a homemaker, but I do love to host, to take care of people, and to have people over.  I don’t think I realized that before I went into ministry because I had a very high standard of hosting – I thought I had to make all this food from scratch, make the house spotless, etc.  But I think God has helped me look at hospitality much more simply.

Finally, I’ve always had a heart for people who are outsiders.  They’re the people I’m more naturally drawn to and feel more comfortable with, more so than people I perceive as having it all together.  I think it’s because I grew up feeling like an outsider, so I can empathize better with them.

What has been the greatest challenge in your faith journey thus far?

I’ve always been risk-averse, and I feel like that’s served as a block for me in my faith journey.  My husband Kevin is much more bold and adventurous, with a “can do” attitude, while I’m the one that tends to sit back and count the cost.  I’ve slowly learned how to overcome that and trust in God to provide.  You can and should still do your homework, but at a certain point, you have to have trust.  You can’t have that much control in your life – even if you want to, you can’t.  I feel blessed that although God has asked me to take that journey of faith and trust, He didn’t push me headlong into it either. He’s really patiently and gently led me by the hand, one step at a time.  In that way, God has had a lot of mercy in working with me and my personality.

Interviewed by Joy Wong