Narrative Summary
Interview with Susan Salamun by Madison Dick
On Easter 2015 I had the opportunity to interview my grandma about her religious life.
My grandmother attended the same Church of Christ in Fenton, Missouri for most of her life.
She attributes her family life as the foundation for her current beliefs and knowledge of the
Bible. The first thing Susan mentioned was that as a family they went to church Sunday morning,
Sunday evening and Wednesday evening every week. From a young age Susan was surrounded
by church life and this led to her baptism at the age of 13.
Susan believes the most important thing a person can do on this earth is to accept Jesus as
their Lord and Savior and have a personal relationship with God. Although Susan was baptized
at an early age she confessed that she didn’t truly have a personal connection with God until she
was in her early twenties, had a couple children and had the responsibility to teach those children
about who God is. She felt personally responsible to teach her children the importance of loving
and serving God.
The woman my grandmother credits to have influenced her faith the most is her sister,
Ruth. Growing up, the youth met with different churches for events and Ruth would take Susan
to all of them and made sure Susan always felt included, even though they were ten years apart.
The sisters convinced one girl at a youth event that they were twins, and they were quite proud of
themselves for doing so.
Throughout the years, Susan and Jerry decided to leave the Church of Christ in Fenton
and began attending a non-denominational Christian Church in Illinois called Hope Christian
Church. Susan stated that she always felt the Church of Christ was legalistic and never really
grew into “a church that was alive.” Susan’s husband, being an elder at the Church of Christ,
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dealt with many issues that didn’t seem to be based on the Bible and they were not happy with
the churches decision to stray from Biblical teachings. After dealing with the politics and gossip
of Church of Christ in Fenton, they followed their daughter’s footsteps and sought out a
Christian Church in the area. Susan is incredibly proud of her new church home and said the
atmosphere of Hope Church is alive, welcoming and loving. Susan continued by mentioning the
Food Pantry, which both Susan and Jerry were in leadership positions in until recently with
Susan’s declining health. As a team, they also hosted a Sunday school class, which was as large
as the Church of Christ that they left. Susan also attends Bible Study and is a big support to her
friend, Wanda, who is the leader of a jail ministry in Illinois. Wanda provides transportation,
housing, and basic necessities to the people who have no place to go after being released from
jail. In addition, Susan helps with a 9 week Discipleship program that teaches basic Christian
education, where she leads women who recently finished the program and transitions them into a
weekly Bible Study where she offers herself as a spiritual mentor to these women and all of their
spiritual questions. Service is a huge, important part to what Susan believes following God is
supposed to look like.
When asked about a woman’s role in church, Susan quoted Ephesians 5, stating that Jesus
is the head of the man and the man is the head of the woman. She mentioned that she would be
uncomfortable with a woman leading the church, because the Bible points to woman’s leadership
to be in a different place. Ultimately, she knows that her role is to love others and bring them to
know Jesus and she doesn’t have to be in the spotlight of leadership to do that. She wants women
to know the importance of following Jesus and to cling to the truth of the Bible. Aside from
those things, nothing else truly matters. It’s all about Jesus.
I’m truly thankful I had the opportunity to ask my grandma tough questions and learn
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more about what she specifically believed. My grandmother is a very private person, who
doesn’t share things easily. I was most interested in who influenced her most in her faith as a
woman and loved her sharing about her relationship with her sister Ruth. I was intrigued by her
beliefs about the Bible and how firmly she trusts them. I was most inspired by how much she
gives to others of her time and life. Susan is truly a woman devoted to her faith and that should
inspire us all.
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