Growing Up

The Rev. Jon Hullinger was born in Illinois and grew up in the Disciples of Christ Christian Church. He later attended Nazarene colleges in Illinois and California to study philosophy.

 

 

Faith Journey

During his college years, he found himself at the beginning of a Faith journey. He loved the passion that the Nazarene and Evangelical churches take with their faith but had difficulty excluding family members and friends who didn’t see things quite the way he did.  Eventually, the Rev. Hullinger read documents from the Second Vatican Council and felt called to the Catholic Church.

 

He joined the Catholic Church in 1991 and started seminary in 1994. He was ordained in 1999 in Kansas City, Kansas.

The Rev. Hullinger served as a priest in Olathe, Nortonville and Valley Falls, Kansas from 1999 until 2004. He later served at Mater Dei Catholic Church in Topeka, Kansas, merging the Assumption and Holy Name parishes in 2006. It was then that he felt that God may be calling him in a different direction and began examining where God was leading him and what he was being called to do.

 

 

The Episcopal Church

Through conversations with the dean at Grace Episcopal Cathedral in Topeka, the Rev. Hullinger felt called to the Episcopal Church. He eventually took a sabbatical from the Catholic Church and later began a year of study. He was received as a priest in the Episcopal Church in June 2014.

 

After being received as an Episcopal priest, the Rev. Hullinger served as an associate rector at St. James Episcopal Church in Wichita, Kansas. He became the Priest in Charge at Trinity Episcopal Church in Atchison in November of 2015 and later became Rector in 2019. 

 

As an Episcopal priest, The Rev. Hullinger feels he can live out his ministry authentically, saying ““The Episcopal Church kind of sees itself as a middle way between the Catholic Church and the Protestant church and we get to draw from both traditions and embrace both traditions. The beauty is I still get to do the things I loved as a priest, which was celebrate the Eucharist and share Christ through sacraments with people. I don’t have to place a lot of restrictions in the way. Everyone is welcome. It’s that inclusion and diversity that I like.”

 

“My hope is to make people aware of the Episcopal Church and that everyone is welcome and that no matter what is going on in your life, no matter what you’ve done, no matter what your political opinions are, you are welcome and you can come here and pray together,” he says. “None of the things that divide us — whether it’s race, gender, politics — those aren’t the deciding factor on whether or not God loves us and we can worship Him together.”