Sarah Kathleen Johnson

Sarah Kathleen Johnson

Visiting Professor of Theology & Worship

I had the privilege of spending most of the past fifteen months in my home office in Toronto. While watching the changing leaves of the maple tree outside my window and hearing the rumble of the city buses, I marked many milestones.

I wrote and defended my doctoral dissertation at the University of Notre Dame, “Occasional Religious Practice: An Ethnographic Theology of Christian Worship in a Changing Religious Landscape,” which is anchored by 61 interviews and 3 years of ethnographic research in the Anglican tradition in Toronto. I taught an online undergraduate Foundations of Theology course on the bible and early church history that incorporated ethnographic theological methods and centred on the theme of food. After five years on the editorial team, I launched a new denominational hymnal for Mennonite Church Canada and Mennonite Church USA called Voices Together into a church that could not safely gather together to sing. I also launched an Anabaptist worship resourcing website TogetherinWorship.net. In addition, I explored unforeseen questions, such as ecumenical approaches to online communion.

The opportunity to join the faculty at Vancouver School of Theology and St. Mark’s College as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Theology and Worship builds on my past experience and sets exciting new directions. I am eager to learn and teach in an ecumenical context committed to forming church leaders and robust engagement with society.

This position is made possible by a Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Louisville Institute which connects me with a mentoring process and a cohort of other teachers, scholars, and practitioners. I trust this will be an enriching setting in which to continue to explore my vocation as theological educator committed to shaping the practices of Christians in Canada and the United States toward justice and liberation, with a focus on Christian worship.


Dr. Sarah Kathleen Johnson is originally from Waterloo, Ontario. She completed her PhD in Theology at the University of Notre Dame in 2021. Sarah is affiliated with Mennonite Church Canada and has served as a pastor and on the editorial team for the Mennonite hymnal and worship book, Voices Together (2020). She joins Vancouver School of Theology and St. Mark’s College as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Theology and Worship and Louisville Institute Postdoctoral Fellow.