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Emily Harkins


 Emily Harkins

Rev. Emily Harkins is a Colorado native, Midwest transplant, and now a Southern belle who drinks Cheerwine and says “y’all” with ease. Ordained in the ELCA in 2020, she is the founding pastor and mission developer of The Dwelling in Winston-Salem, NC. Her ministry centers on faith, justice, and the dignity of every person, especially neighbors experiencing homelessness. Emily is a storyteller, preacher, and organizer who builds relationships across difference and believes belovedness is never tied to housing, sobriety, or status. Her work lives where worship meets the street and advocacy becomes gospel practice. She is known for naming hard truths with compassion and inviting others into a participatory, dignity-rooted vision of church. Emily brings creativity, leadership, and theological imagination to her work, leading with a voice both tender and bold. She is also a wife, dog-lover, and Diet Coke enthusiast.  


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EXPERIENCES
    Activity Time Information
    Show Date
    Fri 4 Sep 2026 2:00 PM to 2:50 PM
    Title ShortStories That Make It Hard to Go Back
    Venue Episcopal
    Experience DescriptionThere are versions of church where some people serve and some people are served. Where some people lead and others are managed. Where generosity flows in one direction and dignity gets quietly negotiated along the way. And then there is something else. In this storytelling experience, Rev. Emily Harkins shares real stories from The Dwelling, a community shaped by people who have been pushed to the edges and told they don’t belong. Stories that are beautiful, complicated, and sometimes a little too honest. You will hear about a table where everyone eats and nobody is a project. A community where people once labeled as problems are now shaping what comes next. A church that doesn’t run on charity, but on relationship. This is not a talk about how to do ministry better. It is a challenge to the idea that ministry was ever meant to work the way we’ve been taught. Because what if the problem isn’t that the church isn’t doing enough, but that we’ve misunderstood what the church actually is? You won’t leave with a plan. You might leave with a different way of seeing, and no easy way to go back.
    Show Date
    Fri 4 Sep 2026 3:00 PM to 3:50 PM
    Title ShortEmily Harkins
    Venue Workshop
    Experience DescriptionTBD