Our Interim Pastor - Pastor Jane Mitcham
Pastor Jane P. Mitcham, St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Interim Pastor 6-1-2025
The Lord has provided us with an excellent interim Pastor, Pastor Jane P. Mitcham. We are looking forward to walking alongside her as she provides leadership, guidance and wisdom in many areas at St. Paul’s. She will become part of our St. Paul’s family, and we want you to know more about her.
Pastor Jane was reared in Statesville NC and was baptized in the Lutheran Church. She graduated in Health and Physical Education from Lenoir Rhyne College, now Lenoir Rhyne University. Pastor Jane began a teaching career at A.C. Flora High School and later at Keenan High School in Columbia.
In 1984, she and her husband Mitch moved to Charlotte,
NC to serve as co-directors of the Family Life and Counseling Department of Lutheran Family Services, now Lutheran Services Carolinas.
In 1992, Pastor Jane was called as a lay person to serve as an Assistant to the Bishop of the North Carolina Synod. With the NC Synod, her major responsibilities included working with congregations in conflict, disaster response and oversight of the clergy misconduct process. It was during that time that she felt called to the ordained ministry and completed the seminary process through a special program at Pacific Lutheran Seminary. She completed that program and was ordained in the North Carolina Synod on June 6, 1998.
She continued serving on the bishop’s staff but later was called to St. Paul Lutheran Church in Statesville, NC and then Beth Eden Lutheran Church in Newton, NC. She retired in 2010. In 2011, she and Mitch moved back to SC where Pastor Jane has served as interim pastor in many congregations. When asked why she has been willing to be called as an interim pastor, she said, “I love being a pastor. I love the people I meet, and I love helping congregations figure out a new vision.”
She is married to Pastor Bill Mitcham, better known as Mitch. They have two children, six grandchildren and four great grandchildren who live all over the United States and England. Pastor Jane loves to read and walk. They have enjoyed many European river cruises and church trips to Guyana, Trinidad, St. Croix, and the Holy Land. They moved to Laurel Crest Retirement Homes in West Columbia in December 2024.
Please introduce yourself to Pastor Jane so we can all get to know each other. Thanks be to God for allowing us to have her pastoral care during our transition time.