Laura Funk

Associate Pastor

Laura Funk grew up in Winnipeg and attended Northdale Mennonite Fellowship where she was baptized. Before coming to Bethel, she attended Hope Mennonite Church. She studied at Westgate Mennonite Collegiate and then CMBC for a Bachelor’s degree in Theology with a Service Education major. She then attended Menno Simons College for a degree in Conflict Resolution (B.A.) and AMBS and CMU where she received an M.A. in Christian Ministry.   

Laura volunteered three terms with MCC in Zimbabwe and Winnipeg. She has worked as a camp staff, a volunteer coordinator, in a bakery, the music industry, in a massage therapy clinic, and as a chaplain in a personal care home. She has also served a five-year term in leadership in an ecumenical congregation. She trained as a Spiritual Director and started offering spiritual direction, prayer ministry training, congregational and organizational resourcing as well as offering retreats and seminars through Butterfly Journeys. She was ordained as the conference’s first Spiritual Director in 2021. In 2021-22 she was the Spiritual Director in Residence at Mennonite Church Manitoba. She recently published a book, “People and Places of Sacred Interior Spaces” which is a collection of guided meditations and monologues of Biblical characters.

Laura is married to Gilbert Detillieux and has a pet turtle. They live in a 117 year-old home in Wolseley.