Lyndsay Clark’s career is a testament to the transformative power of combining faith and professional practice. A 2012 graduate of Duke Divinity School’s Master of Divinity program and UNC-Chapel Hill’s Master of Social Work, Clark has built a career that bridges theological reflection and social work.

After years of serving in private practice, her current role as an instructor and the director of field education at Samford University’s social work program in Birmingham, Ala., epitomizes this integration.

“I feel privileged to work in a space where there is a lot of natural overlap between two areas of persistent interest and calling,” Clark says. Her work involves placing graduate students in academic field internships, managing the field education program, teaching foundational social work courses, and fostering partnerships with community organizations.

A Vocation Rooted in Intentional Integration

From the beginning of her academic journey, Clark felt called to integrate theology and spirituality into people-centered work, but she wasn’t sure that would result in church ministry.

Her dual-degree program provided the framework to explore this calling, equipping her with the theological and practical tools to navigate complex human experiences with empathy and wisdom.

At Samford, she teaches a course called Faith Perspectives in Social Work, which she describes as a place where her “faith and practice get to come together.” 

The course helps students understand how religion and spirituality shape clients’ lives while also exploring how their own spiritual practices influence their work. This intentional integration is central to Clark’s professional identity.

“I get to work with students every day who are preparing to serve in difficult settings, working with individuals in the depths of despair and grief, vulnerability and marginality, transition and disappointment,” she says.

“As I do this, I am constantly encouraged by the passion and commitment I see in those I’m working with to be conduits of healing and wholeness in the world.”

Preparing to Thrive Around Diverse Perspectives 

Clark says Duke Divinity School helped prepare her for the multifaceted demands of her current roles. "Coming from a very Baptist upbringing, attending Duke and having the opportunity to learn from faculty and students in other traditions was a wonderful gift,” she says. This exposure broadened her understanding of faith and enriched her capacity to engage with diverse perspectives in her work.

Her coursework also was instrumental in shaping her understanding of faith, spirituality, and the human condition. “Classes like Multicultural Pastoral Care, Introduction to Islam, and Spiritual Autobiography in a local women’s prison through the Project TURN program stand out as particularly influential,” she says.

These new traditions and challenges classes provided Clark with the ability to engage thoughtfully with diverse populations and faith traditions, a skill she employs daily in her work. 

“They shaped how I understand Christian culture, individual and corporate expressions of faith and spirituality, and therefore the landscape where many people’s lives take shape and unfold—the context for relationships and loss, love and parenting, joy and disappointment, success and failure,” she explains.

Clark says Duke is where she dedicated herself to learning. “Duke is where I really learned to be a student and give myself over to material and study,” she says. The academics, coupled with the support of a “diverse, intentional, and passionate cohort,” prepared her to thrive in her future workplaces.

Still, it was through sitting with clients in moments of great loss, terminal illness, and even joy that she honed her ability to be fully present and pastoral. “I don’t know how you teach someone to be pastoral and really sit with, and listen to, other people in a pastoral and healing way,” she says. 

Clark’s interdisciplinary experiences underscore the value of integrating theory with practice—something she encourages her students to embrace as they prepare to enter challenging and transformative fields.