Welcome to First Church, Abbie Henderson

Abigail Henderson (she prefers Abby) began her ministry at First Church on September 15. Abby is our new associate minister in the Lilly Endowment ministry residency program.  Nominated by the search committee in the spring, and then approved by the church council, Abby comes with a strong educational and ministerial background.
           
She is a graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy, Wellesley College (magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa), and Harvard Divinity School. For the past year she has been a chaplaincy resident at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis. Ministry is also in her blood, literally, as a daughter of two UCC clergy. She observed, “My first time in the pulpit was in utero!” She found First Church partly through her mother’s friendship with Ann Gilbert and Dan Pederson, First Church members.  
           
When asked about her interest in the Lilly associate minister program, Abby cited her field education experience at Old South Church, Boston, where her supervisor, Quinn Caldwell, had been a Lilly associate.
           
First Church appealed to Abby as a congregation small enough to provide her with the full range of ministerial leadership opportunities, but large enough so that she can learn more about the complex tasks of pastoral leadership, as well as the opportunity to preach, lead worship, teach, and offer pastoral care.
           
Abby hopes that her two years at First Church will help her learn “first-hand about the inner workings and daily life of a congregation—how all the committees work, how decisions are made, how staff and members collaborate.” She also hopes to learn about how local churches can be relevant in the larger community. She adds, “I hope to reflect and grow in my own identity as a leader, especially around spiritual development and social justice/activism.”
           
Abby’s interests include reading fiction and the New Yorker, movies, walking around the lakes, writing, drawing, and listening to live music. She as a cat named Zora, in honor of Harlem Renaissance writer Zora Neale Hurston.
           
In speaking of her attraction to First Church, Abby said, “I never expected to have so much fun being interviewed by a search committee!” As chair of the search committee, I can add that we all had fun in that interview, and that we expect First Church folk will take similar delight in Abby’s ministry with us.

~ Clyde Steckel

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