A
Diverse Congregation
The congregation is first in more than just name at First Congregational
Church of Minnesota. At first church, all members are ministers.
The result is an diverse, active and caring group united in friendship,
fellowship and fun.
Our
Staff
Principal
Minister: Jane McBride [Top]
On January 10th 2010, the congregation called Rev. Jane McBride to be its next Principal Minister. She began her ministry at First Church on February 15th.
Jane is a PK (preacher's kid) who has been part of the United Church of Christ all her life. She received her B.A. in Religion and Philosophy from St. Olaf College in 1997 and her Masters of Divinity from the University of Chicago Divinity School in 2000. She began her work at Falcon Heights UCC in September 2000 as half-time Director of Children's Ministry, became a full-time staff member there in 2001, and was ordained as Associate Minister early in 2002 where she continued to serve, working with three successive Senior Ministers, until March of 2009.
Jane enjoys cooking, gardening, reading, bicycling, walking, canoeing and camping, playing the violin and singing, listening to music, and spending time with family and friends. Jane's partner, the Rev. Jennifer Nagel, is the pastor of Salem English Lutheran Church, which is partnered with Lyndale UCC. In March of this year they adopted their eight-month old daughter Eliza Grace.
Jane is a thoughtful preacher who creatively interweaves Biblical texts and other resources with the issues and questions of daily life. Jane's commitment to social justice is lived, prayed, and preached. She is particularly passionate about issues related to poverty, food, environmental sustainability, and racism. She is a trained facilitator for the Our Whole Lives (OWL) sexuality curriculum and the Antiracism Study-Dialogue Circles (ASDIC). She has led several mission trips.
In her Statement on Ministry she writes, "My faith, though foundational, has never been absolute. I prefer mystery to certainty." We believe Jane's strong commitment to prayer and other spiritual practices will be a gift to our congregation and the spiritual hunger of our time. Her understanding "that we must see God in many ways, hear God in many languages, and call God by many names" willresonate well with the broad range of theologies represented among our "differing minds, but kindred spirits."
We believe that God has indeed guided us to this momentous time in the life and ministry of First Church.
Associate
Minister: Abby Henderson [Top]
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.
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.”
Minister
of Education: Kathy O'Connor [Top]
Kathy O’Connor was chosen from a strong group of candidates to serve in this important role here at First Church. Within the congregation, Kathy has served in a variety of roles, including church school teacher and mentor to confirmands. She has served two terms on the Board of Christian Education, is financial secretary of the congregation, and has been a Board member for First Congregational Church
Community Services.Kathy’s background includes working for the Greater Twin Cities United Way for 18 years. She has served as an independent consultant for various projects and training programs, with computer/internet experience and skills. And, let’s not forget, she has coached basketball and softball – and hockey!
Minister
of Music: Cynthia Mortensen [Top]
Cynthia Mortensen grew up in St. Paul, and graduated with a B.A. in Organ Performance from the College of St. Catherine in 1980. She studied organ with Robert Wolfe, Dr. Paul Manz, and Dr. James Callahan. She has served as a choral conductor throughout her career, both in churches, (most recently at St. Anthony Park United Church of Christ) and as a High School Choral/Vocal teacher at Cretin-Derham Hall High School for more than fifteen years. She has been an adjudicator Regional Choral and Solo/Ensemble Contests sponsored by the MN State High School League. Her conducting teachers include the late Dr. Maurice Jones at the College of St. Catherine, Dr. Edith Copley of Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, AZ, as well as with Dr. Axel Theimer at St. John’s University. She also studied voice with Dr. James Sample at the College of St. Thomas, Dr. Maurice Jones, and Dr. Patricia Kent. While in college, she performed the Poulenc Concerto for Organ, Strings and Timpani with members of the Minnesota Orchestra.
Cynthia has sung with The Minnesota Chorale and Kantorei. Cynthia also has a fondness for jazz, and has performed with a few big bands in the Twin Cities. She is a member of the VoiceCare Network, the American Guild of Organists, and the American Choral Director’s Association. She currently teaches private voice and piano. Her hobbies include gardening, golf, knitting and reading.
The
History and Mission of First Church [Top]
On
November 16, 1851, seven years before Minnesota became a state,
First Congregational Church was organized in the frontier town
of St. Anthony, when seven women and five men covenanted "to
walk together" in Christian affection, duty and discipline.
The first minister, Charles Seccombe, Calvinist, staunch abolitionist,
devoted pastor--had been sent from the East by the American Home
Missionary Society for work in the frontier community. For several
years the Society gave money to the struggling congregation.
First
Church survived hard times and the difficult Civil War period.
Over the years it worshiped in different buildings close to the
milling industry that led to the rapid postwar growth of Minneapolis,
the city with which St. Anthony merged in 1872. The church also
grew and prospered. In 1886 it laid the cornerstone of its present
building. Built of red sandstone in Gothic-Romanesque style, with
round-arched windows and semi-circular rows of pews, it still
is one of the best local examples of the distinctive Akron-plan
church. The building is now on the National Register of Historic
Places.
When
erected, the church building stood in a neighborhood of business
and civic leaders, some of whose pre-1900 houses can still be
seen along Fifth Street Southeast. But as residential patterns
changed around 1900, the congregation began an uncertain era of
transition. Then, during the 1920s it formed a new relationship
to the University of Minnesota. For the next 20 years, First Church
was the center of a campus ministry. The congregation gained extra
vitality from undergraduate activities and participation by serving
as the "church home away from home" for the state's
Congregational students.
Different leadership emerged after World War II. Membership and
Sunday school enrollment grew, and so a full-time director of
religious education joined the staff. In 1945 the first lay moderator
marked an increase in lay participation in church affairs. Outreach
to the community expanded with a focus on such needs as neighborhood
improvement, senior citizen programs, youth drop-in centers, and
nursery schools.
In 1961 First Church, accepting the union of Congregational Christian
Churches with the Evangelical and Reformed Church, became a member
of the United Church of Christ denomination. Another change came
in 1969 with the disbanding of the Women's Guild. The guild was
the final successor to the many women's groups that since 1860
had so greatly enriched the church's life. Now First Church women,
as full participants in all church organizations, were exerting
greater leadership in both spiritual and financial matters.
In the 1970s, as Southeast Minneapolis shifted from single-family
homes to multiple housing with a transient population, a more
widely dispersed membership was still drawn to First Church by
the quality of its preaching, its educational programs, its outreach,
and its music. During this decade, the church formalized its ongoing
commitment to the use of inclusive language and imagery in worship.
In the late 1980s, First Church again witnessed on significant
social issues. In 1987, the church voted to become an Open and
Affirming congregation, stating that the church resolved to be
an inclusive community, welcoming people of any sexual orientation.
At that same time, the church declared itself a "Just Peace
Church, seeking the interrelationship of friendship, justice and
global security from violence." First Church continues to
explore ways to be faithful to both of those commitments in our
ever-changing world.
In the 1990's, the congregation has partnered with organizations
ministering to people with AIDS and to families with young children,
putting its building to use throughout the week.
Since 2001 First Church has participated in an experimental Pastoral
Residency Program funded through a grant by the Lilly Endowment.
Through the program, First Church helps to nurture young clergy
while also benefiting from the creativity and gifts that they
bring to the ministry.
For more than 150 years, from frontier-village to urban congregation,
First Church has sought to minister to parish, university, and
community. Despite many changes, our fellowship of differing but
kindred minds still walks together in Christian affection and
responsibility.
First
Church's Covenant of Membership [Top]
May
2004 revision
As
an inclusive Christian community responding in joy to God's love
and faithfulness, we covenant with one another:
to attend to God's activity -- in us, around us, and through
us,
to live in ways that honor our interdependence with all creation,
to confess our faults and our incompleteness,
to work for justice and peace,
and to express the gospel of Jesus Christ in worship, word,
and deed.
In
light of God's holy mystery, we affirm the right of private discernment,
and seek to build together a community of generous hearts and
differing but kindred minds.
