John ThomasSenior Advisor to the President and Visiting Professor in Church Ministries B.A., 1972 Gettysburg College, M.Div., M.Div., 1975 Yale Divinity School Author of numerous articles and essays on ecumenism and contemporary American religious life. After nearly 35 years of ministry, first as a pastor of suburban and urban congregations in Connecticut and Pennsylvania, then as the national ecumenical officer of the United Church of Christ, and finally as its General Minister and President for ten years, I bring significant experience of the church in various settings and in ecumenical and global contexts. While each ministry, like politics, may be local, and must be deeply rooted in the life of its particular time and location, each place is always subject to the distortions and idolatries of parochialism in time and space. Each of my ministries has endeavored to nurture a “catholic” sense of the church’s life, so that wherever we find our primary place of belonging, we know that we are part of something bigger than this place, older than our memory, richer than our understanding, and with a reach of concern far beyond our own front door. Equipping transformational leaders by helping to situate them in this broadened context is a primary task of theological education and a particular focus of my teaching. |
