Pastor

My Church

I am a pastor and preacher at Washington City Church of the Brethren. The Church of the Brethren denomination is a Christian “Historic Peace Church,” a tradition that also includes Mennonites and Quakers (Friends). This means that we take Jesus’ call to peacemaking and loving our neighbors very seriously.

I bring my lens as a community psychologist to my pastoring – I understand my calling as pastor to include community organizing, capacity building, teaching, and advocacy for social change.

My call to ministry has included a specific vocation to peacemaking. Jesus said that “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called Children of God.” If we want to identify as children of God, we are called to work for peace.

Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called children of God. – Matthew 5:9

— Matthew 5:9

With Women leaders of CAMPI, Christians and Muslims for Peace Initiatives Mubi, Adamawa State, Nigeria, 2011.

Ministry Overview

My Christian ministry has included capacity building for peace in northern Nigeria with the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria (EYN, Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria). In the United States, my ministry of peacebuilding involves promoting interfaith understanding and cooperation, working across religious differences for community well-being and social change. It looks like organizing between religious congregations to welcome asylum seekers or advocating for peace in Palestine and Israel.

I am also a preacher and a pastor in a local congregation. My role as a plural nonsalaried pastor (bivocational) at Washington City Church of the Brethren involves preaching about once per month, plus doing pastoral care, leading visioning, developing programming, and hiring and supervising staff. I have also been serving as a Program and Organizational Development staff role for several years.

Both individually and as a congregational leader, I have been part of Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid, welcoming asylum seekers to Washington, DC since June 2022.

Since October 2023, my calling has led me to numerous actions, vigils, and protests in support of life: mourning and lamenting lives lost in Israel on October 7th, advocating for release of all hostages and detainees, mourning and lamenting lives lost in the West Bank and the numerous thousands of children and families who have been killed in Gaza, and calling for a permanent ceasefire and end to military funding to Israel. I stand against all acts of violence, individual or state-led.