The Rev. Jennifer Nordstrom

Responsibilities

As the Senior Minister, The Reverend Jennifer Nordstrom is responsible for carrying out the mission and the vision of First Church. She leads the Worship Team in providing transformative worship for the congregation. She supports and reports to the Board in its process of governing the congregation and leads the staff in achieving the congregation’s Ends.  Along with the Associate Minister, she officiates at rites of passage, including child dedications, weddings, and funerals. She works with the Associate Minister to provide pastoral care.

Background

Rev. Jennifer is a national leader in Unitarian Universalism and beyond on issues of peace, climate justice, and racial justice. She cares deeply about the world and the people in it and sees Unitarian Universalism as a tool to build the Beloved Community. She is co-editor of a book on environmental justice and Unitarian Universalism, which was published in 2017.

She founded the group Unitarian Universalist Young Adults for Climate Justice in 2013, served on the Steering Committee of the UU Environmental Justice Collaboratory, and helped organize the UU response to climate change, Commit2Respond. She also spent many years working on peace and nuclear disarmament issues and is currently serving on the national board of the Peace Action Education Fund. She was a contributing author to the book Nuclear Disorder or Cooperative Security?

Jennifer received her undergraduate degree from Hunter College of the City University of New York and her Masters of Divinity degree from the Starr King School for the Ministry in Berkeley, California. She is a native Wisconsinite who returned in 2016 after having been away for almost 20 years. She is thrilled to come home to serve the Midwest that shaped her life.

Jennifer’s ministry prioritizes excellence in worship by creating beauty, a sense of awe, an opportunity to engage mystery, and a Sunday morning call to reflect on what matters most in our lives.