Monroe Congregational Church

Rev. Jennifer M. Gingras, Senior Pastor Pastor Jenn grew up in Madison, Connecticut and attended the North Madison Congregational Church, United Church of Christ. She spent much of her youth at Silver Lake Conference Center, which is still her spiritual home-away-from-home. After a 12 year career in marketing and administration, she began following a call to ordained ministry. Jenn attended Hartford Seminary and then Yale Divinity School while working full time and attending to the needs of her family. As an in-care student, she served the Trumbull Congregational Church UCC as Director of Christian Education and did her C.P.E. residency at Norwalk Hospital in the oncology and E.R. departments. Jenn earned her Masters of Divinity at Yale in 2007 and was called as the Associate Pastor of the Monroe Congregational Church, UCC. After almost five years of service as the Associate Paster, Jenn was called by unanimous vote of the gathered church body to be the 50th Senior Pastor in the fall of 2011. This decision followed a year-long process of prayerful discernment and the dedicated work of a search committee. She is one of the first internal candidates to make such a move in recent years within the United Church of Christ. Jenn is also the first woman to serve as Senior Pastor at the Monroe Congregational Church in their nearly 250 year history. Jenn's passions in ministry include prophetic preaching, emerging church worship and developing future church leadership and empowering youth and adults to serve God through mission and outreach programs. She currently serves the wider church as a member of the board of directors at Silver Lake Conference Center. She is also a shepherd in the CT Conference T.A.W.F.G. (Thinking about Working For God) program and the Fairfield East Association’s Committee on Church and Ministry as well as the new chairperson of the Monroe Clergy Association. She is looking forward to the challenge of leading a multigenerational program sized church in a dynamic 21st century faith landscape. Her interests include drumming, playing the violin, gardening and the visual arts. Jenn lives in Trumbull, with her husband, Clark, and their teenage children Cady and Zack.
Rev. Andrew Courtney, Associate Pastor Andrew is a native of Navarre, Ohio where he grew up on a small farm with an interesting mixture of chores and video games. He still keeps in contact with some of his good high school friends through online games. Andrew attended the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science with minors in Mathematics and Religious Studies. After feeling a call to ministry in his senior year, he traveled to St. Louis, Missouri where he earned his Master of Divinity from Eden Theological Seminary—one of the seven seminaries of the United Church of Christ—in May 2012. While at Eden, Andrew was very active in the student life. He chaired Green Eden—the campus’s ecologically friendly group—where he helped to start a community garden and assisted in ways the seminary could reduce its carbon footprint. He was also the co-President of the student body in his final year which oversaw and funded all of the student groups at the seminary. Andrew met his fiancée, Rev. Sarah Iverson at Eden. She is the pastor of the First Congregational Church of South Windsor, Connecticut. They will be married on October 6^th of this year. Together, they enjoy hiking, cooking, bike riding, and going to the movies. They are looking forward to getting to know the congregation and being a part of the life at Monroe Congregational Church. Andrew feels called to educational ministries, and is especially eager to apply his scholarship in the New Testament with our congregation. A former football player, Andrew’s model for youth ministry is that of a coach, and he looks forward to working with the Junior Pilgrim Fellowship and Confirmation class. He has a passion for social justice and stewardship of the earth.
Will Duchon, Music Director Will’s love of music began early, when at the age of seven he began taking piano lessons from Mr. Robert Canfield, a graduate of the famed Julliard school. He earned a BFA and an MFA in performing arts from SUNY Purchase (1992) and has been teaching private piano lessons since 1980. Will has also taught undergraduate classes in Music Theory and Solfege at SUNY, and has served in music ministry at the Memorial Community Church of West Harrison, NY and the Pleasantville Presbyterian Church in Pleasantville, NY. He is the father of two grown children, Matt and Lauren, and the proud grandfather of Olivia. Will is also a broadcaster for WMNR-FM Fine Arts Radio . His program airs each Friday evening from 6:00pm until 11:00pm, to the delight of choir and church members alike.
Melissa Rosenberg, Administrative Assistant Melissa grew up in Yonkers, NY. Before coming to work at the Monroe Congregational Church, she was an office administrator at Good Directions, a copper weathering store. Melissa is responsible for managing the office, which includes answering questions about church life, keeping track of events in the life of the church, producing our print and web communications, and many other important tasks. Melissa is currently enrolled at Southern New Hampshire University where she is attending night school and pursuing a bachelors degree in mental health counseling. She spends her free time with her extended family and her favorite nephews. She is married to James and lives in Danbury, Connecticut.