Welcome

Nancy grew up in a family with deep United Methodist roots, but like a lot of people, she drifted away from church as a young adult. When she felt God nudging her to come back, she spent a lot of time visiting and learning about other denominations. That is when Nancy chose United Methodism because she loves the emphasis on growing in faith and serving others. Before following her call to ordained ministry, she taught high school English, English as a Second Language in Switzerland, and Composition at a local community college. Nancy also stayed home with her child until they started school. She first came to FUMC as the associate pastor in 2010 and was appointed lead pastor in 2018. Nancy loves this congregation and feels grateful every day to serve a church that is so vital, healthy, and joy-filled! More than anything, she believes the church should be a place of hope – hope for today and hope for the future – for all of God’s people. Nancy’s passions in ministry include preaching, teaching, community-building, and social justice. She has one college-aged child, Emmett, three cats and a dog named Turtle.

After earning a master’s degree in medieval studies from Western Michigan University, Jenaba felt pulled to teaching within professional ministry. Zhe worked in higher ed administration, academic libraries, professional editing, and hospital chaplaincy before admitting that God’s work through zher would shine brightest in the pastorate. Jenaba completed a Master of Divinity at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, before returning to zher adopted home of Michigan. Teaching, writing, preaching, and reimagining how we do church are among Jenaba’s loves; talk with zher about the Church in action around social justice and equity, building worship in new ways, and creating digital holy space in online community. When not in minister mode, Jenaba writes poetry, knits, practices calligraphy, drinks a fair amount of tea, and reads nearly anything.