VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 2/28/14)—ABCUSA is pleased to announce Rev. Stacy Emerson as the new Stewardship Facilitator. In this role as deployed, part-time staff with Mission Resource Development. Emerson will continue to serve as Senior Minister of Union Baptist Church in Mystic, Connecticut.
Rev. Emerson will bring to the position a new atmosphere of stewardship and financial planning as she works with regions and congregations in developing generous disciples in a variety of ways, including developing material and writing for the website. At the same time, she will seek to identify adaptive challenges and create experiments to address those challenges. “Meeting the challenges of Stewardship in the 21st century will call upon our deepest courage, bold creativity, and profound passion for answering God’s call to share the Good News of the gospel,” said Emerson.
“As with many aspects of ministry today, we are discovering that the framework and assumptions of the past are no longer providing the security and stability we have long depended upon because of many factors,” she added. “Changes in perceptions, habits, and processes are needed. But what remains a constant is the God who has gifted people with the skills, generosity, joy, and faith to abundantly respond to God’s call, in every generation, in every challenging age.”
Emerson received a Master of Divinity degree from Andover Newton Theological School in 1996, and graduated from Elizabethtown College with a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology in 1993.
Prior to serving in her current position as Senior Minister of Union Baptist Church since 2009, Emerson served as Associate Minister of both Union Baptist Church (1999-2009) and the First Baptist Church of Branford, Connecticut (1997-1999). She has been active in American Baptist Churches, serving in leadership roles and on various teams in her region.
“Mission Resource Development welcomes Rev. Stacy Emerson to the role of Stewardship Facilitator for ABCUSA. She brings to the position a staunch commitment to and a solid understanding of biblical stewardship, special gifts and abilities necessary to take on the changing landscape of giving, and a readiness to embrace this important ministry as a bold and exciting adaptive challenge,” said Rev. Dr. Leo S. Thorne, associate general secretary for Mission Resource Development. “As a pastor, Rev. Emerson will also help us keep the focus on stewardship education centered in the congregation.”
American Baptist Churches is one of the most diverse Christian denominations today, with over 5,200 local congregations comprised of 1.3 million members, across the United States and Puerto Rico, all engaged in God’s mission around the world.