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New Area Minister called for Northeast
May, 2002
A Pennsylvania minister with a wide variety of experience has been called as the new Northeast Area Minister.
The Rev. Dr. Michael Penn-Strah is currently co-pastor, with his wife, of a new Open and Affirming church start in Pittsburgh. He is also serving part-time as interim minister at another Pittsburgh church.
“We were looking for someone with a depth of experience who could translate their diverse experiences in parish settings to a judicatory,” said Virginia McDaniel, search committee chair. “Mike has been the pastor of small churches and very small churches, and was also the senior pastor of a 1,000-member church. He has served three times as an intentional interim and is now even working with a new church start. That depth of experience certainly met what we were looking for – he has an understanding of all those different settings.”
Comment on this article through our Discussion Forum Rev. Dr. Michael S. Penn-Strah
Recent Pastoral work
• 2000 – present: Interim Minister, Allegheny United Church of Christ, Pittsburgh, PA
• 1998 – present: Co-pastor, Open Arms Church, Pittsburgh, PA
• 1991-1999: Pastor, Emmanuel Reformed United Church of Christ, Export, PA
• 1990: Interim Minister, St. Paul UCC, Wapakoneta, OhioCommunity Activities
• President, Pittsburgh PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays)Education
• Doctor of Theology, 1984, Boston University School of Theology, Boston, MA
• Master of Divinity, 1966 Chicago Theological Seminary, Chicago, IL
• Bachelor of Science in Speech, 1962, Northwestern University, Evanstown, ILFamily
• Married to Sara Penn-Strah; four adult children; two grandchildren.McDaniel, pastor of Christ Church United in Lowell, described Penn-Strah as “Christ centered with an ability to appreciate the theological diversity that exists in the Northeast Area.” She added that he is an “extremely good listener” with a “wonderful sense of humor.”
“We had a lot of fun talking to him and getting to know him. He has a genuineness and warmth of personality – we were very touched by that,” she said.
McDaniel also said Penn-Strah has advanced training in systems dynamics and conflict resolution, and handled a complicated hypothetical situation presented to him very well.
Penn-Strah said he is looking forward to having the chance to share his experiences.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity for me to be able to share that breadth of experience,” he said.
Penn-Strah said that, throughout his ministry, he has been a believer in the importance of mutual support among pastors and churches.
“It seems that wherever I have been in ministry one of the first things I’ve done has been to organize clergy support groups. I’ve always enjoyed working with colleagues,” he said. “This is a way to do that in a more intentional way.”
Penn-Strah said he looks forward to being able to help strengthen the covenant among the Northeast Area’s 59 churches.
“One of the challenges that I see for the church today is that the world in which we exist is changing so rapidly,” he said. “The day of the lone ranger pastor and lone ranger church is over. If we’re going to be effective in ministry we need to work together and share our resources and our gifts.”
Penn-Strah will assume his responsibilities in September in the Northeast, which for the past two years has been served by Interim Associate Conference Minister Marilyn Rossier. Former Northeast Area Minister Erwin Bode left in 2000 to serve for a year as Interim Conference Minister before his retirement.
The Northeast Area Search Committee reopened its search last summer, after one year of work, after failing to agree on a candidate.
“When we re-opened the search, we knew we needed to work much harder at developing a pool. Rather than waiting for people to hear about the job and write to us, we contacted as many area and conference ministers as we could, asking for names,” McDaniel said. “That resulted in a wonderful pool of candidates – including Mike, whose name was recommended to us.”