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Seeds of Change Have Been Planted
Nancy Taylor To Step Down From MACUCC
To Pastor at Old South Church

“I have been quite overwhelmed by the outpouring of supportive, encouraging and understanding cards, letters, emails and phone calls I have received since announcing my candidacy to the Old South Church,” says Minister and President, the Rev. Dr. Nancy S. Taylor, the statewide head of the United Church of Christ. “I want to thank all the members for being so understanding of this call. As many have remarked, God can be intrusive and disruptive, mysterious and mischievous. Well, what is new?”

On October 3, 2004, the congregation of the Old South Church in Boston, one of the nation’s most historic churches, called Taylor to be its twentieth senior minister. She is the first female senior minister in the 335-year history of the church, which was founded in 1669. Taylor has served since 2001 as the Minister and President of the Massachusetts Conference of the UCC, based in Framingham. She will leave her present role in early January and take office at Old South Church on Monday, Jan. 24.

“Autumn is the season of change. During this time, we see it more clearly; we smell it in the air and we feel it,” illustrates Taylor as she relates how her own senses were opened to change. “As blessed as I am to have experienced Conference ministry, I believe God is calling me back to the local church.”

Among the Conference members, there are feelings of both sadness and joy regarding Taylor’s decision. Christina Braudaway-Bauman, the former Chair of the Search Committee during the previous search, remarked, “Even as we grieve deeply the loss of her Confer-ence leadership, I am grateful that Nancy’s ministry will continue in our midst, renewing the presence of the United Church of Christ in the city of Boston. Her call is a ringing endorsement and affirmation of the local church, a primary reason we exist as a Conference!” Braudaway-Bauman is presently the Associate for New Clergy Develop-ment for the MACUCC and involved in the Pastoral Residency Program at Wellesley Congregational Church.

“I am as surprised as anyone about the timing,” continues Taylor. “But God works in mysterious ways. Biblically, for every season there is a time, whether it is for planting or harvest, birth, growth or death. As Natalie Sleeth wrote in her hymn,” Taylor recites, “‘in the bulb there is a flower; in the seed, an apple tree… unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.’”

“The context of the lives we all live is change. Now it is time for change in my own life.”

Change is not unfamiliar ground to the MACUCC. When Taylor was called to the Conference, it was already in the midst of exciting changes. A Vision for Renewal and Growth, developed by a strategic planning team prior to her arrival, led to creative new ways for churches to minister together and reach out to the communities.

Taylor built upon the Vision’s foundation and led changes both within and outside the religious community. She was instrumental in the creation of a new Massachusetts state law that mandates clergy to report suspected child abuse. She played a significant role in establishing an ongoing interfaith dialogue between Christian and Jewish leaders following the events of 9/11. Under her supervision, the Massachusetts Conference of the UCC secured a $1.5 million grant from the Lilly Endowment for a five-year program, Developing and Sustaining Pastoral Excellence.

“There have been many good things achieved in the Conference that are still in place because of changes made,” Taylor explains. “The Pastoral Excellence Program and the Still Speaking Initiative are just two programs that are helping to transform ministries, and we continue to build upon them.”

Although she is eager to join the Old South leadership, Taylor will miss the birds-eye view of the Conference’s diverse membership. “I had the privilege of looking in on small country churches in hilltowns, large urban churches in both historic and brand new buildings, and everything in between. I have been richly blessed with the opportunity to experience the breadth of the body of Christ that I could not have otherwise experienced. I will miss it, but I will also carry this experience with me forever because it has altered my perspective and it has altered me.”

“It has been an extraordinary honor to work with such a professional and capable staff to help lead one of the flagship Conferences within the UCC. This 100,000-member Conference is endowed with high-caliber clergy who are well-educated, faithful and gifted leaders in both the church and in the communities they serve. Our membership is comprised of extraordinary people of faith who serve on boards and committees, teach Sunday school, become deacons, and volunteer out of the generosity of their hearts and because God is in their lives. The clergy and laity of this Conference are blessed with a wide variety of skills and a deep heart for the church.”

When asked about her next step, Taylor assures, “I proceed fully engaged as the Minister and President of the Massachusetts Conference of the United Church of Christ, and I look forward to continuing in this ministry through the first week of January.”

“Through it all, I remain a minister of the United Church of Christ listening to the Still Speaking God as all of us do,” Taylor reiterates. “I am just moving from one setting to another. I hope and pray that God will use me to sow another seed.”