Joan is currently the Associate Pastor at First United Methodist Church in Grand Rapids, a downtown
church of similar size and mission as Central. She will begin serving at Central Church on July 1, 2023.
In her role at Grand Rapids First UMC, she has helped to foster community
ministries like the First Church Work Program and the MLK Tutoring Center. She has been a
strong leader with the Missions committee and Social Justice committee and has continued to
reach out to the community to develop partnerships for shared ministry. In an earlier life,
Pastor Joan was a music professor at Cornerstone University. She is an accomplished musician
with a great love of the arts.
All are invited to join us for this Q&A style event. The discussion will be facilitated by members
of Central’s Staff Pastor Parish Relations team and current pastors Rev. Chris Lane and Rev. Linda Stephan.
The event will be livestreamed on the Central Church Facebook Page.