Rev. Lauren Bennett, Lead Pastor
Rev. Lauren Bennett mostly grew up in the Evergreen State outside of Seattle. She was a church skeptic who found a community of radical queer disciples who preached liberation of all people in upstate New York when attending St. Lawrence University. Through a long discernment process, lots of reading, and even more conversations, she eventually committed to following the Way and was baptized.
Always up for an adventure, she packed her worldly possessions in her Subaru and drove to Florida to work in the ways of Cesar Chavez as a community organizer in 2011. This work led her to King of Peace MCC where she was energized by a community who merged sexuality and spirituality. A few years later, she began working for Metropolitan Community Churches as the Conference/Meeting Coordinator planning General Conference, among other things, where she remains on staff part-time.
In 2015, she moved to Washington, DC to begin studies at Wesley Theological Seminary and become an active part of MCCDC. She took the summer of 2018 off to work with San Francisco Night Ministry before entering her last year of studies. In May 2019, she graduated with honors from with her Masters in Divinity, with a concentration in Urban Studies.
On August 31, 2019, she was ordained in Washington, DC and is so grateful to be on staff at MCCGL where she stepped in as the provisional pastor contract after serving this community for 4 years as Associate Pastor before becoming the Lead Pastor. In her free time, Lauren volunteers for St. Lawrence University on the Alumni Executive Council and likes being outside, reading, drinking coffee, or dancing when not hanging out with her wife AhSa-Ti and their son Ahmmit.
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