Valley Presbyterian Church Welcomes New Pastor

BROOKFIELD — The Reverend Adele Crawford began her ministry at Valley Presbyterian Church on August 13, and led her first worship service on Sunday, August 19.

Rev Crawford had been serving as interim dean of chapel at Yale Divinity School, overseeing the daily ecumenical worship life of the seminary community. She has also served as an interim Christian education director, a liturgical consultant, and acting associate minister with responsibility for youth programs, confirmation, preaching, worship leadership, and pastoral care.

Well known in the Presbytery of Southern New England, Rev Crawford is serving a third year on the Worship Task Force for presbytery meetings, and was recently elected as chair of the Social Justice Committee.

Rev Crawford arrived in the ministry on a path that first led through the professional music world. She received both her bachelor and master of music degrees magna cum laude from the University of Michigan before embarking on a 15-year career in opera that took her across the United States, Europe, and the Middle East, including several years as a principal artist at the Metropolitan Opera. She has seen the church and world from many different angles and relates well to people in and outside the church. Early in her music career, she sang professionally in a variety of reformed denominational churches, but she is a life-long Presbyterian.

In 2005 Ms Crawford left her singing career to answer a call to ministry that had long been on her heart. She was a Presidential Scholar at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary before transferring to Yale University, from which she received her master of divinity in 2008. She was ordained in the Presbyterian Church (USA) in 2009 and became a fourth generation pastor, and the first woman in her family to be ordained.

Rev Crawford is married to the Reverend Kurt Shaffert, an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. He currently serves as Protestant chaplain to the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in West Haven, and is a lecturer in pastoral care at Yale Divinity School.

Valley Presbyterian will celebrate Welcome Sunday on September 16. Worship is at 10 am, during which time the new Church School will be kicked off. Attendees will then celebrate with an all-church picnic after worship with fun and games for kids of all ages.

“Though truly every Sunday is Welcome Sunday, this particular day will be a great opportunity for first-time visitors to come and see what we’re all about!” promises Rev Crawford.

Valley Presbyterian, a member of the Presbyterian Church (PC)(USA), is at 21 West Whisconier Road in Brookfield. Call 203-775-26254, send e-mail to gerryvpc@sbcglobal.net, or visit ValleyPresbyterianChurch.weebly.com for additional information.