Meet the Pastor:

Welcome to the Douglas Congregational UCC website! We're glad you found us here. Please join us for worship or feel free to give me a call if you have any questions.

We are grateful to be a diverse community that is seeking to make our motto true in all the world: "Everyone Welcome, No Exceptions!" I'm sure you will find this to be as welcoming and loving a community as has our family (Liz and our children, Anna and Ezra).

After struggling with theology and the church, I fell in love with Douglas UCC as a place where we work on issues of inclusiveness, peace & justice, and ecology. We believe that the questions are more important than the answers, the journey more important than the destination, and the way we act more important than the way we believe.

Our worship together as a community is the central part of our life together - and the high point! We worship in an informal liturgical style centered each week around the Eucharist, or communion, in our beautifully remodeled 1880s-vintage sanctuary. Then we recess to a time of great refreshments and conversation in our Friendship Hall.
We look forward to seeing you soon!

Peace,

Andy

Rev. Andrew DeBraber
pastor@douglasucc.org

About Pastor DeBraber:

Rev. Andrew DeBraber began as pastor of Douglas Congregational UCC in June of 2003. Originally from Grand Rapids, Mich., Andy received an international baccalaureate degree from the Armand Hammer United World College in Montezuma, New Mexico, in 1990. He graduated from Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa, and received his Master of Divinity degree from Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan.

Previous to serving Douglas UCC, Andy co-pastored Trinity Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, served as a community organizer with Faith in Motion (bringing faith communities together in support of better public transportation), worked as a free-lance writer, and was a newspaper reporter and editor. He currently also serves as the convener of Concerned Clergy of West Michigan.

We use the lectionary for worship each week, and Andy's favorite lectionary web sites are:

www.sarahlaughed.net
www.alphalink.com.au
www.textweek.com