The Rev. John H. Thomas is General Minister and President of the United Church of Christ. He was elected at the General Synod in Providence, Rhode Island, 1999. He serves as one of five officers of the Church comprising the Collegium of Officers which guides the national ministries of the UCC. As General Minister and President Rev. Thomas is the presiding officer of the Collegium, is charged with the care and nurture of the spiritual life of the Church, is the principal spokesperson of the General Synod, and is the official representative of the Church in ecumenical and interfaith relations.
Rev. Thomas was ordained in 1975 and served as Associate Minister of the First Congregational United Church of Christ in Cheshire, Connecticut from 1975 through 1981, and as Minister of the First United Church of Christ in Easton, Pennsylvania, from 1982 through 1991. In 1991 he was appointed Assistant to the President of the United Church of Christ for Ecumenical Concerns. In that role he represented the UCC in theological dialogues and conciliar bodies, served as the ecumenical representative to the General Board of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and was instrumental in the development of the full communion relationship between the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and three Reformed churches, the Reformed Church in America, the Presbyterian Church (USA), and the UCC.
Rev. Thomas is a graduate of Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania (1972) and Yale University Divinity School (1975). He studied at the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey, Switzerland in 1988 and is the author of numerous articles on ecumenical issues. He has received honorary Doctor of Divinity degrees from Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis, United Theological Seminary in New Brighton, Minnesota, and Yankton College in South Dakota.
He is married to Lynda Thomas who is a librarian in Shaker Heights, Ohio where they live. He has two sons, Andrew, born in 1978, and David born in 1982. He is a member of Pilgrim Congregational UCC in Cleveland.
The Associate General Minister is Edith A. Guffey. Before joining the national setting of the church in 1991, Edith was an administrator at the University of Kansas. She is a graduate of Baker University, Baldwin, Kan., and holds a master's degree from the University of Kansas. An African American, Edith is a member of Federated UCC in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. In the new structure of the UCC's national setting, the Associate General Minister is responsible for administration of the Office of General Ministries.
The Rev. Stephen L. Sterner is Acting Executive Minister of Local Church Ministries. Local Church Ministries encourages and supports UCC congregations in the fulfillment of God's mission. Steve most recently served as interim senior minister of Claremont United Church of Christ in Claremont, California. Steve has served in old, historic congregations, been the pastor of a new church start and has served as secretary for church development on the Board of Homeland Ministries. He spent 16 years in pastoral ministry as senior minister at Central Congregational UCC in Atlanta, Ga., and senior minister at the Church of the Beatitudes in Phoenix, Ariz. He was Interim Conference Minister for the UCC's Massachusetts Conference. Steve's parish ministry has included large, multi-staff congregations that contained complex organizational structures and sizable mission agencies. His continuing education work shows a special emphasis on counseling congregations, leading organizations through change, and ongoing theological and biblical reflection. Steve believes the United Church of Christ is at both a critical and exciting moment in its history. LCM has as its charge the ministry of supporting and strengthening local congregations in their transforming work. He is excited and pleased to be a part of this ministry since he has a real passion for the local church. He sees the role of LCM as building relationships with congregations and that the work of empowering and equipping lay and ordained leaders is an extremely important mission of Local Church Ministries.
"Greetings in the name of the Still Speaking God! I am honored to be serving in a position that has as a significant part of its charge the responsibility of being an advocate for local churches in the National Setting of the United Church of Christ. It is a responsibility I assume with both honor and humility. I invite local church pastors and leaders to offer prayers, counsel, and support as we engage in our important ministries in witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Let us pray for and with each other, work for and with each other, and learn to celebrate one another's ministries as if they were our own." - Stephen Sterner
The Rev. M. Linda Jaramillo is executive minister of the UCC's Justice and Witness Ministries, responsible for the church's work on human rights and social, racial and economic justice. Jaramillo has been active in various UCC settings; as a member of the Commission for Racial Justice and the board of the Coordinating Center for Women; as a member and moderator of Ainsworth UCC in Portland, Ore.; as moderator, vice-moderator, treasurer and search committee chair in the Central Pacific Conference; as a member and committee chair of the Executive Council; and as assistant moderator of General Synod. In 2002, she was a UCC delegate to the World Council of Churches Assembly in Harare, Zimbabwe in 1998. She is a former president and vice-president of the Council for Hispanic Ministries and former co-convener of the Council of Racial and Ethnic Ministries.
Jaramillo has over 30 years of management experience working with state, county, and federally funded programs in Oregon, including Head Start, migrant services, child welfare, violence prevention, HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention, and adult community-based education. She received a B.S. in Business Administration from Portland (Ore.) State University and a Master of Divinity degree from UCC-related Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, Calif. Fluent in both English and Spanish, she is the first Hispanic to serve as a member of the Collegium.
The Rev. Cally Rogers-Witte is executive minister of the UCC's Wider Church Ministries and co-executive of the UCC/Disciples' Global Ministries.
Rogers-Witte was the UCC's Southwest Conference Minister for 10 years. Prior to that, she was pastor of Community UCC in Raleigh, N.C. for 18 years. In the 1970s, she worked as a regional associate with the former Office for Church Life and Leadership. Rogers-Witte has attended two international assemblies of the World Council of Churches, in Australia (1991) and Zimbabwe (1998). In the early 1970s, she was the director of Christian education at the American Church in Paris, France.
Rogers-Witte has chaired the UCC Insurance Board and served as a trustee of UCC-related Elon University in North Carolina. She is also a past president of the New Mexico Council of Churches and the North Carolina Council of Churches, and a former board member of the National Council of Churches.
A graduate of Mary Baldwin College in Virginia, she received an M.A. in religion from Yale Divinity School and the Master of Divinity degree from UCC-related Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, Calif.
