By Donald Gilpin
The first week in June will see a historic moment in the chronicle of the First Baptist Church of Princeton (FBCP) with the formal installation and celebration of the Rev. Maureen Gerald as pastor, the 12th pastor in the Church’s 147-year history.
“She has a new vision, a new way of doing things, working with new ideas,” said Lance Liverman, the chair of the trustee board of the church and a member of the search committee that selected Gerald. “She’s a change agent.”
Liverman went on, “Churches today have difficulty attracting young people, and she has programming that can attract young people. We wanted someone who could bring in young people and also bring us a message we can all relate to.”
The Installation schedule, June 4-8, provides some hints as to what that new vision for FBCP might entail, as Gerald, who has been leading services at FBCP since mid-February, takes charge at the church on John Street in the heart of Princeton.
“This installation and the formation of this relationship between pastor and people is not just for me, nor is it just for FBCP,” she said. “It is a moment for the entire Princeton community to witness and participate in something really awesome. And it’s not just for that day, but to be a part of a continuation of history, almost 150 years of presence there in Princeton.”
She continued, “It comes with a rich history, and I want to honor that history and make sure that the entire community of Princeton, the Mercer County area, and beyond becomes a part of that with us. And that we continue to support the larger community. That’s really important. We’re ready to go. We’re ready to move.”
Gerald, in partnership with FBCP, decided to organize an installation experience that would “encompass and reflect my own spiritual and pastoral formation,” she said. “The people and the churches that will participate in this will be a part of my past and also the future and a renewal.”
Because a large congregation is anticipated and also because of Gerald’s affinity for partnership and a spirit of openness and welcome, the initial installation event on Wednesday, June 4 at 7 p.m. and the official pastor installation service on Saturday, June 7 at 12 p.m. will take place at the Stone Hill Church on Bunn Drive. The Thursday, June 5 “Ignite” Youth and Young Adult Takeover at 6 p.m. and the Sunday, June 8 regular morning worship at 10:30 a.m. will take place at the First Baptist Church. There will also be a Friday night installation gala at the Nassau Inn for FBCP members only.
The Wednesday evening kick-off event, titled “New Things,” will be led by Pastor Dharius Daniels of Change Church. Gerald has known Daniels since their days together at Princeton Theological Seminary (PTS). “I was drawn to some of his ideas about ministry and he and I wound up launching, through his vision, Kingdom Church [now Change Church] in Ewing.”
She continued, “He is very instrumental in how I see ministry, how I see community, coming from one point of view, growing so they won’t become extinct.”
Thursday’s youth service will include a visiting pastor from Plainfield, where FBCP is building a partnership, and also visitors from another partner church, First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens in Somerset. “Partnerships are central to me,” said Gerald. “The gospel is all about community.”
Theologian and therapist, Gerald has extensive experience in both professions, and the synergy between the two roles amplifies her work in both fields. In addition to her work as former executive pastor at Shiloh Baptist Church in Trenton and as a spiritual director at PTS and elsewhere, she is the founder and CEO of Momentum Counseling, Coaching, and Consulting LLC based at the Princeton Alliance Church in Plainsboro, and she serves as a mental health counselor at Proper Health in Bordentown.
She discussed the complementary nature of her two career roles. “Mental health is really intertwined with your spiritual health and spiritual beliefs,” she said. “Women having conversations at some point are going to bring up how emotions meet exhaustion, whether there’s despair or frustration, talking about spiritual capacity, spiritual bandwidth. There’s a real connection, a complementary thread that runs through mental health and theological conversations, so as a theologian I think I get the therapeutic insight to see and discuss things like grace and sin, and eventually talking about compassion, making sure that we always humanize and not judge people.”
She added, “In both of my professions I’ve taken an oath to not judge, to hold things confidentially. It’s really about seeing people, affirming people, acknowledging where they are, walking with them no matter where they come from and where they are, and knowing how, with their permission, to carry them on in their journey, and let them follow me where I’m going, which is a place of love and renewal and hope.”
She emphasized the importance of storytelling and listening to others’ stories. In the past three months at FBCP she has been meeting and talking with many groups and individuals. “Listening to them and being present with them, hearing their stories,” she said. “Listening to people’s stories is a huge way to let them know that I see them, that they are valued, that they and what they’ve experienced are affirmed.”
Gerald, who became acquainted with FBCP when she was invited to deliver sermons several times over the past years during which the church was without a permanent pastor, described how she developed a growing affinity for the church and its parishioners. ”I was feeling such a warmth in the community, and I started to have a real heart for the space,” she said. “I really felt this draw.”
She wasn’t looking to become the Church’s pastor. She had many other opportunities, but she described “a tugging at my heartstrings,” and when she was invited to send in an application, she decided to do it. “It was one of those moments,” she said. “Sounds romantic, but that’s what happened.”
On Instagram, Gerald describes herself as “lead pastor, compassionate listener, dancing queen, and friend.” She explained, “That speaks to the pastoral wholeness that I like to bring with head, heart, soul, and spirit all engaged, fully activated, hoping that people can see why I have this vision, this intention to move the gospel forward. I’m doing that as a listener and someone who wants to lean into the joy and authenticity of life.”