Rachel Watson, Stated Supply Associate Pastor

Rachel comes from Houston, Texas. The granddaughter of a Presbyterian pastor and the daughter of a church musician, Rachel literally grew up in the church building. Ey found eir home in Christian education, teaching Sunday school and youth group, directing VBS, and developing a children’s church and prayground program. Rachel holds a BS in Psychology from the University of Houston, and taught early childhood education in the public schools for 17 years before beginning theological studies at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in 2018. It is a persistent God that got Rachel to seminary, completing a journey that began in high school and was nurtured by a pastor who helped grow eir preaching voice through children’s sermons. Rachel’s seminary studies have settled around issues of pastoral care, Christian formation, and worship in the later years of life. Having served at UPC as a Christian Formation Program Facilitator and a Seminary Intern for the Supervised Practice of Ministry, Rachel now continues here in eir role as the Stated Supply Associate Pastor. How to be the church in a pandemic is not what ey anticipated learning, but ey is finding a calling to understand how to make the virtual church very much actual, now and in the future, through the blending of the liturgical, theological, relational, and technical. Ey feels blessed to be able to grow and learn in this community.