Chris Braudaway-Bauman

Chris cherishes church life and the ways we get to watch each other grow – from child to adult, of course, but also from doubt to wonder, from uncertainty to confidence, from grief to new life. Sometimes we get to play a role in the growth, helping people unfold and become more fully themselves in the light of God’s love and in the grace of real community. Cultivating the conditions in which that growth can take root and flourish is central to her understanding of ministry.

Through Chris’ leadership, First Congregational Church was selected in 2018 as one of fourteen congregations of various denominations across the country to work with the Collegeville Institute in Minnesota to be a “Community of Calling,” exploring intentionally what it means to be a community of faith that inspires all the members of the church to see more and more how every facet of our lives – at work, at home, in the church and in the wider community – is connected to God’s activity and calling. Chris’ own prayer every day is to stay awake, to keep her eyes, her ears, her mind and heart open, so that she might sense the Spirit’s moving in our midst, to see more possibilities than obstacles, to better understand our neighbors’ needs, and to step more fully and boldly into the vision of life God’s holds for us.

Before being called as our Senior Minister in 2016, Chris was the Director of the Pastoral Excellence Network, working with pastors, seminaries, and denominations across the country to form and strengthen pastoral leadership in every season of ministry. For ten years, she served on the staff of the Massachusetts Conference UCC, after writing the proposal that led to a $1.6 million grant from the Lilly Endowment, a gift that enabled her to create a mentoring and peer learning program for hundreds of new pastoral leaders. Concurrently, as Associate Pastor of Wellesley Village Church, west of Boston, she coordinated its Pastoral Residency Program (think medical residency, only for pastors).

Previously, she was Director of Continuing Education at Andover Newton Theological School, Associate Pastor of Needham Congregational Church, Associate Pastor of The Second Church in Newton, and a curriculum writer and workshop leader for Families First, a secular parenting education organization in Massachusetts. She is a graduate of Emory & Henry College and Boston University School of Theology.

Chris is married to Phil, whose career has focused on non-profit administration. Their son Sam is in a master’s degree program for Youth Ministry, and their daughter Nicki is an elementary school teacher in Massachusetts. Chris loves family travel, Phil’s cooking, exploring museums and national parks, gardening, singing, reading, and good conversation.