MADISON AVENUE
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
921 Madison Avenue
(at East 73rd Street)
New York, NY 10021
Tel: 212- 288-8920
Fax: 212-249-1466
(at East 73rd Street)
New York, NY 10021
Tel: 212- 288-8920
Fax: 212-249-1466
Carmen Goetschius, the first Global Ministry Fellow of Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church, grew up in the Pacific Northwest where the Cascade Mountains nurtured and fed the adventurous spirit that eventually led her toward international mission work. Carmen received an undergraduate degree in political science and theater from the University of Washington in 2000. After college she spent a short season working in congressional politics before working at University Presbyterian Church with University Ministries in Seattle. She completed a Master’s of Divinity at Princeton Theological Seminary in May of 2007 and was ordained as a minister of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church in August of 2007 whereupon she became Parish Associate on the staff of Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church.
Carmen’s theological commitments to the reformed tradition have nurtured in her a fierce commitment to ecumenical partnership. This lends itself to her work with Theological Education by Extension Zambia (TEEZ), where she is currently working as a member of the program staff. This teaching position allows her to travel widely, to enter into conversation with a diverse range of denominational leadership and laypeople in both urban and rural settings.
Carmen has written, “The era of globalization is ushering in radical political, ecological, cultural, and economic changes that continue to shape the church and the spiritual lives of Christians everywhere. Human beings are being connected in complex social and economic networks unfathomable to us even a decade ago and the church is being challenged to examine the way we steward these relationships. The church in the global north is shrinking while the church in the global south is growing exponentially. The global fellowship grew out of a commitment to respond to these changes with open hearts and open minds, knowing that we as a church have a great deal to learn from the church in the global south.”
Carmen is an avid reader, loves the theater, is interested in documentary film-making and is a soccer enthusiast. In her free time she likes to enjoy the delights of city life with friends, explore the joys of rural New England, and hike and camp whenever she can. Upon her completion of her year in Africa, Carmen will return to the MAPC staff December 1, 2008, in order to share her experiences and reflections with MAPC and other churches of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
Visit Carmen’s blog at: http://carmen-in-zambia.blogspot.com
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