The Reverend Laurel W. Koepf, Affiliated Minister

The Reverend Laurel W. Koepf, Affiliated Minister at Broadway UCC, is an instructor and PhD candidate in Biblical Studies at Union Theological Seminary, focusing on child-centered biblical hermeneutics. Laurel sees teaching and mentoring seminarians as the primary site of her ministry. She is a Teaching Fellow in Old Testament and Biblical Hebrew and teaches courses at Union on ways of including children in the full life of the church through worship and other forms of faith formation.

Laurel was raised in the United Church of Christ and began assisting in religious education classes when she was ten years old. She began teaching Sunday School when she was fourteen and writing curriculum at sixteen. While attending Sarah Lawrence College, she developed a passion for academic study of the Bible and started a Sunday School at West Center Church, UCC in Bronxville New York. After graduation, she served the Second Congregational Church in Greenwich Connecticut as Director of Children and Youth Ministries for several years while discerning a call to ordained ministry.

The call to ordained academic ministry became clear to Laurel as she studied toward the Master of Divinity degree at Union Theological Seminary. Laurel believes that academic study of the Bible can be a sacred act rather than a break from faith. She finds teaching seminarians this to be a deeply pastoral and vital ministry of the church.

Laurel is on the editorial board for the Journal of Childhood and Religion, has written a forthcoming article on Bibles for Children in Semeia, and has presented her research at the Society of Biblical Literature, American Academy of Religion, Cultural Studies Association, and Old Testament Colloquium. She recently received the Robert Wood Lynn fellowship for promise of excellence in teaching. Laurel lives in Morningside Heights with her spouse.

You can reach Laurel by emailing her at: laurel@broadwayucc.org