The Rev. Dr. Janet Parker

Denomination: United Church of Christ (UCC)
Organization: Rock Spring Congregational United Church of Christ

The Rev. Dr. Janet Parker is the recipient of the National Council of Churches' 2007 Environmental Sermon Award. She is the pastor for parish life at Rock Spring Congregational United Church of Christ in Arlington, VA.

Janet came to Rock Spring in September 2005. She was ordained as a minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), but transferred her ministerial standing to the Potomac Association of the United Church of Christ after coming to Rock Spring. She received her M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary and was ordained in 1989 to serve a Taiwanese/Chinese UCC congregation in Staten Island, NY. Subsequently, she pastored two Presbyterian churches part-time while pursuing a Ph.D. in Christian Ethics at Union Theological Seminary in New York, which she completed in 2001. Following the September 11th attacks, Janet served the Presbytery of New York City as Coordinator for Disaster Relief.

She taught Religion and Society for two years at Chicago Theological Seminary and was a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University's Center for the Study of Religion prior to coming to Rock Spring. She served on an advisory team to the World Council of Churches Decade to Overcome Violence Initiative from 2002-2006. Janet has received three sermon awards from different organizations since coming to Rock Spring, for the sermons "From Apocalypse to Genesis", "The Ties that Bind," and "Noah's Promise."