Andover Newton’s Dean Sarah B. Drummond is pleased to share that Campus and Outreach Minister Emily Bruce has a new opportunity that resonates strongly with Andover Newton’s love for the church. She will soon become Minister of First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church in Kingston, MA . 

 

Emily graduated from Yale Divinity School with a Master of Divinity and a diploma from Andover Newton Seminary in 2019. She then became the seminary’s campus minister in a two-year appointment, during which time she served as chaplain for Andover Newton’s trip to Kenya and later accompanied students and alums to the US/Mexico border for service and learning. Emily was returning from that latter journey when Covid-19 started compelling Andover Newton to move all programs online. Emily served unflaggingly and unflappably during the subsequent months, providing pastoral care and coordinating and supporting peer-led small group ministries among other responsibilities caring for the spiritual life of the Andover Newton community. 

 

Emily Bruce is a native of New Orleans, LA and spent her childhood in the Episcopal Church. Upon receiving her BA in Theatre from Florida State University, she left the Church and the South for New York City, spending the next thirteen years working her way up the ladder of the theatre industry. After eight years as the Associate General Manager for the New York Shakespeare Festival, Emily writes that “it became impossible to ignore that still, small voice in [my] heart that was calling [me] to something more.” Once she found the Unitarian Universalist church, she realized that voice was calling her to ministry. 

 

Although parting is such sweet sorrow (thank you, Juliet), Andover Newton’s leaders are deeply gratified to know that Emily will invest her gifts in a faith community nearby to its first homes in Massachusetts. JaQuan Beachem (MDiv/ANS ’21) will succeed Emily in her role on the senior staff of Andover Newton July 1.