Just North Congregational United Church of Christ is pleased to announce that Pastor Steve Van Kuiken has accepted our call to become our new settled pastor. Pastor Van Kuiken was previously the lead minister of a congregation in Pullman, WA. Before that he served churches in Nashville, Covington (KY), Minneapolis, Cincinnati, Tucson and Chicago. In 2002, while serving as Senior Minister of the Mt. Auburn Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati, Pastor Van Kuiken became the first Presbyterian minister to be put on trial in church courts for performing marriages for same-sex couples. Pastor Steve lost his standing as Minister of the Word and his position with that church. He fought and won his appeal and was eventually reinstated as a Presbyterian minister. Steve then left that denomination and joined the United Church of Christ where he continues to have standing as a minister.
In addition to his work for LGBTQ equality, Pastor Steve has also been involved with worker rights and economic justice, immigration, racial justice, affordable housing, environmental justice, mysticism, meditation and inter-spirituality. He has taught bioethics, cofounded a religion-labor organization, and has done social work at a halfway house for federal inmates. He is married and is the father of three children, ages 35, 32 and 11, and has two grandchildren.
Pastor Steve loves reading, going to folk music festivals and attacking his Concept 2 rowing machine on a daily basis.