An intern minister at First Parish for the 2019-2020 church year, Jennifer is a seminarian in her final year at Meadville Lombard Theological School and a Candidate for Unitarian Universalist Ministry.

Raised in a secular family but longing for religious community, she found her spiritual home as a young adult in the freethinking, open-hearted, justice-seeking Unitarian Universalist faith. Prior to answering the call to ministry, Jennifer’s winding vocational journey included stops in literary studies,  nonprofit communications, and childbirth coaching. She is delighted to be learning and growing into religious leadership with the support of First Parish Chelmsford.

The Reverend Ellen Rowse Spero has served as our minister since August, 2002.

Ellen is a graduate of Brandeis University, University of Maryland (with an M.Ed in Special Education) and Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. She has served as the Assistant Minister at the First Parish in Lexington, MA, and as the Interim Minister at Hope United Church of Christ in Alexandria, VA. Before entering the ministry, she was a special education teacher in Alexandria, Virginia. She grew up as a Unitarian Universalist, attending the First Church Unitarian in Littleton, MA.