On Sunday, October 23, 2023, we received Pastor Jon Bauman, as our senior pastor and teacher, promising to labor with him in the minister of the gospel and to give him due honor and support. We gather with him and with the United Church of Christ as a sign of our mutual ministry in Christ’s name.
Pastor Jon Bauman started serving First United Church of Christ in May, 2015, as our Director of Youth and Young Adult Ministries. A native of Quakertown, he is a 2010 graduate of Quakertown Community High School, where he enjoyed singing in the school’s choir. He went on to study at Philadelphia Biblical University, now Cairn University, majoring in Youth Ministry, a subject he feels very passionate about. After learning he didn’t need a degree to minister to youth, he switched his major to Business after one year, while still, of course, gaining education in the Bible, theology, and other church-related subjects. He graduated in 2014 with a Bachelor of Science degree. He went on to take a job with a specialty gas firm where he worked for about a year. Even at that time, he thought ministry was something that he would do on the side, something he’d volunteer his time for.
He came to First Church in early 2015 and joined the staff as Director of Youth and Adult Ministries, where he formed deep and meaningful bonds with the younger members of the congregation. Not long after, citing his ability and passion for ministry, then co-pastors Douglas and Joyce Donigian encouraged him to consider attending Seminary, something he had never really considered.
While attending Missio Seminary, Pastor Jon’s desire to become a pastor was cemented. He was able to work full time and attend classes full time, and through his perseverance, earned his Master’s in Divinity degree in 3 1/2 years. He became Associate Pastor of First Church in 2020. When the Senior Pastors decided it was time to retire, the church needed to begin a search for their replacements. Pastor Jon was already here and so ingrained into the fabric of the church that the choice was obvious and the search was quickly ended. He still had to attend to all the other requirements as any other candidate would. Application. Pastor profile. Interview. Trial sermon (he’d already given many). And, of course, the congregational vote.
On Sunday, October 23, 2023, we received Pastor Jon Bauman, as our senior pastor and teacher, promising to labor with him in the minister of the gospel and to give him due honor and support. We surround him with love and faith and with the United Church of Christ as a sign of our mutual ministry in Christ’s name.
Pastor Jon married his wife, Julia, in 2021, someone he met in undergraduate school and connected with years later. They were friends who came together to grow with each other. She is a huge supporter and source of comfort to him. She also enjoys participating with the youth group and connects well with the girls in a way where Jon, as a male, just cannot. Jon appreciates that Julia gives him the “chance to be myself.” They live in Quakertown with their dog and cats.
Pastor Jon says that he thinks what makes him the right man for the job is this: “So when it comes to our church, it just feels natural because I know the church and they know me, and we have developed similar visions of where we’d like to see the church go. We want to be a church that is involved in the community, reaching out, stepping in. We want to be a church that is supporting good things that are happening in the community already.”
Excerpts from “Meet Jon Bauman, First UCC’s New Senior Pastor” by Christopher Betz, Upper Bucks Free Press, November 2022 (used with permission)