SERVICE OF INSTALLATION

for

Rev. Dr. Kris E. Watson

As Senior Pastor

At West Center Congregational Church, UCC

Saturday, November 16, 2019 at 11:00 am

at

West Center Congregational Church, UCC

 101 Pondfield Road West, Bronxville, NY 10708 

A native of Harlem, USA, Rev. Kris is a graduate of the prestigious St. Hilda’s and St. Hugh’s grade and high school, a school founded by an African American nun in the Episcopalian tradition. Rev. Kris completed her undergraduate studies at Vassar College and went on to Fordham University School of Law where she obtained her B.A. and Doctor of Juris Prudence degrees. She served as an Assistant District Attorney in the New York County District Attorney’s Office for several years before entering into the private practice of law.

Called into ministry in 2009, Rev. Kris attended the New York Theological Seminary, graduating in 2013 with her Master of Divinity and earning the Larry and Inez Perry award for excellence in Biblical studies. During seminary, she was a ministerial intern at Grace Congregational Church of Harlem UCC and then at Safe Haven UCC.  In 2015, Rev. Kris was called as the Associate Pastor at Safe Haven UCC and was granted full ministerial standing in the United Church of Christ in 2016.

Rev. Kris is the immediate past Vice President of the Board of Directors of the UCC Metropolitan Association of the New York Conference, where she served on the By-laws revision committee, the Personnel Committee, and the Fundraising Committee. In 2017, Kris was elected by the Metropolitan Association Board to serve as the chair of the Ordination and Ministerial Standing Committee, now renamed the Committee on Ministry. In that capacity, Rev. Kris is responsible for the oversight and approval of those maintaining and seeking ministerial standing in the Metropolitan Association. Rev. Kris also serves on the Nominating Committee of the New York Conference, as a delegate to the General Synod, and is currently being trained as a facilitator of Sacred Conversations to End Racism by the UCC’s National Minister for Racial Justice. Once installed, Rev. Kris will be the first woman and the first African descendent person to be installed as the Senior Minister and Pastor of West Center Congregational Church, UCC.

 Clergy will robe at 10:30 am. The liturgical color for the day is red.

The reception will follow the service.  Directions to the church below:

Directions to West Center Congregational Church, UCC

West Center Church UCC

101 Pondfield Road West,
Bronxville , NY 10708 
914-337-3829

To get to the church, from the Cross County Parkway, take Exit 5, Kimball Avenue, and proceed north, approximately one mile to the traffic light at Pondfield Road West. 
Turn left at the traffic light, and the church is one block down on your left at Chatfield. 

Or take the Harlem Line Metro-North train from Grand Central Terminal to Bronxville.