The interim minister at First Church Congregational brings a wealth of experience as a chaplain, missionary, teacher and pastoral counselor. 

“I’ll be able to apply all of these in my ministry here as we work together,” said Rev. Ann Rogers-Brigham who started at the church at 26 Pleasant St., on Oct. 6. 

She was getting to know parishioners at the ham and bean supper on Oct. 19. 

She replaces Rev. Bill Ingraham who left Methuen in June to serve a church in Chalford, Pa. 

Rogers-Brigham, who was raised in Wilcox, Ariz., and Collins, Miss., said she heard a call to the ministry at age 15 inspired by her parents who were active in church. 

“They lived their faith by serving the community and I wanted to be part of that,” Rogers-Brigham said. 

She has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and music from Mississippi College, a master of divinity degree from Southern Baptist Theological seminary in Louisville, Ky., and a doctorate of divinity from Andover Newton Theological School. She was a fellow in the American Association of Pastoral Counselors and had a private practice in the different towns she served. 

Rogers-Brigham was ordained in the Southern Baptist Church in 1979 in Yazoo City along with her late husband Bill Brigham.  Rogers-Brigham went to Bangkok to serve as a missionary. After returning to the United States, she transferred to the United Church of Christ in 1989 prompted by the Southern Baptist ban on ordaining women. 

“I struggled to find recognition and authority, but I stayed in the struggle because of the people who supported me,” she said, adding she found in the United Church of Christ a place to work for social justice and equality which are dear to her heart. 

“It’s very fulfilling to be able to do the work and make the world a better place to live,” Rogers-Brigham said.

In her years as a minister, she was pastor at Montvale Congregational Church in Woburn while also being Protestant chaplain at Bentley College. She has also served churches in Wisconsin, Vermont, Northern California, Mississippi and New York. 

Rogers-Brigham was a teacher at Thammasat University in Bangkok from 1982-1986 and at Christian University in Bangkok in 2016.

Rogers-Brigham was married to Bill Brigham for 35 years before he passed away in 2008. She has two children, Paul Brigham and Ann Martha Brigham, and a granddaughter, Sierra Brigham, who is Paul’s daughter.

“I’m happy to be in this journey with them because it’s a mutual ministry,” Rogers-Brigham said, as she serves at First Church until they call a permanent pastor. 

 

First Church Congregational’s new Interim Pastor Ann Rogers-Brigham (right) enjoyed meeting parishioners, like Dorothy Watson, during last month’s ham and bean supper. ML photo by Yadira Betances Muldoon