As of July 1, 2009, Rev. Kathleen Cheyney has been appointed as the minister of St. John's!!! 

At St. John's, everyone is a minister.

However, Rev. Kathleen Cheyney leads our congregation in worship and service.

Kathleen is a Deacon in Full Connection in the Baltimore-Washington Conference of The United Methodist Church. She received a Bachelor of Arts from Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio, and a Doctor of Medicine from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She also holds a Master of Divinity from Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC.

Kathleen began the practice of medicine as a thoracic and cardiovascular surgeon. After a few years, however, she switched to the practice of emergency medicine as an emergency department physician. While she was engaged in emergency medical practice, she felt called to ordained ministry and enrolled in the Master of Divinity program at Wesley Theological Seminary, the seminary her father had attended fifty years earlier. She was ordained Deacon in 1990 but continued to practice emergency medicine in an "Extension Ministry" relationship with the Baltimore-Washington Conference. While still in medical practice, Kathleen conducted a number of workshops on health-related issues at the Annual Conference, District, and Local Church levels.

While still in seminary, Kathleen was increasingly drawn to issues of social and ecological justice, the welfare of non-human creatures, and the opportunity for the Church to make a positive difference in the healing of all creation, including its non-human as well as human beings. After working sixteen years as an emergency physician, she left human medicine to begin a new life serving non-human patients as a veterinary technician. Her new veterinary calling provided her the knowledge and practical experience necessary to speak and to act for the positive welfare of God's beloved non-human creatures. She has also been actively engaged in feline rescue for twenty years.

Kathleen is very excited about her ministry at St. John's. In her own words, "I stand in awe of this congregation; its absolute hospitality, its diversity, its true commitment as a Reconciling Congregation, and its passion for inclusiveness and social and economic justice. I look forward to serving God through the ministry of St. John's Church."

Kathleen can be contacted at pastor@stjohnsbaltimore.org.