Rev. Barbara Lemmel

Co-Pastor, Harvard-Epworth United Methodist Church
Barb Lemmel

Email: pastor.barb@harvardepworthchurch.org
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Telephone: (617) 354-0837
Address:  Harvard-Epworth United Methodist Church, 1555 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
Web site: https://harvardepworthchurch.org

I’m delighted to be serving Harvard-Epworth United Methodist Church with my partner, Mitchell Hay, and to be serving as a chaplain at Harvard College.  

My passion is accompanying individuals on their spiritual journeys, helping them to discover and utilize their gifts and to discern the Holy in their daily living.  In addition to being ordained in the UMC, I’m a trained spiritual director and leadership coach and parish consultant. I bring deep listening, a vision of the possible, and spiritual practices to each role, engaging people where they are and helping them to ask “What’s next?” in their lives and their hopes.

I graduated from Washington University in St. Louis in 1983 with a degree in physical therapy; I later attended Boston University School of Theology, graduating with a Masters of Divinity in 1989.  Over the next three decades I served churches in Vermont and upstate New York, as well as working on conference staff for the UMC and specializing in restructuring, spiritual development and revitalization.  I am the Director of Tending the Fire, a leadership development process that enables participants  to embrace and transform the anxiety that can paralyze organizations and individuals moving through deep change.  Since 2003, Tending the Fire has offered wise, resilient guidance to clergy, laity and judicatory leadership in multiple denominations.

I’m committed to social justice ministry, especially issues of racism, LGBTQIA+ equality, and climate change.  Even when working on serious issues, I believe that holy engagement can be transformative and fun, bringing out the best in everyone who is involved.

I live in Cambridge with my partner Mitch; our grown children live in the Boston area.  Whenever possible, I get into the woods and mountains to hike and ski, or out on the water in a dragon boat or kayak, or simply onto the roads to bike or walk our dog Toby.  I delight in good food, enjoying the many restaurants of Cambridge and experimenting with many cuisines in my kitchen.  I love to feed people, in body and in spirit and in community.