Acting Pastor begins tenure with First Baptist
Rev. Dr. Marcia Bailey, the new Acting Pastor at First Baptist Church, Pottstown, is an ordained American Baptist pastor with 32 years of pastoral ministry experience. In addition, she is an associate professor for teaching in the Intellectual Heritage Program at Temple University, teaching critical thinking and writing for more than 10 years. She intermittently serves as a transitional pastor in local churches seeking settled pastors.
Prior to teaching full time, Marcia was one of the pastoral partners at Central Baptist Church, Wayne, and before that, the pastor of the Mayfair Conwell Memorial Baptist Church in Philadelphia. Marcia earned a bachelor of arts from Alderson-Broaddus College, a master of divinity from Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary (now Palmer Theological Seminary) and a doctor of ministry in Transformative Leadership from Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School in Rochester, N.Y. She is the author of Choosing Partnership, Sharing Ministry: A Vision for New Spiritual Community and a co-author of Mothers In Arms: Conversations With Women Ex-Combatants From the Late War in El Salvador.
Marcia serves on the Philadelphia Baptist Association Board of Directors and has been involved with interfaith ministry in a local Daughters of Abraham group for many years. Professionally she has particular interest in collaborative ministry, in creative, contemporary Biblical interpretation, and in making sacred spaces inclusive, diverse and safe so all feel welcome.