Chris Jorgensen

Lead Pastor

Chris Jorgensen is our Lead Pastor. She takes care to hold the vision of St. Andrew’s and works with staff and lay leaders alike to bring that vision to fruition. Before being appointed here at St. Andrew’s, she served Hanscom Park United Methodist Church here in Omaha from 2017-2022. She was honored and excited to be HPUMC’s first female pastor in its over-130-year history! Pastor Chris likes to call herself a fourth-career pastor – her first three careers being librarian, stay-at-home mom, and academic administrator. You don’t often think of pastors and librarians as particularly wild people, but Pastor Chris has a deep fondness for the story in the Gospel of Luke chapter 5 where Jesus tells the disciples that if they want to catch some fish, they are going to have to put their nets out in deeper waters. Because of that, she responded to God’s call to ministry and headed with her family (husband Matt and daughter Ruby) from Omaha all the way to Drew Theological School in Madison, New Jersey in 2012. There she learned a lot by studying but probably learned the most by being a student pastor at Church of the Village UMC in Greenwich Village, New York City. She graduated with her Masters of Divinity in 2015 and was appointed to the Urban Abbey UMC in Omaha as their associate pastor and campus minister. She was ordained in June 2017.

When not tending to her responsibilities here at St. Andrew’s, you can find Pastor Chris spending time with her family (husband, daughter, 3 cats and 2 dogs) and friends, watching movies, listening to music & podcasts, and drinking coffee.

Pastor Chris has said, “I want to break down every barrier that might keep someone from encountering the love of God for the first time or growing in their faith. I think that requires making safe space for people to be learn, ask questions, and be their most authentic selves.”