Father Chuck Christopher

Our Transition Priest, The Rev. Charles (Chuck) Christopher was born in Denver, Colorado. He is married to Patsy, and has two daughters and a granddaughter all of whom live in Ashland.

He attended College at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado, receiving a BA in 1968 in History with a Philosophy minor. Attended Seabury-Western Theological Seminary (Episcopal) in Evanston, Illinois. From 1971-1991, worked in several congregations in Colorado and then moved to Richland, Washington (the Tri-Cities), where he was rector of All Saints’ Episcopal Church.

The Christophers moved to southern Oregon in 1999 where Fr. Chuck completed his doctorate focusing on working with organizational systems in churches and other non-profits. He was employed part time by St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Medford, Oregon (1999-2006), while starting a business as a consultant for business, non-profits, and churches. In the last few years he has been working on creative approaches toward times of transition in congregations (e.g., times between clergy, changes in staffing, structure, major shifts in programming, etc.). Prior to coming to Trinity, he was employed at the Church of the Good Samaritan in Corvallis, Oregon as a Transition Priest and is also a facilitator for the Diocese of Oregon in their Fresh Start program.

Over the years he has served in a variety of community service roles ranging from water and fishery conservation organizations to serving on a hospital board for eight years. He presently is a member of Rotary International, and is a past-president of the board at the Samaritan Counseling Center of Southern Oregon and past vice-president of the board of the Addictions Recovery Center of Medford.

Fr. Chuck’s passion for ministry has centered around providing resources for congregations in transition to assist them as they seek to understand and respond to God’s call to ministry.