Elissa is the Lead Minister at First Church, and the first woman to serve in this role. A graduate of Wellesley College (B.A.) and Harvard University (M.Div), she graduated with honors and awards, if those things interest you. As importantly, she is a lover of food, faith, and the future God is stretching out before us. Yes, even now.

Her preaching and leadership focus on the ways the gospel isn’t just about one point in time but presents itself clearly in all times – especially our own. She seeks to make connections between the systemic and personal issues we see in the world around us, the lessons of Jesus, and the transformation that is possible when we take the gospel seriously (not literally!). She believes faith can leverage the future, and stories can change the world (and have).

Over the past few years, as the public safety, addiction and (un)sheltered crisis have emerged front in center in the community life, Elissa has been pulled into working with civic, business and non-profit entities, making space for dialogues and solutions that honor the common good. As part of this work, she continues to insist we honor and center the humanity of those who are most affected by our collective policy decisions. She has served on the Mayor’s Community Safety Advisory and Faith Leader teams, and is on the board of Vermont Interfaith Action.

At home, she lives with her wife and two young children, so her activities mostly revolve around getting enough sleep. When she was better rested, she loved to read (always tell me about your favorite books), watch tv (escapist period pieces always welcome) and be forced into outside activities by her wife (climbing, skiing, and camping under duress). She uses parenthesis too much, is a dog person, a deep lover of chocolate, and at all times in search of the perfect gluten-free croissant. She will always be an Iowan deep down. (Go Hawks!)

Ava is a freshly ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. Before "hearing the call" to ministry, Ava worked as a performer and vocal music teacher, nonprofit communications specialist, and church programs director. She is particularly passionate about exploring innovative worship, the feminine Christian tradition, and the theology of economics.

William (Will) Gunger is an educator and organizer from Manlius, New York. He received his BA in political science from Alfred University in 2017 and moved to Vermont in 2021 to obtain his MA in Teaching from Saint Michael’s College. Will has been an active member of First Church since 2022. He lives in Burlington, and outside of the church, he enjoys hiking, biking, walking downtown with friends, and reading on the couch with his cat, Luna.

Hilah has been a member of FCCB for 55 years.  She is a UVM graduate and an elementary school teacher for 30 years, teaching K-4th grade in Jericho.  Hilah is a mom to four and a grandmother to five.  Her love of learning, children, God and Jesus brought her to this position as Director of Faith Formation.

Becky Millard is so thrilled to be joining the First Church community! Her musical journey began almost as soon as she could talk and she still finds great joy creating music with others. She spent four years as the choir director at the Old Meetinghouse Church in East Montpelier before moving up to the Burlington area in 2020. She currently works for the Community College of Vermont as the director of Northern Lights at CCV, the hub of Vermont’s early childhood professional development system and as a voice teacher in the greater Burlington area. Becky holds an M.Ed. in creative arts in learning and early childhood education from Lesley University and a B.A. in psychology and music with a focus in choral conducting from Smith College. She and her husband, Roya, live in the New North End with their pup Rory and are very active in local community theatre both on stage and off.

Laura has been singing in choirs for as long as she can remember. Even while studying English Literature in college and graduate school, choral and instrumental music (she plays violin and a little piano) remained an integral part of her life.  In 1998, when the youngest of her four children was a year old, she began leading the Cherub choir here at First Congregational. In the years since then, she has led children of all ages in the music and educational ministries of the church, from singing or playing handbells with the youngest children, to helping middle schoolers perform skits in worship, to enlisting talented high school musicians to make music in worship. She currently sings in the adult choir and works with the youngest music makers in our congregation.  During the work week, she delights in working in the Colchester School District as a first grade paraeducator.  She loves books, baking, cats, her husband John, and the four, talented and wonderful adult children they raised together (and their amazing partners!), who all, miraculously, live nearby.

Grace Raines is a senior at the University of Vermont studying Elementary Education. She is student teaching in a Kindergarten classroom in the Fall of 2025 and set to graduate in the Spring of 2026. Previously Grace has worked in four different elementary school classrooms in various grades throughout the Burlington area. She has also worked in a preschool back home in California. Grace has always loved children and has wanted to become a teacher for as long as she can remember. Working with the community's children on Sundays is one of the highlights of her week and she can't wait to continue connecting and learning with each and every one at the First Church.