R. Charles Grant serves First Congregational Christian as Transitional Pastor. A transitional or interim pastor serves a congregation between settled pastoral calls. In addition to the normal pastoral duties of the office, the transitional pastor leads the congregation in a process of self-study before calling of the next settled pastor. As transitional pastor Charles is ineligible to be considered for the position of settled pastor.
Ordained to the Presbyterian Church USA ministry in 1978, Charles served pastorates in Virginia, Missouri, and Pennsylvania, including 16 years as pastor/head of staff of the Bon Air Church in Richmond. For the last two years he has served as Interim Pastor and Head of Staff of the Westminster Presbyterian Church in Charlottesville.
A native of Florida, Charles earned his undergraduate degree from Furman University in South Carolina and the Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry degrees at Vanderbilt University Divinity School in Tennessee. As an undergraduate he did archaeological work at Tel Gezer, Israel. He did his clinical training at St. Elizabeths Hospital, Washington, DC. He has also taken additional training in interim/transitional ministry, structural family therapy, organizational development, group leadership and conflict management, working with emotional intelligence. He was chosen to be participate in the Pastor Theologian program of the Center for Theological Inquiry 2004-2005.
Charles has long been a supportive advocate for greater inclusion of LGBTQ folk. The transitional pastorate he recently completed was with a racially, culturally, and gender-identity diverse congregation. Charles has provided leadership for many community-based movements for mercy and justice, such as CARITAS and the CROP walk. During his long pastorate in Bon Air, he was one of the founders of RISC and served in various leadership capacities, including Co President and as a presenter at a national gathering of clergy involved in community organizing. With the late rabbi Ben Romer and Imad Dmaj he launched the Bon Air Interfaith Dialogue in 2009.
Charles has also served in many capacities in the governing bodies of the Presbyterian Church, including chairing the Committee on Ministry of the Presbytery of the James. He is the convenor for the Presbyterian transitional pastors in central Virginia. He recently completed a term as a trustee of Presbyterian Church-related Wilson College, in Chambersburg, PA.
Charles and his wife Ruthie have been married for 39 years. They met while Charles was a graduate student at Vanderbilt and Ruthie was taking her undergraduate degree in early childhood education from Vanderbilt’s Peabody College. Now retired, Ruthie had a long career in preschool teaching, before working for Senior Connections.
Ruthie and Charles live in Bon Air. They have two grown children: Chris, a software engineer, who lives in Bethesda; and Elizabeth, who lives in Richmond. Elizabeth and her husband Mark are also the parents of Charles and Ruthie’s young grandsons. Charles and Ruthie are frequently seen with their dogs Scooter and Skyler, or attending to their backyard bird feeders.
Ordained to the Presbyterian Church USA ministry in 1978, Charles served pastorates in Virginia, Missouri, and Pennsylvania, including 16 years as pastor/head of staff of the Bon Air Church in Richmond. For the last two years he has served as Interim Pastor and Head of Staff of the Westminster Presbyterian Church in Charlottesville.
A native of Florida, Charles earned his undergraduate degree from Furman University in South Carolina and the Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry degrees at Vanderbilt University Divinity School in Tennessee. As an undergraduate he did archaeological work at Tel Gezer, Israel. He did his clinical training at St. Elizabeths Hospital, Washington, DC. He has also taken additional training in interim/transitional ministry, structural family therapy, organizational development, group leadership and conflict management, working with emotional intelligence. He was chosen to be participate in the Pastor Theologian program of the Center for Theological Inquiry 2004-2005.
Charles has long been a supportive advocate for greater inclusion of LGBTQ folk. The transitional pastorate he recently completed was with a racially, culturally, and gender-identity diverse congregation. Charles has provided leadership for many community-based movements for mercy and justice, such as CARITAS and the CROP walk. During his long pastorate in Bon Air, he was one of the founders of RISC and served in various leadership capacities, including Co President and as a presenter at a national gathering of clergy involved in community organizing. With the late rabbi Ben Romer and Imad Dmaj he launched the Bon Air Interfaith Dialogue in 2009.
Charles has also served in many capacities in the governing bodies of the Presbyterian Church, including chairing the Committee on Ministry of the Presbytery of the James. He is the convenor for the Presbyterian transitional pastors in central Virginia. He recently completed a term as a trustee of Presbyterian Church-related Wilson College, in Chambersburg, PA.
Charles and his wife Ruthie have been married for 39 years. They met while Charles was a graduate student at Vanderbilt and Ruthie was taking her undergraduate degree in early childhood education from Vanderbilt’s Peabody College. Now retired, Ruthie had a long career in preschool teaching, before working for Senior Connections.
Ruthie and Charles live in Bon Air. They have two grown children: Chris, a software engineer, who lives in Bethesda; and Elizabeth, who lives in Richmond. Elizabeth and her husband Mark are also the parents of Charles and Ruthie’s young grandsons. Charles and Ruthie are frequently seen with their dogs Scooter and Skyler, or attending to their backyard bird feeders.
