Jean F. Risley

Rev. Jean Risley is a retired Presbyterian minister, having served in both installed and interim pastorates. She came to ministry in mid-life after a career in computing and management in financial services businesses. Her writing is based in her experience working with teams in the business world and in years of practical ministry in churches.

She was ordained as a Minister of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and is a member of the Presbytery of Boston. She served as the pastor of the Scotchtown Presbyterian Church in Middletown, New York, doing all the things that solo pastors do: leading worship, preaching, teaching, mentoring, visiting, and providing pastoral care.

She has experience serving on the Committees on Ministry, a group responsible for overseeing the relationships between pastors and their congregations, in two presbyteries, and is qualified through specialized training to serve as an interim minister for churches who are in transition and without a pastor.

Her particular interests include small church ministry, approaches to spiritual formation, dealing with organizational conflict and clergy misconduct, and the influences of first century Judaism on Jesus and the early church.