NEWFOUNDLAND — The United Methodist Church of Newfoundland has a new pastor. The Reverend E. Richard Knox joined the church on July 1.
Knox is a preaching-teaching pastor who has served as a United Methodist Minister for over 35 years. In his ministry, Knox – or Rich, as he invites everyone to call him – is inspired by his faith, his commitment to Methodism, and his training as a Christian social ethicist. These encourage him to seek God’s will in the world, to act in love, to work towards justice, and to confirm his faith through action.
Knox believes the best way to walk the journey of faith and spiritual formation is in community together. He said he celebrates the opportunity to accompany others on their faith journeys even as he continually explores and seeks to articulate his own ever-evolving relationship with God. And he very much looks forward to walking the journey of faith and commitment with the people of the United Methodist Church at Newfoundland.
Knox grew up in Andover. After graduating from Blair Academy, he attended Gettysburg College, graduating with a B.A. in sociology. He earned his M.Div. at the Divinity School of Duke University and his M.Phil. and Ph.D. in Christian social ethics at Union Theological Seminary in New York.
He began his formal ministry as the associate minister at Morrow Memorial United Methodist Church in Maplewood, where his focus was on children and youth ministries. He subsequently served as the pastor of Roseland UMC in Roseland. For three years during his service there, he also served as the interim pastor of the Roseland Presbyterian Church. He left Roseland to become the pastor of Vincent UMC in Nutley, after which he was appointed senior pastor of the Chatham UMC.
Knox has also served in the academic world. He most recently held a joint faculty appointment at New York and Union Theological Seminaries, teaching United Methodist polity, doctrine, and history. He taught comparative religion and professional ethics at Manhattan College for 11 years, where he developed and implemented Manhattan’s first program in the then-new field of computer ethics. He also taught Christian ethics and theological research techniques at Colgate-Rochester Divinity School in Rochester, N.Y. He spent two years as one of two professors leading an ambulatory care rotation for medical residents at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center in New York City, in which he addressed issues of medical ethics.
Knox is married to Nan Hawkins and is the proud stepfather of her daughter, Jane Haxby, who lives in Virginia with her daughter, Ika, who will celebrate her fifth birthday in November.