ABOUT PR. STEPHANIE JAEGER

Favorite Bible Passage: "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 2: 3-5).

Favorite Sending: “Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours" (Theresa of Avila)

Theologians who have had the biggest impact on me and my understanding of the Gospel: Juergen Moltmann, James Cone, Walter Brueggemann, Leonardo Boff, Dorothee Soelle, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther.

3 Words That Describe Me According to:

Stephen (husband): loving, caring, wonder-working

Zoe (17-year-old daughter): kind, passionate, selfless

Hannah (19-year-old daughter): hard-working, creative, thinks things through

Sabina (30-year-old niece): open-hearted, supportive, compassionate

Max (our dog): generous, dependable, affectionate

Some parishioners: really smart, walks the walk, funny

Some community leaders: change-maker, collaborative, fair

Me: enthusiastic, visionary, just

Some Things I Can Do: listen, think theologically about human experience, write, speak up effectively, love, build community, lead church organizations to renewed vitality and sustainability, organize people and projects, solve problems, balance budgets, cook, found and run non-profits, speak lots of German, some French, and a little bit of Spanish, milk a cow, drive a tractor, build fences, paint, restart water heaters (don't tell the property committee).

What I would do if I had more spare time: hang with my fam (B.F.E.), finish my novel What is Left?

MY BIO

MY CURRENT CV

The Rev. Dr. Stephanie Jaeger serves as pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church (ELCA) in Stapleton on Staten Island, a historical Christian community with core commitments to the arts, education, and ending hunger and poverty. Prior to coming to NYC in 2023, she was pastor/redeveloper of St. Matthew's Lutheran Church (ELCA)--NoHo, a Christian community with core commitments to LGBTQIA+ inclusion, Deaf inclusion, artful worship, and community engagement, especially around homelessness, housing, and immigration. She also founded the impactful community organizing and homeless services organization, NoHo Home Alliance, on the campus of St. Matt's. For her public church leadership, in 2021, Stephanie was awarded LSTC's "Confessor of Christ Award" given to “a Christian individual whose commitment to Christ Jesus and the Gospel manifests itself through extraordinary personal sacrifice for the sake of Jesus Christ and the Gospel or exemplary witness to Christ Jesus and the Gospel by selfless service to others.” She previously also served congregations in Santa Monica, (Mount Olive), and on the south side of Chicago (Augustana).

Drawing on her first career as a professor of literature and cultural history, today Pr. Stephanie serves as an adjunct professor of Religious Studies and Chaplain at Wagner College on Staten Island. Stephanie is also a writer with a special love for novels of place that explore urban life in LA, New York, London, and other cities and contexts around the globe.

Stephanie has her BA and MA from the University of Pennsylvania, her Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis, her M.Div. from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, and an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University—Los Angeles. She is currently completing her MA in Counseling at Concordia University—Irvine in preparation for licensing as a mental health counselor.

Stephanie lives in the West Brighton neighborhood on Staten Island with her husband, Stephen, and their 100lb rescue black shepherd, Gatsby. They have two daughters who are recent college graduates starting their careers in public service and legal assistance in LA and Milwaukee.