The Rev. Jeffrey L. Phillips
The Rev. Jeffrey L. Phillips
Associate Pastor
As our Associate Pastor, Rev. Jeffrey Phillips is charged with helping folks in the congregation grow in their spirituality. This is a true calling for Jeffrey – one he’s been following ever since, one summer evening when he was 12 years old, he climbed to the top of the fire escape of his school and had a profound experience of the presence of God. That night he got a clear sense that God was real, that he and everyone was loved, and that he needed to share that love with others – in word and deed.
While a high school exchange student in Thailand, an encounter with Ajahn Chah, a master teacher of Theravada Buddhism, sparked in Jeffrey a lifetime interest in global religion, which is why, along with earning his MDiv. from Harvard Divinity school, he went on to become a certified interfaith spiritual companion.
Jeffrey’s mission is to help people embrace a spiritual journey that is simultaneously open to the insights of every academic discipline, every religious tradition, every aspect of culture, and every piece of one’s own experience, AND yet grounded in a common Christian story. It is work that brings him great joy here at Winnetka Congregational.
Jeffrey and his partner Vince Summers have two adult children, four grandchildren and one great granddaughter. They live in Lombard with their enthusiastic coonhound, Storm.