Meet Matthew Wooster, senior minister at Plymouth Church in Shaker Heights since 2021.
Interview by Sue Starett
Who: Matthew Wooster
Where: Onaway
Business: Senior Minister of Plymouth Church since August 2021. Founded in 1916, Plymouth Church is an Open and Affirming congregation of the United Church of Christ. The first service in the Shaker location on Coventry Road was held 100 years ago, in February 1923.
What I Love About My Work: The Christian faith is a deep well of beauty, intellectual rigor, and the practices of justice and peace – in both relationships and society. It is a joy, and a high calling, to share these gifts. Let’s be honest: The church too often fails in this work is used as an instrument of abuse instead of love.
Week to week, I love celebrating baptisms and weddings, supporting people in vulnerable times of illness and grief, partnering with amazing local nonprofits and faith communities, and experiencing the authentic joy of joining a diverse people in singing and prayer. I am thankful to be in a church with both a sense of tradition and an openness in theological inquiry. I also get to work with some absolutely amazing people at Plymouth Church. In particular, this year we celebrate the 25th anniversary of Jim Riggs as Minister of Music and the Arts. Jim is taking a well-deserved sabbatical this summer, and I look forward to welcoming him back this fall.
It has been wonderful to meet the other members of the Heights-area clergy. We get together regularly and are building bonds of support and respect with each other.
In Shaker Heights, I feel a deep sense of affinity and of being rooted.
Personal Background: I was blessed to grow up in a nurturing UCC church community in Upper Arlington, Ohio. The members showed me that being a traditional church actually means to learn and to change. A year after graduating with a degree in psychology from Miami University, I entered seminary – a change in direction from my plan to become a counselor. Since earning my master of divinity degree, I’ve been serving as an ordained minister for 22 years. In 2010, I had the joy of enrolling in the Chicago Theological Seminary to earn a Doctor of Ministry degree focused on preaching.
My wife Betsy is also a minister. She serves the Federated Church in Chagrin Falls, and I’m inspired by her spirit. I have two adult stepsons who are both married, and we just became grandparents this year. I’ve spent most of my life in Ohio, residing in Hudson for 15 years while I served in the UCC churches of Hudson and Tallmadge. Betsy was on the ministerial staff at Fairmount Presbyterian Church during that time.
Before moving to Shaker Heights in July 2021, we lived in Wellesley, Massachusetts, where I was minister of the Wellesley Hills Congregational Church for seven years. We loved being in New England, but this move was a welcome sense of coming home.
In Shaker Heights, I feel a deep sense of affinity and of being rooted. I have an understanding and love for the kind of community Shaker is, and appreciate its gifts while recognizing its challenges.
On Working and Living in Shaker Heights: I love that we can sit around the fire in our back yard and hear the bells of Plymouth Church. We are grateful for a community that seeks to make connections with neighbors to be helpful, and to honor and support the dignity of diverse people. Loving your neighbors is a central religious value, and I see it embodied here. Betsy and I often walk at nearby Southerly Park, Lower Lake, and the Nature Center. On a beautiful day
last fall, we celebrated the wedding of our older son at the Nature Center gazebo. I’m a regular at the local libraries and farmers’ markets, where it’s fun to bump into neighbors and congregants. Northstar Café and Brassica connect me to my Columbus roots. And we are enthusiastic fans of the Cleveland Orchestra, Playhouse Square, and the Cleveland Cavs.
Contact: Plymouth Church, 2860 Coventry Road,
216-921-3510 ext. 102 | Email
