The Rev. Dr. Elizabeth Mae Magill (Liz) '02, is pastor of the Small Church Collaborative, a gathering of micro congregations in Ashburnham, MA and Rindge NH. Together they are serving their communities with support for LGBTQI people and discussions about racial justice. Before this Liz has closed a church, started a street church in Worcester, MA, and worked as an interim minister with the UCC. She is the author of Five Loaves, Two Fish, Twelve Volunteers: Growing a Relational Food Ministry (2020) and the upcoming Poverty, Wealth, and Christian Life: A Lenten Study (2026) with Upper Room Books.
Liz came to EDS in 1998 with a very vague idea of exactly what it means to be ordained. She left with a call to emphasize lay leadership and to help congregations figure out how to be a real resource for their local community. The work of visions, her trip with Christopher Duraisingh and Angela Bauer-Leveque to India, grappling with scripture with Gail Yee and Larry Wills, identifying systems issues with Bill Kondrath, and imagining the role of congregations with Sheryl Kujawa Holbrook all contributed to her sense that the church must always be looking for how to be with those who others have missed.
Liz provides consulting for congregations, dioceses, and other organizations that want to find vitality and be connected to God's mission regardless of their size. elizabethmaemagill.com