About The Rev. Elizabeth G. Maxwell

The Rev. Elizabeth G. Maxwell began her ministry as Rector of the Church of the Ascension on January 12, 2015. She has lived and worked in Manhattan for 25 years, first as Associate Rector of the Church of the Holy Apostles in Chelsea, which also made her Program Director of the Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen, the largest emergency feeding program in New York City), and then as Interim Pastor of St. Michael’s Church on the Upper West Side. She is delighted to join with the people of Ascension in discovering and witnessing to the gospel in the heart of Greenwich Village. Liz says, “The Church of the Ascension has a proud history; wonderful music and liturgy; and a healthy, inclusive community life. What is the Spirit is calling us to in this new chapter? Welcoming new and diverse folk, engagement with the tremendous challenges of justice and peace in our city and our world, deepening our love for God and each other all come to mind. I am eager to get to know the people of Ascension and to share our journey with, to and in God as we grow and serve together.” Liz grew up in a small college town in the piney woods of east Texas. She is a graduate of Duke University and Princeton Theological Seminary, and was ordained in the Diocese of Newark in 1983, serving there before coming across the river to New York. She also completed training in depth psychology and spirituality at the Blanton Peale Graduate Institute and is licensed as a psychoanalyst in New York State, experience that serves her well in exploring with deeper currents in congregations. A native New Yorker now, she loves the city’s great energy, diversity, art, and food- and also loves to escape to the wide open spaces. She hikes, swims, travels as adventurously as she can, and reads voraciously. Liz, her daughter Mihret, and their dog Finn live in Ascension’s rectory, next door to the church.