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Email: rdavis@upsem.edu
Phone: 980-636-1683
Location: Charlotte
Department: Christian Education
Union Theological Seminary and Presbyterian School of Christian Education , Ph.D.
Union Theological Seminary, M.Div.
Presbyterian School of Christian Education, M.A.C.E.
Marshall University, B.A.
Rebecca L. Davis is a Minister of the Word and Sacrament and a Certified Christian Educator in the Presbyterian Church (USA). Before being appointed to the faculty of Union Presbyterian Seminary on the Charlotte Campus she served as Associate Professor of Religion and the Director of the Christian Education Program at Presbyterian College in Clinton, SC.
Dr. Davis brings 25 years of congregational experience to her academic teaching. She has been both ordained and non-ordained ministry staff in small, medium and large congregations across the south. She was Director of Christian Education at Enslow Park Presbyterian in Huntington, WV, Associate Pastor at Central Presbyterian in Mobile, AL, Pastor of First Presbyterian in Monahans, TX and Executive Director of its child development center, Associate General Presbyter in Peace River Presbytery in FL and Associate Pastor at Myers Park Presbyterian Church in Charlotte.
One of her deepest passions is child advocacy, which called her to serve as Coordinator of the Religious Action Division for the Children’s Defense Fund in Washington, DC and contract staff for the National Council of Churches’ Committee on Justice for Children and their Families. Dr. Davis has been engaged at all levels of the church including serving as the organizing chair of the Presbyterian Child Advocacy Network and on the Year of the Child Planning Team for the General Assembly. She currently serves on the editorial board for Presbyterian Women’s Horizons Magazine, the Advisory Board for the PCUSA’s Educate a Child Initiative, the National Committee on the Self-Development of People and was named the 2018 Educator of the Year by the Association of Presbyterian Church Educators.
Her research centers on the ethical implications of infant baptism, forming faith for public engagement and transformative emancipatory pedagogy.
Rebecca L. Davis, "Trauma Informed Ministry" (PCUSA Office of Christian Formation)
Rebecca L. Davis, “Baptism: Out First Identity Story” (Horizons Magazine, Volume 30, Number 2, March/April 2017)
Rebecca L. Davis, “Welcomed to the Table” (Horizons Magazine, Volume 29, Number 2, March/April 2016)
Rebecca L. Davis, Children and the Church: Vision and Goals for the 21st Century ( National Council of Churches Policy Statement, Adopted 2005)
Rebecca L. Davis, Children Among Us: Foundations in Children’s Ministries “Removing Stumbling Blocks: The Congregation’s Call” (Witherspoon Press, 2003)
Rebecca L. Davis, Belonging to God: Catechism Resources for Worship “Creation, Covenant and Baptism Liturgies” (Geneva Press, 2003)
