Ministers and Staff

Rev. Jeff Wells – Lead Pastor

Rev. Jeff Wells is the Lead Pastor of the Church of the Village. Previously, Pastor Jeff served for ten years as pastor at Community United Methodist Church in Massapequa, NY. In addition to practicing love, compassion, and justice as an ordained minister, Jeff is active in promoting open, relational, and process theology. With Thomas Jay Oord, Vikki Randall, and Nichole Torbitzky, he co-edited the book, Preaching the Uncontrolling Love of God: Sermons, Essays, and Worship Elements from the Perspective of Open, Relational, and Process Theology (2024). Also, Jeff is passionate about address the ecological crisis and is a founding member of the Alliance for Ecological Civilization. You can find more about his writing and activism on his website: www.jeffrywells.love.

From 2014-2020, he served on the steering committee of Methodists in New Directions, the reconciling ministry group within the NY Annual Conference. He chaired the Conference Board of Church and Society from 2006 through 2012. Pastor Jeff also served for three years as a board member of the United Methodist City Society. He helped to write and implement the NY Annual Conference policy requiring anti-racism training for all clergy. Pastor Jeff has been a life-long passionate advocate for social and economic justice, human rights, and racial justice.

Rev. Alexis Lillie – Minister for Leadership and Congregational Development

Pastor Alexis Lillie is "passionate about viewing the subversive life of Jesus as a blueprint for the systems-inverting work of justice today." She graduated from Union Theological Seminary in 2014 with a Master of Divinity degree and is ordained with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

Pastor Alexis has served as a minister and religious educator in several capacities in church, university, and non-profit settings. Prior to ministry, she worked in journalism and online marketing, and applies these skills to doing ministry in a digital age. Her work is published in several books and numerous websites including Christianity Today, Duke Divinity School’s Faith & Leadership, Patheos, and others.

Her favorite human is her daughter, Junia, a native New Yorker who she is raising on the Upper West Side

Jorge Lockward – Minister of Worship Arts

Born and raised in the Dominican Republic, Jorge currently lives in New York City. He formerly worked as Director of the Global Praise Program of the General Board of Global Ministries with the United Methodist Church. He also serves as Chairperson of the Worship and Liturgy Committee of the World Methodist Council. Jorge is passionate about worship that brings people together across the divides of ethnicity, social class, age, gender identity, and more.

Rev. Dr. Arthur L. Pressley is an Associate Professor of Psychology and Religion at the Theological School and Graduate Studies, Drew University, Madison, NJ. Professor Pressley’s teaching and research center on cross-cultural studies focuses on culture and personality, pastoral care and counseling, and psychology of trauma and recovery.

Rev. Dr. Althea Spencer Miller is currently Assistant Professor of New Testament Studies at Drew Theological School. She was ordained a Presbyter in the Methodist Church in the Caribbean and the Americas in 1994 after graduating from the United Theological College of the West Indies and the University of the West Indies. She received a Th.M from Candler School of Theology and a Ph.D from Claremont Graduate University.

Reverend Gerald C. Liu, PhD is Emerging Faith Communities Cultivator for the Great Plains Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church. He helps United Methodist churches across Kansas and Nebraska navigate denominational divisions regarding human sexuality and start new ministries as the entire denomination redefines itself for the 21st century. He is an ordained minister of the Mississippi Conference of the United Methodist Church.