The Rev. Laura Bachmann

This is an exciting time for Gates Presbyterian Church and we are delighted to welcome Rev. Laura Bachmann as our Designated Pastor!

Rev. Bachmann joins us effective August 1, 2020 and will lead us in worship starting on Sunday, August 9^th.

Rev. Bachmann has been dedicated to ministry for 17 years and completed the Master of Divinity program at CRCDS in May 2018.

She recently served as the Associate Pastor for South Presbyterian Church, and previously served as Director of the Mission Immersion Program at ROC SALT.  She has developed a deep respect for and personal commitment to the outreach provided by St. Joseph’s House of Hospitality and plans to continue to share her gifts there.

Rev. Bachmann and her family live in Pittsford. Her husband Charles “Chip” is the Frederick and Anna B. Wiedman Chair of the Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science (CIS) at RIT. He also serves as the CIS Graduate Program Coordinator.  Laura and Chip have three sons; Tristan is entering his Junior year at the University of Chicago, Aidan is a freshman at University of Rochester, and Dylan is a sophomore at Pittsford Mendon High School.

The excerpt below is from the Statement of Faith that Rev. Bachmann provided as part of her Personal Information Form submitted as part of her application for this position.

“I believe that the church exists to embody the love of God to the farthest reaches of the world, to teach and heal and reconcile as Jesus did. I believe that each believer plays a vital role in living out this love as the hands and feet of God, caring for those around us, opening our hearts to the wisdom and love of God, gathering to worship and encourage one another, speaking truth to power and working to free the oppressed, to feed the hungry, to clothe poor, and to comfort the afflicted…..I believe that we are sufficient in our endless imperfections, that God will use our desire to serve to help us ‘limp along the way’.”

South Presbyterian is a church without a building and Rev. Bachmann has helped to lead the congregation in their ongoing work to reconsider what church is and to develop what they call the “Acts of Faith” model.  The text below (from southpc.org) sounds a lot like one of GPC’s mottos: “’The church has left the building!”

So What Is Church Anyway?

It might be easier for us to tell you what church is NOT.

 As far as we are concerned, it’s not a place you go to only on Sunday morning to have somebody tell you about God.

Church is a state of mind as well as a state of being. It is an action verb. It’s something that we belong to 24/7.

And it covers a lot of things:  study, service, worship, quietude, expression, learning, fellowship, and more. But one thing it always seems to include is COMMUNITY. We’re all in this together.

Please join us in welcoming Rev. Bachmann to Gates Presbyterian Church!

Join us online on Sunday mornings at 10:00 a.m. for a GPC Worship Service.  More details about this can be found on our Worship Services page.  Our current and previous worship services & announcements are available.

Please read about our COVID-19 response and what we are doing to re-open.

empowered by the Holy Spirit,

we worship God, follow Jesus and love our neighbors.

GPC is a diverse congregation of Christians located in a western suburb of Rochester, New York. Established in 1828, we support the mission of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Our faith is strengthened by traditional and non-traditional worship services and we value the spiritual wisdom of all generations.

Gates Presbyterian Church is a Christian community that embodies God’s love and mercy in practical and meaningful ways.  Click Mission, Values & Beliefs to learn more.

Gates Presbyterian Church is a More Light Church.