Parkrose Community United Church of Christ: The Rev. Charles Stephen Currie, Jr.

New_001web The Rev. Chuck Currie is the interim minister of Parkrose Community United Church of Christ in Portland, Oregon. He was ordained a minister in the United Church of Christ in 2006 following years of work with churches and non-profits.

Over a 20-year period he has earned a reputation as one of the leading advocates for the homeless in Oregon. Currie is a member of the Public Policy Committee for Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon. He is also the author of a widely read blog on religion and social issues that The Los Angeles Times cited in 2004 for "top-tier" editorial writing. In 2007, he was named editior of the United Church News Blog, an official denominational site of the UCC.

Currie began his work on homeless issues in 1986 at Baloney Joe's, a now defunct multi-service center for homeless adults in downtown Portland, while still a student at Sunset High School in Beaverton, Oregon. He later studied political science at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon but left before finishing his degree to concentrate on the cause of fighting poverty. Despite not having an undergraduate degree he was accepted and later graduated from Eden Theological Seminary in Webster Groves, Missouri where he earned a Master of Divinity (M.Div.) degree in 2006.

Chuckcurrienccblog While in seminary he served Grace United Methodist Church in downtown St. Louis and St. John United Church of Christ in Manchester, Missouri as a student pastor and held standing as a licensed minister in the St. Louis Association of the United Church of Christ. He also worked as a teaching assistant for The Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon, Allen and Dottie Miller Professor of Mission and Peace at Eden. Dr. Kinnamon was later called to serve as the new General Secretary of the National Council of Churches in Christ USA.

Currie held the position of director of community outreach at First United Methodist Church in Portland from 1997-2002. His duties included running the Goose Hollow Family Shelter, the largest emergency winter shelter for homeless families in the Portland-Metro area, and staffing the church's social justice related committees. In Portland, he has also held staff and board positions with Outside In, Transition Projects, Burnside Advocates Group, Multnomah County Community Action Commission, Oregon Housing NOW Coalition, and the office of Portland City Commissioner Gretchen Miller Kafoury.

He served on the board of directors of the National Coalition for the Homeless from 1998 - 2002.

In 1993, he was chosen to chair a City of Portland - Multnomah County committee to redesign the homeless service system for single adults. The result of this redesign included the opening of new housing facilities for homeless single adult men and women, and for people suffering from chronic mental illness. He is the author of a 1998 study on civil rights and homelessness in Oregon.

Currie is a recipient of a 1998 Community Harmony Award from the City of Portland Metro Human Rights Center. In 2002, Willamette Week named him one of the "Best People in Portland". Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon awarded Currie the 2003 Vollum Ecumenical Humanitarian Award. He was honored with a "Blessed Are the Peacemakers Award" by the World Council of Churches in 2004.

He is married to Liz Smith Currie. Together they have twin daugthers, Katherine and Frances.