VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 11/01/06)-After close to 30 years of ministry with American Baptist Churches USA, the Rev. Dr. Margaret Ann Cowden, National Ministries' treasurer and chief financial officer, will retire July 2007.
Cowden's exemplary Christ-centered leadership-rooted in her grounding in faith and theology and her commitment to justice-has touched many corners of the denomination throughout her decades of service.
Along with her financial role at National Ministries, Cowden serves the denomination as a member of the General Executive Council, the Treasurer's Council, the American Baptist Computer Center board of managers, and the board of the American Baptist Foundation. Also a trustee of the Colgate Rochester Crozier Divinity School, she is a commissioned American Baptist home missionary.
Prior to her financial role at National Ministries, which she assumed in 1999, Cowden was president of the American Baptist Extension Corporation (ABEC). At the Ministers and Missionaries Benefit Board (MMBB) she served in a variety of roles, including deputy executive director and director of the Women in Ministry Project, a program previously related to MMBB. Early in her ministry, Cowden served the Board of Educational Ministries as a program associate in Adult Ministries.
"For the last 12 years or so, Dr. Cowden has served National Ministries and our ministry network faithfully as a consultant, as the ABEC president, and as treasurer of the American Baptist Home Mission societies," says Dr. Aidsand F. Wright-Riggins III, National Ministries' executive director. "It has been my pleasure and privilege to work with and alongside Margaret since we were both juniors at the American Baptist Seminary of the West more decades ago than I care to count."
Cowden has been a moving force in the New York-based Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) as a member of the governing board for five years, serving as chair for two years. A leader in the corporate social responsibility in investments movement, ICCR utilizes members' corporate holdings to advocate for just and environmentally responsible business policies and practices. Under Cowden's guidance, National Ministries' has continued its 1971 commitment to ICCR's guidelines in managing its Common Investment Fund.
Ordained in 1975, Cowden began her ministry with American Baptist Churches USA in the local church: she served First Baptist Church, Boulder, Colo., and Cambridge Drive Baptist Church, Goleta, Calif. She was the first ordained American Baptist woman to preach at the well known Riverside Church in New York City.
Cowden completed programs at Columbia University's Institute for Not-for-Profit Management in New York City and Harvard University's Program for Management Development at its Graduate School of Business in Cambridge, Mass.
Along with a Ph.D. in psychological studies from Temple University, Philadelphia, Pa., Cowden earned a master of divinity degree from American Baptist Seminary of the West, Covina, Calif., and a bachelor of arts degree from Linfield College, McMinnville, Ore.
"I do not know of a more committed, competent, and compassionate servant of Jesus Christ and this denomination than Dr. Cowden," says Wright-Riggins. "Also a gifted musician, Margaret once taught me the song, 'May Those Who Come Behind Us Find Us Faithful.' There is no doubt in my mind that will be Margaret's legacy to her American Baptist family. She is indeed a faithful servant of Jesus Christ. I join the chorus of others who say to her, 'Well done! And thank you.'"
Andrew C. Jayne American Baptist Churches, USA Mission Resource Development http://www.abc-usa.org/