Keith "a nice place to call home" says church's new minister
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THE new minister at Keith North Church has said the town is "a nice place to call home" after being ordained on Thursday.
Mother-of-three Amy Bender is originally from a farming community in Tennessee, USA, but has a long association with Aberdeen and has lived in the city permanently since 2012.
Now, she's looking forward to living in Keith with her husband – fittingly also named Keith – and youngest daughter Lucy.
"I discussed the move with my family and we decided that Keith would be a nice place to call home," she said.
"There's a sense of community and it feels like a good and welcoming place to be.
"I like the fact the church is right in the middle of town. It means you are in the centre of community."
Amy grew up a devote Christian, attending church with her parents and grandparents.
She originally moved to Aberdeen in 1994, with her husband who is an economics professor, before returning to the USA a few years later.
The couple moved back to the north-east with their three daughters Fiona, Sophie and Lucy in 2006, making the move permanent in 2012.
Amy has since gained a first class honours degree from Aberdeen University. She has a PhD in Educational Psychology and a BA in Elementary Education.
Over the last few years, Amy has gained experience at a handful of churches.
"I've been at Ferryhill, Northfield and St Machar – along with a short stint back in the USA in Wisconsin that included a mission trip to Minneapolis, finishing out my requirements for Church of Scotland with a probationary year at Mannofield Church," she said.
"Then I applied for the position at Keith North and it has been all systems go since Christmas, trying to get everything set up.
"With the pandemic, there are new challenges such as figuring out how to livestream, so it's been full on."
Dr Bender's first service took place on Sunday.
