Acadia Divinity College is pleased to welcome Rev. Joseph D. Green as the new Director of the Charles J. Taylor Centre for Chaplaincy and Spiritual Care. Joe follows Rev. Dr. Carol Anne Janzen who served as the Director between 2013 and 2018, and Dr. Tracy vom Hagen (née Demmons) who served as the inaugural Director between 2011 and 2013.
Dr. Harry Gardner, President of Acadia Divinity College, stated, “I am pleased to appoint Rev. Green to this position. I am confident he will provide excellent leadership to the Taylor Centre.”
In 2016, Joe Green graduated from Acadia Divinity College with a Master of Divinity specializing in Chaplaincy and Spiritual Care, receiving both the B.D. Stevens Scholarship and Emma Porter Perkins Scholarship for academic excellence. He was ordained to Christian Ministry at AEnon Baptist Church, Chester Basin, Nova Scotia, in 2017, where he has served as Senior Pastor since 2014. Joe will continue to serve as Senior Pastor of the AEnon Baptist Church as well as serve Acadia Divinity College in this part-time role.
Prior to 2014, Joe embraced a variety of opportunities through vocational and volunteer work: Spiritual Care Volunteer at Camp Hill Veterans Memorial Hospital in Halifax, Nova Scotia; Superintendent of Sunday School at Chester United Baptist Church, Nova Scotia; and Teacher of English as a second language in Halifax and Chungli, Taiwan. Through these experiences, Joe has demonstrated a passion for establishing relationships with people of all ages and developing leaders.
His education includes a Bachelor of Arts (honours, first class) in Religious Studies at St. Mary’s University in 2006, with a concentration in religious diversity in Canada, as well as a Master of Arts in Religious Studies from Queen’s University in 2007, with a concentration in religion and modernity, religion and ecology. At both academic institutions, Joe was a Research Assistant, focusing on the religious diversity in both cities: Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Kingston, Ontario. He has received a number of academic awards including the Queen’s Graduate Award and the SMU President’s Award.
Joe is a member of the Canadian Association for Spiritual Care and the Canadian Society for the Study of Religion, and he supports the work of the Canadian Baptists of Atlantic Canada (CBAC). He is the CBAC Connector for the Lunenburg-Queens Association, and he was the co-chair and executive member of CBAC Tidal Impact in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, the South Shore site for 2017. (Tidal Impact is Canada’s largest youth mission program and occurs every second year in two Atlantic Canada locations simultaneously.)
Joe lives in Boutiliers Point near the Atlantic Ocean, with his wife, Amber MacLean, and for leisure, he enjoys golfing at the Chester Golf Club where he is also the Vice-President.
Charles J. Taylor Centre for Chaplaincy and Spiritual Care
The Charles J. Taylor Centre for Chaplaincy and Spiritual Care was established by Acadia Divinity College in 2011. This Centre fosters and promotes clinical and theological excellence in the area of Pastoral Care through personal growth, the building of professional capacities and rigorous theological reflection. The Taylor Centre trains and prepares men and women for pastoral ministry in specialized forms, including hospital chaplaincy, military chaplaincy, prison chaplaincy, and a variety of other caring professions, for which care for the Spirit is of primary importance.
