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Haverhill
From teacher to preacher: Moreen Hughes' two lives take her from the classroom to the altar
Published: May 30, 2007
HAVERHILL - For 22 years, Moreen Hughes has been at the head of the class - teaching readin', writin' and 'rithmetic to young children.
Now she's working toward being at the altar of her church.
Hughes, a second-grade teacher at Tilton School, leads a very different life when she steps away from the classroom. She is an ordained minister who is studying to lead congregations in prayer from the pulpit of her Baptist church.
"I've been a licensed minister with the American Baptist Churches for 10 years and was ordained four years ago," she said. "Now I've been feeling a call to a greater ministry, which is pulpit ministry."
While Hughes has been teaching at Tilton and working alongside her pastor husband in their church, she has been attending Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary in Wenham at night and on weekends. She recently achieved her goal of obtaining a doctoral degree in ministry.
"It's a feeling, a desire, that God has something more for you to do," Hughes said. "It's been a constant tugging at your spirit that you need to do more, that God is calling you to greater service."
Hughes said she doesn't mix schoolwork and her religion, doesn't talk with her students about her ministry. She sticks to academics in the classroom but is able to find some private spiritual moments each day to do some religious reading or contemplation when she has a break from classes.
She eventually plans to transition out of teaching to full-time work in the ministry.
As the wife of a pastor, Hughes has been involved with the ministry since she got married 31 years ago. Her work in the Baptist church includes teaching Bible studies, counseling young people, singing in the choir and working alongside her husband, Conley Hughes Jr., former pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Haverhill and now the senior pastor at Concord Baptist Church in Boston.
Conley Hughes said his wife has had much support from her students and her church.
"She's a very focused person, and when she sets her mind on something she almost always accomplishes the task," he said.
Being effective in the ministry takes a genuine sense of passion and "call" for your vocation, he said, and you must have sufficient theological and ministry training.
"A doctoral degree in ministry represents the highest expression of your academic and ministerial attainment," he said.
Now she's working toward being at the altar of her church.
Hughes, a second-grade teacher at Tilton School, leads a very different life when she steps away from the classroom. She is an ordained minister who is studying to lead congregations in prayer from the pulpit of her Baptist church.
"I've been a licensed minister with the American Baptist Churches for 10 years and was ordained four years ago," she said. "Now I've been feeling a call to a greater ministry, which is pulpit ministry."
While Hughes has been teaching at Tilton and working alongside her pastor husband in their church, she has been attending Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary in Wenham at night and on weekends. She recently achieved her goal of obtaining a doctoral degree in ministry.
"It's a feeling, a desire, that God has something more for you to do," Hughes said. "It's been a constant tugging at your spirit that you need to do more, that God is calling you to greater service."
Hughes said she doesn't mix schoolwork and her religion, doesn't talk with her students about her ministry. She sticks to academics in the classroom but is able to find some private spiritual moments each day to do some religious reading or contemplation when she has a break from classes.
She eventually plans to transition out of teaching to full-time work in the ministry.
As the wife of a pastor, Hughes has been involved with the ministry since she got married 31 years ago. Her work in the Baptist church includes teaching Bible studies, counseling young people, singing in the choir and working alongside her husband, Conley Hughes Jr., former pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Haverhill and now the senior pastor at Concord Baptist Church in Boston.
Conley Hughes said his wife has had much support from her students and her church.
"She's a very focused person, and when she sets her mind on something she almost always accomplishes the task," he said.
Being effective in the ministry takes a genuine sense of passion and "call" for your vocation, he said, and you must have sufficient theological and ministry training.
"A doctoral degree in ministry represents the highest expression of your academic and ministerial attainment," he said.
Moreen Hughes, 52, is a native of Barbados who grew up in Boston and eventually went into teaching.
"I love to see children learn," she said. "I want to make a difference in the lives of children. I enjoy preparing them for the future."
Over the years she's managed to keep her two callings separate, never mingling the church with the classroom. But she said the things she has learned in her faith have subtly worked their way into her daily classroom lessons, such as teaching her students to be kind to each other, and to be good citizens.
"I teach them that they are responsible for their actions," Hughes said.
Children today seem to be hungering for encouragement and many of them are more responsible for themselves than children were in past years, Hughes said.
"They need more motivating to get them to read and to learn, and they need more encouragement as well," she said. "The extended family is disappearing, and teachers fill in the gaps for a lot of things that used to happen at home."
Hughes and her husband have raised three children - son David, 27, who teaches in Atlanta, daughter Nicole, 25, who is working toward her doctoral degree in psychological education at Georgia State College, and son Michael, 17, who is graduating Haverhill High School this week and plans to study architecture at Northeastern University.
"One of my long-term goals is to write books about spirituality and empowerment," Hughes said.
PG1 BOX
Moreen Hughes - teacher and preacher
Age: 52
Teaching: Has been in the classroom for 22 years; now teaches at Tilton School
Religious life: Has doctoral degree in ministry; teaches Bible studies, counsels young people, sings in the choir
Married to: Conley Hughes Jr., former pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Haverhill and now pastor at Concord Baptist Church in Boston
